Tools of the Trade

October 2, 2009

Shortly after the Rockies clinched the NL Wild Card, the deflated Braves bowed out with a wimper when Pete Orr singled in the tie breaking run for the Nationals. The Braves were
exhausted from an all out run at the Rockies, but had no control over the other half of the equation; The Rockies had to lose and they simply didn’t.

The celebration in Colorado is not done as they still hold an outside chance of deflating another team, the LA Dodgers. If Colorado continues to play the calibre of baseball they”ve been displaying over the last few weeks, they will indeed capture the NL West flag. Yesterday they put on a hit parade and dumped the Brewers for the 6th time in 6 meetings this
year. Garret Atkins pummeled the ball in a 3 for 4 day that pulled in 3 RBIs. He also scored in the Rockies 9-2 clincher. Kudos to the Rockies for fending off a determined Atlanta Braves squad.

On the personal level, there is one player that is racking up stats toward the end of the year. Miguel Tejada continued his hot hitting streak of 18 games by pounding out 3RBIs on a Home Run and a 2 for 3 day at the plate. There’s hope that the team will contend for the Central in 2010.

Another Texas squad has high hopes as well. The Rangers pushed the Angels for most of the season before flopping at the end (mostly to the bottom feeding A’s). Still, with the new pitching philosophy and Maddux in charge of the arms… there is no shortage of bats in this lineup. Chris Davis is ending on a high note. He belted his 21st HR of the year and picked up 3 RBIs while going 3 for 5 in the Rangers 11-3 win over Anaheim.

In Boston it’s time to right the ship, vacation over. Jacoby Ellsbury is
treading above the .300 batting average mark and would like to post that for the season. He helped the Red Sox ease out of their funk with a 3-5 performance that brought him up to .301 on the year. The Red Sox, reeling from a 6 game tail spin, came out on top of the Indians 3-0. They’ll need to buck up in the playoffs.

Speaking of which, The Twins are still alive! They have an outside chance at catching the Tigers after managing a split in their 4 game set at Detroit. Orlando Cabrera, no stranger to the post season, came up big for the Twins on Thursday. He was 2 for 5 but those hits were huge producers as he picked up 3 RBIs and scored in the Twins 8-3 cruiser. It’s back to Minny where the Twins host the Royals and hope the Sox can damage the Tigers in Detroit.
 In San Francisco it was the Tim Lincecum show, with a cameo by HOF’er Randy Johnson.
But at the dish it was a newcomer that has the Giant fans excited about 2010. Andres Torres is coming along just fine in Center Field. He’s got the tools. He’s got the speed and yesterday he had the bat. Torres racked up 3 RBIs and posted a 3 for 4 line that included a Home Run, a Triple and 3 runs scored. Nice day Andres, but wait til you see who took the crown…

Chris Carpenter! The man with All the Tools. Normally happy with showing off his tools from the mound, Carpenter put on his tool belt at the plate and hammered out a Grand Slam! It was Chris’ first Homer of his entire career! He did it on the first pitch he saw. Not satisfied with his carpentry work, Chris stepped to the plate later in the game and drilled an RBI double down the chalk line to pick up 2 more Ribs! Wow. In one day Carpenter equaled his RBI output for his entire career up to that point… 6!

Congratulation Chris Carpenter, You are Yesterday’s Hitter!

 

 

Written by mlblogsbuzblog Posted in Dailies Tagged with Andres Torres, Chris Carpenter, Garret Atkins, Jacoby Ellsbury, Miguel Tejada, Orlando Cabrera, Pete Orr