There has been a lot of hubbub recently about the fact that as many as eight Kansas City Royals could start in baseball’s mid-summer classic in July. Take assurance that there was no ballot stuffing for this week’s Top of the Heap. While Omar Infante, the worst hitter in baseball, gets to be an “All-Star”, you won’t get any second rate plays here. Without further ado, here are the top five plays that defined the week that was in baseball.
5. Billy Hamilton Doesn’t Exactly Need To Be Driven In
The Reds have had a miserable go of it thus far in 2015. They sit seven games under .500 and have been dealt a hand of maladies that some teams don’t endure for an entire season. One man that has spent more time on the trainer’s bench than on the diamond is Billy Hamilton. Even with that being said, he still leads the National League in stolen bases at 31. He showed just why in the second inning of Monday’s game against the Phillies. As most baseball fans know, running on a left handed pitcher is harder than against a right hander. It is especially hard against one with a deceptive pick off move like Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels. Don’t tell Billy Hamilton that though. With two outs in the second, Hamilton stole second on a 1-1 pitch to Brandon Phillips. Two pitches later he stole third. On the next pitch, Phillips walked but the ball spilled into the dirt. Hamilton scored to make it 2-1 without any semblance of contact from last week’s Top of the Heap winner. Speed kills.
4. Sean Rodriguez Wins The Diving Competition
There were a plethora of spectacular diving catches this past week, but with the other feats that came to pass only one could make Top of the Heap. After careful consideration, Sean Rodriguez’s grab against Philadelphia on Sunday was the best of the lot. And to Phillies fans, this is the last play this week against your team and that is a promise. It was a scoreless game in the fifth inning on Sunday when Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis took A.J. Burnett deep into the right field corner. It was a tailing fly ball that right fielder Sean Rodriguez would need every inch of his 6′ frame to catch. He did just that as he got fully horizontal on his dive and made an inning ending catch as he slid halfway across the warning track. The robbed Galvis flipped his helmet off in disbelief as the Pirates trotted to the dugout. Here are the plays that Rodriguez beat out from Adam Jones, Top of the Heap alum Kevin Pillar, & Billy Burns.
3. Max Scherzer Flirts With Perfection
Max Scherzer came to Washington this offseason with high expectations. It is easy to warrant such a response when you sign on the dotted line of a seven year, $210 deal. The performance he put together Sunday somehow even exceeded those lofty standards. Scherzer was dealing beyond belief and was perfect through six innings. It took a jam shot off the bat of Carlos Gomez to begin the seventh to end both the no-hit and perfect game bids as the bloop touched down between Anthony Rendon and Clint Robinson. Nevertheless, Scherzer would go on to finish the game with a career high, and Nationals record, 16 strikeouts and a complete game, one-hit shutout. To put Scherzer’s performance into perspective, Bill James’ Game Score system puts Mad Max’s Sunday start at a 100. For a frame of reference, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter last year was a 102 and Kerry Wood’s 20 K game from 1998 was a 105.
2. Joc Pederson Is No Mere Mortal
2/3 of the Earth is covered by water. The other 1/3 is covered by Joc Pederson. That may sound a bit Chuck Norris fact-esque, but the way Pederson has played center field this season makes it almost seem actually true. This statement rang no truer than in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game between the Dodgers and division rival San Diego. The game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Juan Nicasio delivered a 3-0 pitch that Justin Upton was sitting dead red on. The Padres’ slugger drove the offering deep to center field for what should have been the game winning RBIs as there were men on first and second. Instead, the uber-talented Rookie of the Year candidate tracked back in a full sprint and channeled Willie Mays to not only make the catch, but hold on to it as he slammed into the wall. Extra innings were forced and the Dodgers ultimately won. Kneel before Joc.
1. Chris Heston Says No-No To New York
Some pitchers go an entire career without a no-hitter. Many of the game’s greats don’t have that feat on their resume. Rogers Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez are just a few of the names that the seemingly more and more commonplace no-hitter has eluded. Chris Heston will remember what he did Tuesday night against the Mets for the rest of his life. Giants fans’ will probably get to see another no-no next season. Hell, they’ve had one a year for four years running now. Enough history, let’s get back to the game. Heston struck out 11 Mets and walked none. The only thing between him and a perfecto were three plunked Mets, two in the fourth inning and one in the ninth. For good measure, he even drove in two runs to help his own cause with a single in the fourth. It didn’t have any game saving play or fortuitous call in his favor. It was just the Majors’ first no-hitter of the season, on the road, by a rookie. Kudos to you Chris Heston, you are Top of the Heap this week.