We turned the page in the calendar yesterday. It also turned the page on another week of Major League Baseball. Sadly, there were no triple plays this week. On the bright side, there were plenty of home runs, robbing of home runs, and diving grabs to go around. Here are the top five plays that defined the week that was in baseball.
5. Hamilton’s Homecoming Home Runs
After a nightmare run in Anaheim, Josh Hamilton is getting another chance in Texas. He is making the most of it thus far. While he struggled in his initial call-up on the road in Cleveland, a return to Arlington combined with the Red Sox suspect pitching coming to town woke up the former MVP. They weren’t the most magisterial of shots, but his two home runs in Friday afternoon’s game were a sign that the Angels may have given up on him too soon. Both taters came off Red Sox starter, and resident knuckleballer, Steven Wright. Both home runs landed in nearly the same spot in the right field bleachers. The first came on a 3-2 power knuckleball in the second inning to put the Rangers up 1-0. The second gave the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in the fourth inning. Hamilton also proved in the series that he isn’t just all about early game home runs. He came off the bench to win the game on Sunday with a walk-off double.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKIYQPoLCHY
4. Thor Wields His Mighty Mjölnir
Noah Syndergaard has been a revelation since his promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas this month. He’s been dazzling on the mound and as he showed Wednesday, wields a mighty bat as well. Dubbed Thor by pundits and fans alike, Syndergaard looked like the Norse God of Thunder with his massive home run against Philadelphia’s Sean O’Sullivan. His teammates had staked him to a 4-0 lead when he came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning. He aided his own cause when the deposited the overmatched Phillies’ right hander’s 1-1 offering deep to dead center for the first home run by a Met pitcher in three years. The look on Matt Harvey’s face in the dugout as the imposing Texan trotted around the bases said it all. Oh yeah, he also had two more hits and threw 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball in a Mets victory. Just another day at the park for the Mighty Avenger.
3. We Missed You Nolan Arenado
Barring injury, Nolan Arenado will probably have a strange hold on the National League Gold Glove at third base until he chooses to hang up his spikes. After more than a month away from our Top of the Heap, Arenado returned in a big way this past Monday. As shown earlier this season, Arenado has no fear in heading into the stands to record an out. Monday was no different as he looked to keep his team tied in the bottom of the eighth against the Reds. Pinch hitter Skip Schumaker stepped up with one out against Rafael Betancourt. He fouled off a ball that was headed for the first row. It made it there, just in the glove of Arenado. He flipped over the barrier into the sea of red and came away with the baseball. This may have been enough for most, but not for him. Just one play before, he made a diving stop on a low liner by Billy Hamilton. It wasn’t just glove work either. He drove in three of the Rockies’ five runs with a single in the first, home run in the fourth, and eventual game winner with a single of Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. Check out his full day’s resume here.
2. Will Venable Steals A Homer From The MVP
Mike Trout has made a living in his short time in the Majors by making opposing pitchers miserable with his bat and opposing hitters even more so with his glove. Every once in a while though, they get their chance at vengeance against the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. Tuesday was one of those times as the Padres traveled up the California coast to take on the Angels. In the bottom of the third inning, Trout took Odrisamer Despaigne deep to dead center field. Will Venable had to have known the irony in taking a home run away from Trout in the place where the enigmatic Angel had done the same many times before. Venable kept the game scoreless as he leaped at the wall and kept Trout’s would-have-been 13th home run of the season from being just that. The game would remain deadlocked until the tenth inning, when Matt Kemp would double home a trifecta of runs- including Venable.
1. Jace Peterson Breaks Hearts On A Broken Bat
The Dodgers seemed to thaw out their frigid bats as they took on the Braves at home last Monday. However, one of those bats broke like an icicle and led to the top play of the week that was. Adrian Gonzalez stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the third with Howie Kendrick on first. Julio Teheran jammed El Titan with a fastball in and the Dodgers’ first baseman lobbed a broken bat dinker towards shallow right field. Nick Markakis was back way too far to make a play on the ball. Braves’ rookie second baseman Jace Peterson wasn’t though. He dashed to the outfield grass and made a diving catch to deny Gonzalez a hit and keep Kendrick out of scoring position. He probably wishes he could have done more as the Dodgers would score six the next inning en route to a 8-0 rout. Nevertheless, Peterson’s snare of A-Gon’s flare was at the Top of the Heap for this past week.