Allentown slugger Giancarlo Stanton and Hopatcong's Yoenis Cespedes have done their best the past week to make the Kevin Mitchell Award a two-man race in the home stretch of the season.
Stanton mauled Hoboken for 2 HR/7 RBI, then blasted a three-run shot in a brief two-game set, before hitting two more homers in this week. He enjoys a commanding lead in the home run race with 55 dingers -- almost 20 more than Chris Davis of Philly (37). Stanton had a comfortable lead in the RBI race until this week when Cespedes exploded for an incredible 19 RBI in just 6 games to get within 2 of Stanton at 121. While several batters are knocking on the door of the century RBI club, Philly's Chris Davis is the only player currently in, with 101.
Stanton and Cespedes rank 1-2 in the league in total bases (344 and 294, respectively). Stanton also enjoys a huge lead in SLG at .647, ahead of Vancouver's Mitchell Award candidate, Stephen Vogt, .566, and leads a number of batting categories. He's also ranked second in the league in strikeouts with 200.
Cespedes has done it on just 31 home runs. It helps to have teammates at the top of the order who rank 1-2 in the league in OBP (Bryce Harper, .406, and Joey Votto, .399) and walks (116 and 105, respectively), which may be why they also are leaders in runs scored (108 and 99, respectively). Cespedes bludgeoned Marietta with 6 RBIs, including a grand slam one
night after driving in 4 runs. He also had a 5-RBI game in a loss to Empire City.
The Cespedes surge hasn't quite translated in the standings though as the Floating Fish dropped 4 in a row (including a perplexing 3-game sweep at the hands of basement dweller Empire City) before turning it around to reel off 3 wins. Hopatcong still trails Tucson by 3 1/2 games in the Kruk Division and are tied with Arkansas for the the No. 5 seed but Allentown looms just 1/2 game back with about 20 games remaining.
The Arkansas hot streak has thrust the Golden Falcons into the heart of the pennant race. Their league-best offense is powered by the triumvirate of Anthony Rizzo (26 HR, 95 RBI, 78 R) and Buster Posey (22-83-75), with help from a career year by Mitch Moreland (23-87-56). Posey is poised to win the batting crown, leading the league for some time now (.318) ahead of teammate Lorenzo Cain (.314) who leads the league in hits with 182, just 3 ahead of Empire City's Ben Revere.
No comments :
Post a Comment