HOUSTONAsked Hunter Pence why he choked up on the bat the other day.
His answer: I was always a Barry Bonds fan and if it worked for him
Reasonable enough.
Pence has been with the Phillies for 39 games. The team is 28-11 in those contests. He entered Tuesday nights game, his 40th with the club, hitting .325 with eight homers, 24 RBIs and a .952 OPS.
You could probably say that Pence has been the best stretch-drive pickup in the majors.
But there have been other good ones, too:
Detroit righthander Doug Fister is 5-1 with a 2.88 ERA and a 0.994 WHIP in eight starts. The Tigers are 6-2 in those starts.
MLB
Delmon Young, also of the Tigers, is hitting .324 with 20 RBIs and an .818 OPS in 26 games. The Tigers are 20-6 in those games.
Arizona second baseman Aaron Hill, picked up from Toronto in a post-July 31 waiver deal, is hitting .325 with an .863 OPS and has helped the sizzling Diamondbacks go 16-3.
Rafael Furcal has six homers and 13 RBIs in 38 games for St. Louis. The Cards are 21-17 in those games.
Francisco Rodriguez has 2.42 ERA in 24 games for the Brewers, who have surged in the second half.
Carlos Beltran is hitting over .300 since joining the Giants before the July trade deadline, but that club has faded.
The Phillies made tremendous, impact pickups in July 2009 (Cliff Lee) and July 2010 (Roy Oswalt), and clearly theyve done it again this season with Pence.
Has he been the best stretch-drive pickup in baseball this summer?