With an almost video-game like month of May for San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera, the Black and Orange are hoping that he can keep his amazing start going into the summer. As for Melky, he just wants to keep working.
Cabrera tied former outfielder Randy Winn's mark with his 51st hit of the month last night, passing Hall of Famer Willie Mays mark of 49 hits the day before. Nevertheless the humbled veteran doesn't want to make it about him, it's about the team:
"It's great to hear the fans and know they're behind me," Cabrera said Tuesday after breaking Mays' record. "I'm just grateful for the opportunity."
The last player to rack up 50 hits in a single month was Carl Crawford back in 2007 as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.
After Wednesday's game, Cabrera now holds the NL lead in batting average at a .373 clip, as well as the league leader in triples with six. He's fourth in the NL in OBP (.417) and owns the Major League lead in hits (78) and multi-hit games (25). If he can keep up this pace, the Jonathan Sanchez trade may become one of the greatest in Giants history.
Skipper Bruce Bochy knows how good he is, relating his approach at the plate to legend Tony Gwynn:
"He's got that ability to use the whole field. He reminds me of Tony Gwynn. That's the type of hitter he is."
If he keeps working as hard as he does, Melky could do something Gwynn never did. Win an NL MVP.
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