Submitted by TotalAccess on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 17:40
This is officially ridiculous.
Troy Tulowitzki did it once again on Saturday. For the fourth time in the last two weeks, Tulowitzki blasted two home runs in the same game in leading the Rockies to a 12-2 victory over the Dodgers.
"Tulo" replicated Friday night, when in the first inning he roped a home run to left field with a runner aboard. In the 5th inning, he did it again, this time depositing a home run over the center field fence.
The 25-year old shortstop is as hot as any hitter has been for years. He currently owns 14 home runs and 33 RBIs in the month of September. That is the most home runs by any Rockie in any month in the history of the franchise. The 33 RBIs is the second most in any month in Rockies history. Matt Holliday drove in 34 runs in September of 2007.
Those are numbers for any month in the history of the club. Consider the fact that Holliday's September '07 run nearly earned him the National League MVP award and got his name on the radar. Without that month, there is a good chance that Holliday never signs the deal with the Cardinals that makes him a very wealthy man.
Holliday's month was that productive, and yet, Tulowitzki has already hit more home runs than him and is one RBI short of his record...and it is the 18th of the month.
Think for a moment about what Tulowitzki is doing. In 1998, Sammy Sosa laced 20 home runs in the month of June. It was an incredible feat, something that people thought was impossible. If anyone still has doubts that Sosa was using steroids at that time, they have their heads buried in the sand.
In the post-steroid era, what Tulowitzki is doing may never happen again.
With 11 games to go in September, even if Tulowitzki slows down significantly, he has a chance to put up numbers that will take years for anyone to approach.
It is hard to put into words just how hot Tulowitzki is. There is no doubt that Tulo hitting behind Carlos Gonzalez is playing a large part in the offensive output. With Gonzalez picking up hits and RBIs at a rate that has put him leading the league in batting and RBIs, Tulowitzki is certain to get good pitches to hit.
The strategy is going to have to change for opposing teams. There is no way that they can ignore what Tulowitzki is doing. They are going to have to take chances and try to throw decent pitches to Gonzalez, which is exactly what the Rockies would like to see happen.
What might end up happening, if both players continue on the pace that they are at, is rare situations where Tulowitzki gets walked intentionally, even with Gonzalez on first base, or even with the bases loaded, as Barry Bonds was often treated to during his great home run streaks.
To put Tulowitzki's month into perspective, his 33 RBIs in the month of September is the same number of RBIs that Todd Helton has on the entire season. It is more RBIs than all but six Seattle Mariners have in the entire season.
Tulowitzki is inevitably going to cool down, there is no way to stay as hot as he has been, but the fact is, his run is so well-timed that it may get him some MVP votes. He is also doing it at the exact perfect time for the Rockies. There is no stronger definition for carrying a team on your shoulders than what Tulowitzki has done so far.
If Tulowitzki had not gone down for 33 games with a broken wrist, the talk would certainly be focused on him as the National League's Most Valuable Player.
The Rockies will wait for the results of both the Giants and Padres games, but they took care of their own business and cannot be any further back than they were when the day started on Saturday. The Rockies go for the road sweep on Sunday, facing Clayton Kershaw. The Rockies will send Jason Hammel to the mound, who is looking to rebound from a tough outing on Tuesday night against the Padres.
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