Turn back your clocks to April of this year when Josh Hamilton was an early-season favorite to win his second AL MVP award. Over his 22 April starts, Hamilton hit .395, slugged .744 and had an OPS of 1.182 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs.
Now, go back to September 2011 after Adrian Beltre came off the disabled list after missing the entire month of August, and Beltre put up similar numbers in the Rangers' stretch run and was a key figure in them holding off the Los Angeles Angels. In Beltre's 24 September starts, he hit .374 with 12 home runs and 29 RBIs, slugging .778 with a 1.162 OPS.
Back to current stuff, Beltre might be preparing for another blistering close to the season after his historic week last week when he had a three-home run game and hit for the cycle on Friday night, becoming the only player to ever do that, except for some guy named Joe DiMaggio. In the worst-kept secret ever, Beltre was awarded AL Player of the Week honors.
He might be going for another award as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs against David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays and was a triple shy of his second cycle in four days.
Pretty amazing stuff Beltre is doing on the diamond right now, matching his always-stellar defensive play that goes overlooked by some. Enjoy what you're watching, because it doesn't happen very often. Well, unless you're a Texas Rangers fan, apparently.
