Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado, Lance Berkman.
Big boppers all over the National League are driving their teams toward the playoffs, hitting one home run after another in a rousing MVP race.
All four of those sluggers cracked key homers Tuesday night, leading their squads to victory and padding some eye-popping stats. Call it a September power surge, featuring several mighty stars.
Start with Pujols, the only one from this foursome who already owns an MVP award (2005).
He homered for the third straight game, a three-run shot in the sixth inning that erased a three-run deficit and helped St. Louis beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 at Busch Stadium. A surprise all year, the Cardinals moved within 3 1/2 games of wild-card leader Milwaukee with 18 remaining.
“Hopefully, I can continue to do it for 18 more games and hopefully make this season exciting,” Pujols said.
Since 2003, Pujols has been playing with a torn ligament in his right elbow that might require reconstructive surgery at some point. Still, he leads the majors in slugging percentage (.655), on-base percentage (.467) and batting average (.361).
3 homers and needs two RBIs for his eighth straight season with 100.
“It’s not the first time he’s done this, done something that’s just amazing,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He usually plays in pain.”
In other NL games, it was: New York 10, Washington 8; Florida 10, Philadelphia 8; Los Angeles 6, San Diego 2; San Francisco 5, Arizona 4; Houston 9, Pittsburgh 3; Cincinnati 5, Milwaukee 4 in 11 innings; and Atlanta 5, Colorado 4 in 10 innings.
Ramirez has only been with the Dodgers since a July 31 trade, but he’s led them into first place in the NL West. Some think he’s made such a monumental difference that he deserves MVP consideration after less than six weeks in the league.
He homered in the sixth inning to begin Los Angeles’ comeback Tuesday and knocked in the go-ahead run at San Diego. Batting right in front of the enigmatic slugger, Andre Ethier had four RBIs to help the Dodgers win for the ninth time in 10 tries and increase their division lead to 2 1/2 games.
Ramirez’s presence means “not only the protection and confidence he adds hitting behind you but the knowledge and stuff that he’s brought so far to us as a team and to me individually,” Ethier said.
With his 522nd career homer, Ramirez passed Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams for sole possession of 17th place.
homers and 36 RBIs since joining the Dodgers.
Delgado is on quite a tear, too. He hit two mammoth homers for the second consecutive game and the Mets beat Washington at Shea Stadium to extend their NL East lead to 2 1/2 games over Philadelphia.
Ryan Church also homered for New York and Carlos Beltran had a go-ahead shot to reach 100 RBIs.
Delgado was booed relentlessly by Mets fans during a terrible start this season, with talk-show hosts and headline writers calling for his outright release. Now, he hears loud, echoing chants of “MVP! MVP!” in the heat of a tight pennant race.
“To be fighting for that and having that type of run is basically saying, ‘I’m putting you on my shoulders,”’ Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.
After going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs, Delgado has 68 RBIs in the last 66 games. He has raised his average from .228 on June 30 to .266, with 35 homers and 103 RBIs.
Delgado has 466 career home runs, one more than Hall of Famer Dave Winfield for 30th place. He has four multihomer games in the last 13 and seven this year, matching Dave Kingman’s club record set in 1976.
“I feel so happy that he’s doing great after what he went through last year and the beginning of this year,” Beltran said. “I’m not surprised.”
Berkman and the Astros are sometimes overlooked, but they shouldn’t be.
three times for host Houston, which has won four straight and 12 of 13 to pull within four games of the wild-card lead. Written off long ago, the Astros are 34-16 since the All-Star break – the best record in the majors.
Berkman is a big reason his team has been able to climb back into contention, even if nobody else seems to have noticed. He ranks among the league leaders in nearly all major offensive categories, hitting .331 with 28 homers, 100 RBIs and 109 runs.
“We’re going to try to win as many games as we can,” Berkman said, “and we’re certainly going to pay attention to what the teams in front of us are doing.”
Marlins 10, Phillies 8
At Philadelphia, Jorge Cantu, Mike Jacobs and Cody Ross homered for Florida, which nearly blew an eight-run lead. Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 41st homer, but Philadelphia couldn’t overcome a terrible outing by Kyle Kendrick (11-9).
The Phillies are three games back in the wild-card race.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 4
At San Francisco, Eugenio Velez singled home the winning run in the ninth and Arizona lost its fifth straight. The Diamondbacks have dropped nine in a row on the road.
Reds 5, Brewers 4, 11 innings
r a hit. The Reds later said the second baseman is out for the year.
Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce hit consecutive homers in the sixth, helping Cincinnati hand Milwaukee its third straight loss and seventh in nine games. The Brewers remained 4 1/2 games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central.
Braves 5, Rockies 4, 10 innings
At Atlanta, Taylor Buchholz balked home the winning run, allowing Kelly Johnson to score from third. Garrett Atkins’ homer had tied it in the ninth against Braves closer Mike Gonzalez, who blew his first save chance since June 25, 2004. That ended the longest active streak in the majors at 39.
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