Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stanton at peace with 59 HRs
Slugger is more proud of winning the NL RBI crown
MIAMI — One more time he emerged from the dugout and strolled slowly, purposefully to home plate.
Bottom of the ninth inning on the last day of the season: This would surely be Giancarlo Stanton’s last chance to join the Babe at the Ruthian round number of 60 home runs.
Knowing that change is coming under new ownership, the drama was intensified by the possibility it could also be the slugger’s last time to bat as a Miami Marlin.
But this was about trying to complete a mission. So one more time Sunday, the crowd at Marlins Park rose and beckoned for a magical conclusion to this remarkable ride that Stanton has taken a season that would otherwise be memorable here only for Jeffrey Loria’s swan song.
Loria had already departed his seat next to the dugout. Those remaining among the crowd of 25,222 were on their feet, raising the din under the roof as Stanton dug in against the Braves closer, Arodys Vizcaino, who came right away with the heat.
Stanton fouled off the first pitch, buzzing in at 98 mph. Another just like it, fouled back, and it was 0-2.
The crowd chanted, “MV-P! M-V-P!”
Vizcaino, working fast as if to defuse the moment, came right back with a high heat at 98. Stanton fought it off.
He then swung through the only off-speed pitch he saw from Vizcaino.
And that was it, close but no 60.
Still, the building pulsed with a rare energy. The crowd wanted more, and Stanton obliged with the curtain call, tapping his heart and waving to the stands.
“It was fun with the crowd,” Stanton said. “It was great. Sums up my year and the appreciation of the fans, the fans for me.”
And, so, no disappointment in the final accounting.
“If I hit 60, guys would be sitting here saying, ‘why didn’t I hit 61?’ … I’m fine with the way my season went.”
Each time Stanton came to the plate, fans hoping for a chance to catch No. 60 jammed the concourse between the Budweiser Bar and the foul pole above left field. They would wander off after each at-bat, only to return a couple of innings later when Stanton’s turn came up again.
He went down swinging in the first as Braves starter Max Fried dropped a 77-mph curveball that tied him up.
In the third inning, the crowd booed when the first three pitches to him were balls. Stanton was swinging at the 3-0 pitch and hammered it into the ground before the pitcher’s mound, the ball kicking up dirt before continuing into right-center, bounding nearly to the warning track.
At 122.2 mph, it was the hardest-hit ball that went for a hit by anyone since Statcast technology began measuring that sort of thing in 2015.
Stanton singled again during the four-run fifth inning, this one driving in his 132nd run of the season, padding his major league lead in that category. With Nolan Arenado leaving the Rockies’ game against the Dodgers after one at-bat, Stanton was assured of winning two triple-crown categories.
Runs-batted-in is a traditional stat that has fallen out of favor in the era of modern metrics. But not with Stanton, who said he is proudest of the RBI crown.
“Home runs is a crazy number, but that’s the aura of my play, is a home run hitter. But to win an RBI [title], you’ve got to be a good hitter also,” he said.
Stanton and Marcell Ozuna, who finished third in the majors with 124 RBI, are the first duo on a team to finish in the top three since the Red Sox in 2005 (David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez). It hasn’t been done in the National League since 1976 by the Reds’ George Foster and Joe Morgan.
Stanton grounded out in the seventh, but Ozuna followed by slugging his 37th homer to center, assuring that Stanton would get one more chance in the ninth.
“It’s hard to hit a homer,” Christian Yelich said. “I don’t think any of the guys on the other team wanted to be the guy that gave it up. It didn’t happen for him, but it was cool to see the crowd and the team pulling for him.”