PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Buster Posey, Giants

Posey went exactly two months without a home run despite manager Bruce Bochy’s efforts to rest him. Then Buster became Buster again. Posey hit a homer within his seven-hit outburst that fed into two victories against the St. Louis Cardinals, a Giants rival in the wild-card race. Normally stoic, Posey laughed as he touched home plate to complete his trot Sept. 16. “It was a good feeling,” he said. “The guys gave me a hard time when I came into the dugout. I felt like the camera was on me for 10 minutes, so I decided to give them a thumbs-up and a goofy face.”