The month of May carries with it Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and the honor of being the last full month of spring. I for one am sad to see May go. Not because I have a particular affinity for the fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, but rather because Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants was on an absolute tear the moment that May began. In the month of May, Cabrera's stat line looked a little something like this:
.429 BA, 24 runs, 51 hits, three home runs, seven doubles, five triples, 17 RBIs, and a .457 OBP.
While his three home runs may not seem impressive, the overall composition of the month speaks volumes for just how hot Cabrera was during May. He carried a Giants' team that was without arguably its best hitter in Pablo Sandoval, who is dealing with a hamate bone injury for the second year in a row, and he has helped the Giants keep their head above water - and just 5.5 games out of first place in the NL West.
Probably the most impressive part of Cabrera's month was that I definitely didn't see it coming - I'm not sure who did, to be honest. He collected just 27 hits since the beginning of the season before the calendar turned to May and even though he was batting .300 at the end of April, I could have never foreseen that he'd be batting .373 at the end of May. Not to mention, his hitting hasn't been the only thing to take note of.
I've certainly noticed his tenacity in the field and his strength as a competitor. There have been numerous times when Cabrera has gone all out in the field, only to make a spectacular catch or yield an opposing batter to a single. So to say just his hitting is leading the team, you would be telling only part of the story. Cabrera has seemingly taken on the role of being one of the team leaders on and off the field, leading not by outlandish claims or bravado, but simply by example.
If the Giants can solidify their middle infield and Cabrera continues his hot hitting, there is no telling what the Giants could do. Add Pablo Sandoval's return from injury to that mix and all of the sudden the Giants are looking like a solid baseball team. I'm just hoping one of Cabrera's teammates gave him a calendar where every month has "May" as the title, just to give him that little extra mental motivation to stay consistent.
Food for thought: Is Cabrera by far the biggest surprise of the 2012 Giants? Or have there been other surprises - pleasant or unpleasant - that supersede Cabrera's surprising emergence?
David is co-founder of wrapupp sports blog where fresh content is posted daily and present sports blogs and sports opinions - all with a West Coast bias. Growing up in the Bay Area, David is a huge supporter of all the local sports teams; the Giants, Athletics, Warriors, Sharks, 49ers, and Raiders. His one fault, admittedly, as many of his friends and family would say, is his love for the Los Angeles Lakers. Growing up, Magic Johnson was his favorite basketball player and he fell in love with the team. He chalks it up to, "Not knowing any better". Now his love for sports has turned just as academic as it is intuitive and he follows most all sports all over the nation.
You can follow David on Twitter: @officialwrapupp
Sources:
Baseball-reference. Melky Cabrera Stats. MLB 2012.
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