Laying the Wood: Charlie Blackmon homers in extras

The Colorado Rockies currently carry a one-game lead in the National League Wild Card race thanks to the efforts of their revamped bullpen, a Manager of the Year candidate, an historically impressive group of rookie pitchers, and two MVP candidates. That’s right, it isn’t just Nolan Arenado who gets the job done in the clutch, Charlie Blackmon is right there with him.

After the Rockies came one strike away from holding up Blackmon’s leadoff home run against Corey Kluber in the first game in Cleveland, only to see that win slip away, the Rockies center fielder delivered a decisive homer in the very next game to give Colorado a win in extras.

“He has that innate ability in the most crucial of situations to get that extreme focus.” -Buddy on @Chuck_Nazty: https://t.co/tHGq1E1lG8 pic.twitter.com/eDDYjcvRAT

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 10, 2017

It was his 27th home run of 2017 which ranks sixth in the National League. Blackmon’s 155 hits lead the NL with Ender Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves the next closest with 142. His .333 batting average ranks behind only Justin Turner (.347) of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL. His .616 slugging percentage is tied with Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals for second in the NL behind only Giancarlo Stanton (.621) of the Miami Marlins. He leads the league in runs with 103, 11 more than Harper.

The man with the greatest beard in the game is having a career season after having a career season after the one he had before that. And he has been as important as any single cog in a team that has surprised many in the national baseball audience on pace to have their best regular season ever.