5 Things: Dodgers Close To Getting Their Ace Back, Rookie Gets Special Birthday Present
By Ryan Mayer
The season is coming down to the home stretch and the race for the playoffs is on. Out west, one contender is about to get a big boost from the return of a player from the DL.
Clayton Kershaw Makes Rehab Start
The Dodgers have been without their ace since June 26th and yet they've still found a way to take over the lead in the NL West and stay atop the division as the calendar turns to September. The good news is Kershaw made a rehab start on Saturday with the Class A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and he was well, what you would expect Kershaw to be against Single-A competition.
After that start, the Dodgers announced that Kershaw would make his return to the majors on Friday as the Dodgers open up a three game set with the Marlins.
Albert Pujols Passes Frank Robinson
Albert Pujols is not the same player that he once was. That said, he's still been very productive despite being on a pretty bad Angels team. Because he plays on the Angels, his accomplishments tend to go under-the-radar and last week, Pujols continued his climb up the all-time homerun list passing Frank Robinson for 9th place all-time during Saturday's game against the Mariners.
The slugger now has 29 homers on the season and has 589 total in his career. With another five years left on his deal, Pujols may continue that climb over the next couple of seasons.
Jose Reyes Knocks Cover Off The Ball
There's an old saying in baseball for when a pitch is hit particularly hard that you've probably heard in some form or variation over the years: "He hit the cover off that ball!"
Well, for New York Mets infielder Jose Reyes, that is quite literally true, although it didn't happen in a way that you would expect.
Yep, Reyes swung so hard that he fouled the ball directly into the dirt and ripped part of the cover off of it. File that into the not something you see every day department. The Mets are on a bit of a hot streak too, having won seven of their last ten games and sitting just one back in the Wild Card race.
Stephen Cardullo's Birthday Present For Himself
Colorado Rockies rookie Stephen Cardullo has had a long, winding road to the majors. He started his career in 2010 in the Pioneer League and has since made stops in the independent Frontier and Canadian American Association leagues. He was signed by the Rockies for some organizational depth prior to the season and acquitted himself well at Triple-A Albuquerque, hitting .308 with 17 homeruns and 72 RBI in 115 games before he got the call-up last week.
As part of the Rockies double header with the Dodgers, Cardullo got to pinch-hit in the 7th inning and took advantage.
What made that first MLB homer more special? It came on Cardullo's birthday. He wasn't done either. In the second game of the double header, Cardullo took down another first.
Pretty special 29th birthday.
Tim Tebow Works Out For Scouts
You may remember Tim Tebow from his magical playoff run with the Denver Broncos. Or from his subsequent trade to the New York Jets and continued bouncing around NFL camps over the past couple of years. What you may not know is that Tebow was a pretty highly thought of baseball player during his time in high school.
Tebow has been working out over the past year in order to get himself ready to try and take a shot at playing baseball and he held a workout in front of 28 MLB teams at USC's baseball facility on Wednesday. There were some highlights.
Overall, it's not very likely you'll see Tebow on an MLB field anytime soon. However, there's a chance that he makes an appearance for a nearby minor league team.