SUN LIFE STADIUM -- Omar Infante was the hero Monday night for the Marlins.
Mike Stanton remains the story.
The 21-year old had his fourth career multi-homer game and second of the season. And the ones tonight were mammoth.
His first big bop -- a solo home run which gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first -- landed in section 411, about 10 rows up, between the Dolphins' Ring of Honor memorials for Jim Langer and Paul Warfield in left field. By most observers estimations, the only guy who has hit one deeper into the upper deck here was Andres Galarraga -- a 529-foot shot -- back on May 31, 1997.
Stanton's second home run -- another solo shot that made it 2-0 Marlins in the third inning -- caromed off the teal seats in section 216, just to left of center field, the deepest part of the park.
With 34 home runs, Stanton is now tied with Miguel Cabrera (2007) for the second-most home runs in a season by a Marlin -- eight behind Gary Sheffield (1996) for the franchise record.
On a bigger scale, he's just the seventh player in major league history 21 or younger to have at least 34 homers in a season. The others: Eddie Mathews (47), Mel Ott (42), Frank Robinson (38), Albert Pujols (37), Alex Rodriguez (36) and Hal Trosky (35).
In 242 career games, Stanton has 56 homers. That's the same amount Willie Mays and Pujols had to start their careers too.
"He is different," catcher John Buck said after Monday's win. "From the first day I saw him take batting practice I've never seen anything like it. We have how many days left in the season, eight? He just impressed me again."
The man is just a BEAST. And think about it, he's only 21 years old. He still has a few years to develop into a full major league player, and what kind of home runs will we see then?
Posted by: bob | September 20, 2011 at 03:16 PM
Give him a 20 year contract!
Posted by: spitballer | September 20, 2011 at 05:19 PM
Truly the future of the Fish - provided we don't trade him away before he's due a new contract.
Posted by: Vincenthale | September 21, 2011 at 07:28 AM
It would not surprise me to see him being traded for a combo of "promising players" from Detroit.
Posted by: Flav C. | September 21, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Stanton gets it. Not like Miggy...Stanton should get the 10 year contract. He's a hard worker, good kid, solid baseball instincts, and plays hard.
He's the one we sign for big money...period.
Posted by: Smokenmirrors | September 21, 2011 at 08:23 AM
marlins should sign reyes and pujols, imagine this lineup
1.reyes ss
2.coughlin 2b
3.pujols 1b
4.stanton rf
5.ramirez 3b
6.sanchez lf then go get me a speedy cf, with 1 stud starter and 1 solid innings guy, with what we got, and we can do what atlanta did this year!
Posted by: miacub1 | September 24, 2011 at 03:18 PM