Hours before they faced the Yankees last night, the Toronto Blue Jays crowded around a big screen TV in their clubhouse and watched an unstoppable Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wreak havoc in Terminator 3. Must be what opposing pitchers feel like facing Carlos Delgado and Vernon Wells.
Delgado and Wells have clearly been baseball’s most dominating duo this season, ranking 1-2 in the AL in both RBI (Delgado has 98; Wells, 84) and runs scored (78 for Delgado while Wells is tied with Alfonso Soriano at 77). And even though both downplay the idea of finishing 1-2, their numbers are mind-numbing.
“I believe you’re your own protection, but it helps when you have people around you that can swing the bat, put pressure on the pitcher, move guys around,” Delgado said. “With the kid [Wells] in front of me hitting .300, every time I look up I’ve got a runner in scoring position.
“I knew he was good, and I knew he was going to have a great career; I didn’t think it was going to be so soon. This kid’s special. The sky’s the limit. He’s got power, he can hit for average, he’s got speed. He can do whatever the hell he wants.”
They’re dissimilar in most ways, other than hitting prowess. Delgado, the 31-year-old first baseman from Puerto Rico, has been an established cleanup hitter. But the 24-year-old Wells, coming into his own, has made all the difference for Toronto.
“Obviously having him behind me, I’m going to see pitches,” Wells said. “Most guys would rather pitch to me than pitch to him. And it helps him if guys are on base.
“It’d be pretty neat [to finish 1-2], because RBIs is a good stat, because you’re driving in runs to help your team win. But we could finish 2-5, if we make the playoffs it doesn’t matter.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau, no teammates have finished 1-2 in RBIs since Colorado’s Andres Galarraga (150) and Dante Bichette (141) did it in homer-happy Coors Field in 1996; no AL teammates have done so since Boston’s Tony Armas (123) and Jim Rice (122) in 1984.
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig combined for a record 347 RBI and the modern mark of 312 runs back in 1931. Delgado and Wells have 182 and 155.
“It’s contagious; you want to get more,” Delgado said. “It’d be pretty cool. I usually don’t get caught up in numbers, but an RBI is a run; the more RBIs you get, the more you give your team a chance to win.”
The Blue Jays, who were 34-52 at the break last season, went into the break this season at 49-46. And going into last night, Delgado also led the league in slugging (.613) while Wells was second in total bases (230), third in hits (125) and fourth in doubles (30).
And according to manager Carlos Tosca, Wells – an all-state football player in Texas – is just scratching the surface.
“Nothing that he ever does surprises me,” Tosca said. “He’s so talented both mentally and physically. And he’s even going to be better. . . . People aren’t going to pitch to him. He’s a remarkable, remarkable baseball player.”
