Melky's Memorable First Half

Since the Giants ball club has been around dating back to the late 1800's as one of baseball's oldest teams, there's been few players to play for the franchise who've had a better first half of a season than Melky Cabrera. Instead of hitting home runs left and right, Cabrera instead awed fans by collecting hits at a torrid pace. After logging one of the best months by a Giant in franchise history by surpassing the great Willie Mays' mark of 49 hits in the month of May before later tying Randy Winn the very next day for the most hits in a single month by a Giant (SF era) with 51, Cabrera was named to the 2012 All-Star Game where he led all National League outfielders in votes with more than 7.5 Million.


Having led the Major League in hits with 119, while most players cooled off during the All-Star break, the 27-year old native from the Dominican picked up right where he left off in Tuesday's Midsummer Classic by collecting the game's first hit in the top of the first inning, lacing a single to left-center field off of Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander. After coming around to score on an RBI double by Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun later in the inning, Cabrera watched his Giants teammate Pablo Sandoval get in on the action by hitting a triple off the wall in right which cleared the bases and gave the NL All-Stars a commanding 4-0 lead before adding another run in the inning thanks to an RBI single from St. Louis' Matt Holliday which scored Sandoval. Having piled on 5-runs against last year's reigning AL Cy Young and MVP Award winner after only the first frame, the game was well over and decided. But Melky wouldn't abandon the fans of Kansas City who watched him have a breakout season the year before in a Royals uniform without giving them a show. 

After tacking on another run in the fourth inning, Cabrera put the finishing touches on the ballgame by launching a 2-run homer to left field off of Texas' Matt Harrison, giving the National League an 8-run lead they wouldn't surrender or even allow the American League to bite into. Finishing the game 2-for-3 while driving in and scoring 2 runs, Cabrera was named All-Star MVP as voted on by the fans, edging out fellow San Francisco teammate Pablo Sandoval (1-for-2, 1 Run, 2 RBI) and Milwaukee's Ryan Braun (2-for-3, 1 Run, 1 RBI). With his mother and grandmother in attendance to catch his very first All-Star appearance, the two got to share the field with Melky as he was awarded his MVP hardware along with the keys to a new car. 2012 marks the sixth time a member of the Giants was named All-Star MVP, including Bobby Bonds who took home MVP honors for his performance in the 1973 Midsummer Classic which was also played in Kansas City, tying the Baltimore Orioles for the most All-Star MVP Awards.

Joining Melky in this year's All-Star Game was Giants pitcher Matt Cain who started the game and threw 2-shutout innings before being awarded the win, catcher Buster Posey and the aforementioned Pablo Sandoval, tying the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals for the most players named to NL All-Star team with four. Having amassed a robust .353 batting average which trails only Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen for tops in the league, Cabrera's currently on pace to tie if not set a career-high in Home Runs, RBI's, Runs and Stolen Bases set last year with KC. And in case everything he's done during the first half of the season was somehow missed, showcasing his talent at the All-Star Game in front of a national audience should be enough to open the eyes of Giants GM Brian Sabean and convince him to sign the outfielder to a multi-year deal before he hits the free-agent market when his contract expires this coming winter. Melky and co. will begin the second half of the season on Friday night at home against the Houston Astros, trailing the arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Western Division by only 1/2 a game. 

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