Before last night only 11 major leaguers had ever managed to reach the rarified air of double-digit RBI's in a single game. Garret Anderson of the Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels became the 12th such player to accompish the rare feat last night, homering and doubling twice to drive in 10 runs as the Angels routed the Yankees 18-9 at Angel Stadium. "G.A." actually had a chance to break the major league record of 12 RBI's shared by Jim Bottomly and Mark Whiten when he came up with two outs and two on in the eighth inning. Whiten's record tying night happened to come in a game I was also watching as the Dodgers were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Whiten actually hit a major league record-tying four homers that night as well. As "locked-in" as G.A. was last night, I can't ever remember seeing anyone as locked-in as Whiten was on his magical night.
As for Anderson, his night went something like this... a double to deep right in the first inning scored both Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera. In the second, he would double to center, plating Vladimir Guerrero. In the third, he would hit a homer to right to drive in Figgins and Jeff Mathis. A harmless rounder to second would temporarily interrupt his night in the 5th. In the 6th inning though, with the bases juiced, he launched a shot deep into the right field bullpen to give him four more RBI's. The crowd gave him a standing ovation after that one, and he made his first curtain call of his entire 13-year career after that one! He'd have to only settle for a piece of history though as his ground ball up the middle was fielded by Wilson Betemit for the Angels final out of the game. It would have certainly been nice to see him break the record for sure... Still, being witness to two of the most impressive offensive performances in major league history is definitely something to cherish!
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