LOS ANGELES -- Brandon Belt strutted into the visiting clubhouse late Monday night with an orange wrestling belt around his waist, the words "Baddest Man on the Field" printed on it in big letters. It was a gift from Evan Longoria, and Belt and Will Smith received the belts after a 4-2 win over the Dodgers, apparently as part of a new clubhouse celebration.
Belt got the Giants on the board with a laser shot over the fence in left-center in the sixth, and an inning later he smoked a two-run double into the gap to give the Giants the lead. He looked like a future Gold Glove Award winner at first, stretching for one scoop and leaping for a crucial late out.
"I've got a 32-inch vertical," Belt insisted.
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SIGN UP HERE It was nearly a flawless night for the first baseman. Nearly.
Belt's game-winning double was the 200th of his career, but it came three innings after Brandon Crawford had notched his 200th double. Let's just say theirs is the kind of relationship where no opportunity to talk smack goes unnoticed.
"Yeah ..." Belt said slowly, shaking his head. "He mentioned it as soon as he did it."
The Brandons did not actually know they were vying for the same milestone until recently. Belt entered the season with 199 doubles and Crawford was at 198. He got one in San Diego, and clubhouse coordinator Brad Grems mentioned before Monday's game that he was one away. Still, that wasn't on Crawford's mind as he raced into second base in the fourth inning of a tense game.
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"Kiké asked me if I had done something," Crawford said.
Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers' second baseman, noticed that the ball was taken out of play. Crawford became the 26th player in franchise history to reach 200 doubles with the Giants. Belt soon joined him on the list, and he was just as quick to form a counter to any jabs.
"I just told him (he got there first) because I've basically played seven half-seasons," joked Belt, who has dealt with a stream of injuries. "But I congratulated him. That's pretty impressive, and he probably won't let me live it down. I didn't know we were close. He basically said, 'Hey, man, I just beat you to 200 doubles.' I said, 'What, how many did I have?'
"But I'm going to be happy with the fact that I did it in less at-bats. That's what I'm going to go with."
Belt predicted that he did it in 500 fewer at-bats, and he was close. He got to 200 in 3,151 at-bats. Crawford's double came in 3,744. Regardless, it's a nice feat, and it's pretty incredible that the two friends got there on the same night.
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There have been just four Brandons in MLB history to hit 200 doubles (the others are Phillips and Inge) and somehow two got to the milestone for the Giants in the span of about an hour. That's something to celebrate, and you know Crawford will make sure Belt doesn't forget this night.
"Whatever we can do to give each other a hard time," he said, smiling.