Plenty of individuals stated a strong case for the Performance of the Week award this week.

Contenders

There were some great pitching performances last Sunday, from Josh Beckett’s eight shut-out innings against the Yankees, Cole Hamels’ seven shut-out innings against the Braves (live on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra), Gavin Floyd’s strong eight innings against the Rays and Jered Weaver’s 15K’s against the Blue Jays. 

Dan Haren followed up Weaver’s start with a complete game shut-out against the previously red-hot Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.  Haren gave up just one hit in that game and the Marlins’ Josh Johnson had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning against the Braves on Wednesday.

The pitchers didn’t have it all their own way.  Sam Fuld had a big day for the Rays on Monday, going 4-for-6 as Tampa Bay thumped the Red Sox 16-5.  Lance Berkman dominated the D-Backs, going deep four times and driving in ten runs in the Cardinals’ three-game series in the desert.  Troy Tulowtizki had a similar effect for the Rockies against the Mets, hitting a longball in each of the four games of the series and going 10-for-16. 

My pick

Despite those personal feats, the performance of the week has to go to the Seattle Mariners team that beat the Blue Jays on Monday. 

You couldn’t get a more desperate situation than the one the M’s found themselves in at the seventh inning stretch.  They had lost seven games in a row and it was almost certain to extend to eight.  The M’s trailed 7-0 and those seven runs all come off the reigning Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez.

If even King Felix was falling apart, what hope did the M’s have?

Well, sometimes when all hope seems gone, something miraculous happens.  That was undoubtedly the case at Safeco Field.  The M’s scored once in the seventh, five times in the eighth and then Luis Rodriguez drove home two runs with a walk-off game-winning single.  The reaction of the Mariners’ TV announcers said it all: they just started laughing in disbelief.