If you would have put a gun to my head and asked me, I probably would have said that Jeff Kent had four or five 30-home run seasons. Which would have led to my messy demise, because after looking it up I now realize that he only had three. Dan Uggla is the first second baseman to have four, hitting home run number 30 last night in the loss to the Phillies.
Uggla, by the way, is quietly having his best season so far: .280/.362/.501. He’s poised to go back to arbitration this year and will likely get a hefty raise over the $7.8 million he’s making. And he’s on record as loving Miami. In light of that -- and in light of his clockwork consistency -- it would probably do the Marlins a world of good to lock him up long term.