Happy Birthday, Brandon Belt!

I don’t think Brandon Belt asked for a rain delay for his birthday, but he’s getting one. So let’s take some time to wish our favorite first baseman/left fielder a very happy 31st birthday by remembering some of our favorite moments with him.

Last May, Belt was tearing it up and was named the NL Player of the Week. It’s not hard to see why:

It was only the second month of the season but Belt was already halfway to his season high for home runs. As I wrote at the time, during that series against Cincinnati:

He not only hit one in every game of this series, but he hit one in the last two games he played against the Reds in May of 2017. This gives him a five-game streak, the first Giant to do so against a single team since Barry Bonds hit six in a row against the Padres in 2001.

He also had the longest recorded at-bat since those things had been recorded, and he was on track to be a vote-in candidate for the All Star Game. We’ll just forget what happened next.

Then there was his grand slam in San Diego in 2017, the last a Giant would hit until Pillar did so this season, also against the Padres. The Giants lost both of those games, but grand slams are still fun, and Belt also had another, solo, shot in that 2017 game:

And who can forget his many fantastic acting performances?

Another thing we love about him is the fact that he has become known as Mr. 18th Inning, after his home run in the 18th inning of the 2014 NLDS that ended a torturous, nerve-wracking six hour game against the Washington Nationals. He followed that up by scoring the winning run of last Friday night’s 18 inning game against the Rockies.

Happy Birthday, Brandon! May this rain delay end soon and allow you to celebrate your birthday with something other than a card game in the clubhouse.