Todd Helton may be old and not as effective as he once was, but he still has his guile.
The Colorado Rockies first baseman successfully tagged out St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter at first on Thursday after faking a throw back to the pitcher following a pickoff move. Helton held onto the ball and waited to see if Carpenter would step off the base. Thinking that the pitcher had the ball, Carpenter stepped off the bag, which is when Helton tagged him for the final out of the first.
Helton also homered in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and send it to extras, where the Rockies won 7-6 in 15.
Is it just me, or has this sort of play become exceedingly common this season? We saw it happen to Juan Uribe on this play, and it also happened to Max Stassi last month.
Carpenter, by the way, has been awesome this season and is a legitimate MVP candidate.