By SHELDON LONGLEY Guardian Sports Editor

Copyright thenassauguardian

What a weekend for Bahamian baseball star Jasrado ‘Jazz’ Chisholm Jr.

In a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox, Chisholm banged out five hits for the New York Yankees, drove in his 300th run in his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, and is now within a home run of a 30-30 season.

In fact, in his last four games, the Yankees’ starting baseman has three multi-hit games with a home run, five RBIs (runs batted in) and scored twice. He also stole three bases over that span.

Chisholm is the Yankees’ hottest hitter, and is leading them during a pivotal stretch of the season. As mentioned, he is just one home run shy of the prestigious 30-30 club, signifying at least 30 home runs and 30 steals by a player in the same season. The feat has been accomplished just 73 times in the history of MLB, and just three times by the Yankees.

“All I want to do is help my team win,” said Chisholm to reporters over the weekend. “I just want us to come out with a win after each and every game. I come into every game with the mindset of helping my team win. We feel like we’re the best team in the league right now. Every team that steps on the field with us, and thinks they’re better than us, they should know that we’re coming with relentlessness, and we’re coming to step on necks. We’re not here to play around.”

Prior to losing 6-4 to the Red Sox Sunday night, the Yankees had won three in a row, and took the weekend series two games to one over the Red Sox. They are positioning themselves at a run for the

American League East Division title with just two weeks remaining in the season. With an 83-66 win/loss record, they are four games behind the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays (87-62).

The Yankees have a favorable schedule down the stretch, as 10 of their final 13 games are against last place teams, and the other three are against a second-to-last place team.

At one point of the season, the Yankees had dropped 16 out of 22 games and had lost a seven-game lead in the division, prompting a players-only meeting which helped to change the trajectory of the season.

“We were playing to everyone else’s level instead of to our own,” said Chisholm. “We were losing games that we thought we should have won, making errors and just having poor at-bats. At the end of the day, we finally looked in the mirror and figured out that we’re the team to beat. That’s how we’ve been stepping on the field for the last two weeks.”

Chisholm was hitless on Sunday, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but was 7-for-13 in his previous three games. As he approaches 30-30, it must be put into perspective.

Chisholm is already one of just six Yankees in the 25-25 club, and he had a 20-20 season while splitting time between the Yankees and the Miami Marlins last year.

The other former Yankees players in the 25-25 club are Curtis Granderson (41 home runs, 25 steals in 2011), Alex Rodriguez (36 home runs, 28 steals in 2004), Alfonso Soriano (39 home runs, 41 steals in 2002 and 38 home runs, 25 steals in 2003), Rickey Henderson (28 home runs, 87 steals in 1986) and Bobby Bonds (32 home runs, 30 steals in 1975).

In the 30-30 club for the Yankees are Soriano and Bonds, with Soriano accomplishing the rare feat twice.

Even more remarkable, Chisholm missed a month of the season with a high-grade right oblique strain, and didn’t steal a base for 40 games after coming back.

There are just 13 games remaining in the season for the Yankees – quite enough time for Chisholm to crack 30-30, considering how torrid he has been at the plate.

For the season, Chisholm is batting .244 with 29 home runs, 75 RBIs and 71 runs scored. He is slashing .244/.337/.488.

In the last few weeks, Chisholm has accomplished a number of milestones: getting his 100th home run, scoring his 300th run and recording his 500th hit in the majors.

Now, he has driven in his 300th run and is on the verge of a historic 30-30 season.

The Yankees travel to Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to play the Minnesota Twins in a three-game series, starting this evening. Following that, they will end the season with seven games against the Baltimore Orioles and three against the Chicago White Sox.