Culver City Observer -

On Sunday, at Dodger Stadium, Dodger veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman joined the 2000-hit club, adding to his other achievements - six-time All Star and three-time Silver Slugger. And appropriately versus their archenemy Astros.

Even though the Dodgers lost, 6-5, in eleven innings, Freeman was delighted that he was able to accomplish that feat at home so that his family could be in attendance. In the stands were his dad, who lives in SoCal, his wife and three kids. Just five of the over-47,000 fans that gave him two standing ovations, one of which brought him out of the dugout.

"The fans have embraced my family and I since the day we got here," Freeman said. "They made another special memory for the Freeman family. Dodger fans never disappoint. Another special day, one I'll never forget. Took long enough, but I'm glad it happened at home."

The magic moment occurred with two outs in the eighth inning, golfing a double into the right-center field gap. Freeman, 33, is now the sixth active player to reach this significant milestone. The other five are Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus and Andrew McCutchen.

He is also now the 97th player of 98 to have at least 300 homers and 2,000 hits in baseball history. Freeman didn't know this until a reporter mentioned it to him in the post-game press conference.

Hits mean a lot to me," Freeman said. "Everyone views success differently in their careers, and how they go about it, but hits and average, that is what I care about. If I have a lot of hits, and I have a good average, that means I'm getting on base a lot for my team and we're able to score a lot of runs."

All of his hard work for many years and the investment in practice and always wanting to improve is paying dividends.

"I just marvel at his consistency, his every day, workman-like attitude," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

Time will tell if Freeman can reach the coveted 3000-hit milestone before his career ends.