The Longest Streak Pt Ia – The surprising Florida Marlins moved to within 6 games of .500 and held their ground with the Wild Card leading Reds by beating the Braves 2-1 in Atlanta behind 7 strong innings from Anibal Sanchez.  The rookie improved to 4-0 with an even 3.00 ERA, getting all the support he needed from Cody Ross, who belted two solo home runs to help propel the Marlins to their fourth straight win. The Fish are now tied with the suddenly resurgent Nationals for the longest current winning streak in the majors.  Florida trails Cincinnati in the Wild Card by 6 games.

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ib – Those Nats, meanwhile, knocked around Giants’ starter Matt Morris (7 runs on 7 hits in just 2 1/3) and survived two home runs by Ray Durham to extend their winning streak to four straight. The switch-hitting Durham entered the game without a hit in 31 career at bats versus the Expos/Nationals franchise before connecting in the 5^th from the left side of the plate for his 17^th HR of the season.  Then in the 8^th, Durham stepped up to the right side of the plate, never having homered from both sides of the dish in the same game, and then promptly snapped that oh-for with his 18^th HR of the year, and 12th in his last 30 games.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The last place Dodgers shipped disgruntled pitcher Odalis Perez to the Kansas City Royals along with a pair of minor leaguers and cash for nothing more than Elmer Dessens on Tuesday.  The move did nothing to help Los Angeles on the field as the Dodgers lost 7-3 to first place San Diego with former Dodger Chan Ho Park pitching 6 innings to get the win and up his record to 7-6.  The Dodgers have now lost 7 in a row – the longest current losing streak in the majors – and 12 of their last 13 overall.  Dessens threw two scoreless innings of relief in his return to L.A.

 

(In a separate move on Tuesday, the Royals acquired pitcher Jorge de la Rosa from the Brewers in return for utility infielder Tony Graffanino.  It was the team’s third trade in two days after shipping Mike MacDougal to the White Sox on Monday)

 

The Longest Streak Pt III – Chase Utley had another big night on Tuesday, extending his hitting streak with a two-run first inning home run as the Phillies jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over the D’Backs.  Then after Tom Gordon blew his 3^rd save of the year in the 8^th and then gave up the go-ahead run in the 9^th, Utley came back in the bottom half of the inning with a game-tying HR, his 18^th of the year, off of Arizona closer Jorge Julio.  Philadelphia would ultimately lose the game to the D’Backs 6-5 in 11 innings.  At 25 straight games, Utley’s is the longest hitting streak in the majors this season; he is batting .398 (43 for 108) with 6 HR and 20 RBI since it began.

 

Milestones Pt I – Pitching – Roger Clemens remained at 343 career wins as Aaron Harang combined with two relievers to shut out the Astros 2-0.  Clemens allowed just 2 runs in 7 innings and dropped his ERA to 2.45, but saw his record drop to just 2-4 as Houston was shutout for the second time this season in the Rocket’s 7 starts.  Houston came into the game averaging less than 3 runs of offensive support per game for their future HOFer.  Last season, the Astros were shut out 9 times when Clemens pitched and gave him just 3.58 runs per game.  In 2004, the Astros scored 4.79 runs per game when the Rocket started and were not shut out once in those games.

 

Milestones Pt II – Team – Redux – The Tigers on Tuesday saw their record tying streak of 3 straight games with 5 or more first inning runs come to an end when Paul Byrd put a 0 on the board in the opening frame in Cleveland.  The Indians then came back with 7 of their own in the first, knocking out All Star game starter Kenny Rogers after just 2/3 of an inning.  Detroit then battled back, scoring 7 runs on 10 hits in 3+ against Byrd, but ultimately lost the game 12-7.

 

You Say Tomato….

 

What is the difference between a streaky hitter and an inconsistent hitter?  Some would suggest nothing more than perspective.  Take for example the case of Giants 3B Pedro Feliz.  Feliz has been the team leader RBI all season and until Tuesday, had either led or been tied for the lead in home runs.  He is the type of hitter fans love to watch hit when he gets hot because when he gets hot, he gets red hot.  His backers will tell you he’s a streaky hitter, something they seem to consider a positive thing.  DN&N, however, sees this type of contribution as simply erratic and inconsistent.  His hot streaks tend to blur the overall picture; his stretches of .600+ slugging leaving a lasting impression on the minds of his fans, yet blinding them to such negatives as his .308 OBP and his equally long or longer stretches of ice cold hitting that offset most positive contributions. 

 

Feliz - 2006	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	AVE	SLG
April 3-25	77	7	13	4	0	2	13	23	0.169	0.299
4/26 - 5/17	86	18	33	5	0	7	19	59	0.384	0.686
5/18 - 5/30*	42	4	7	1	1	0	3	10	0.167	0.238
5/31 - 6/6	25	4	11	2	1	0	2	15	0.440	0.600
6/7 - 6/27**	67	6	15	6	1	1	11	26	0.224	0.388
6/28 - 7/15	60	12	20	4	2	5	15	43	0.333	0.717
7/16 - 7/23	33	4	7	0	0	1	5	10	0.212	0.303

 

*5/21 – 3 for 5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 9 TB

**6/15 – 4 for 5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 8 TB

 

But it doesn’t stop with this season.  Take a look at last year’s numbers. 

 

Feliz - 2005	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	AVE	SLG
4/5 - 4/12	29	9	11	2	0	1	8	16	0.379	0.552
4/13 - 5/2	66	9	16	3	1	3	14	30	0.242	0.455
5/3 - 5/10	28	3	13	2	0	1	4	18	0.464	0.643
5/11 - 6/15	104	8	20	3	0	3	10	32	0.192	0.308
6/16 - 6/24	34	5	15	3	0	2	11	24	0.441	0.706
6/25 - 7/3	32	3	4	1	0	0	2	5	0.125	0.156
7/4 - 7/10	22	6	8	2	0	1	1	13	0.364	0.591
7/14 - 7/17	16	1	2	0	0	1	1	5	0.125	0.313
7/18 - 7/26	33	6	11	2	0	3	8	22	0.333	0.667
7/27 - 8/15	61	6	10	2	0	2	10	18	0.164	0.295
8/16 - 8/21	25	6	11	4	1	0	1	17	0.440	0.680
8/22 - 9/5	32	2	4	0	0	1	2	7	0.125	0.219
9/6 - 9/15	30	4	9	3	0	1	6	15	0.300	0.500
9/16 - 10/2	57	1	8	3	2	0	1	15	0.140	0.263

 

 

It’s nice to see a player who can occasionally put his team on his back and carry them for stretches at a time, but you’d like to see the player do something in between.  DN&N thinks that ‘ol Jerry Reed put it best when he crooned the words, “when you’re hot you’re hot, and when you’re not you’re not.”

 

Juiced! – The Update – Jose Canseco remains sidelined, having skipped the Long Beach Armada’s trip to Chico to take on the Outlaws in a four game series this week after injuring his back last Friday.  ~ Simon Says ~ On August 23, the Armada will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the largest game of Simon Says.  Simon says play Jose.   

 

Quick Hits

 

Jeff Zimmerman since June 28

31-for-87 (.356) – 2 HR, 15 RBI

 

Scott Hatteberg since June 27

31-for-73 (.425) – 5 HR, 15 RBI

 

Edwin Encarnacion since July 6

11-for-23 (.478)

 

Ken Griffey Jr. since July 1

13-for-73 (.178) – 3 HR, 7 RBI

Since July 4

10-for-62 (.161) – 1 HR, 4 RBI

 

Mike Cameron since July 8

20-for-65 (.308) – 6 HR, 12 RBI

 

Jonny Gomes since June 22

10-for-80 (.125) – 2 HR, 6 RBI

In July

8-for-62 (.129) – 2 HR, 5 RBI

 

Rocco Baldelli since July 3

15-for-73 (.205) – 0 HR, 8 RBI

 

Dan Uggla since July 6

13-for-58 (.224) – 1 HR, 6 RBI

 

Miguel Cabrera since July 6

11-for-52 (.212) – 1 HR, 3 RBI

 

On Deck – AL Central division rivals Detroit and Cleveland wrap up a 3-game set on Wednesday with two of the game’s brightest young pitching stars locking horns.  The Tigers will send 23-year old rookie Justin Verlander (12-4, 2.77) to the bump against 26-year-old Indians southpaw C.C. Sabathia (7-6, 3.73) in a marquee matinee.  Verlander has been superb in his last four starts, going 3-0 with a 0.64 ERA (2 ER, 28 IP). Sabathia this season has specialized in Central division match-ups.  He has made 8 of his 16 starts so far this year against AL Central foes and another 5 against NL Central division teams.  For the season, he is 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA against the AL Central with one of those losses coming at the hands of Jeremy Bonderman and the Tigers back on May 13. 

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.