The Longest Streak Pt I – The Chase for DiMaggio – When Jimmy Rollins’ 38-game hit streak came to a halt back on April 6, Jason Marquis was one of five Cardinal pitchers who helped to keep him hitless.  On Thursday, Chase Utley’s first inning single against Marquis extended the second baseman’s hitting streak to 35 straight games, and pulled him to within one of tying Rollins and Billy Hamilton (1894) for the 9^th longest single season streak in history.  Utley entered the game 4-for-9 lifetime against Marquis and he wasted no time in tying Luis Castillo (2002), Fred Clarke (1895) and Ty Cobb (1917) for the 11^th longest overall hitting streak in major league history, lining a sharp single to center on a 2-2 pitch with two outs and the bases empty in the opening frame.  Utley had 3 hits in 6 at bats in the Phillies’ win and is now batting .408 (62-for-152) with 9 HR and 28 RBI since the streak began.  Joe DiMaggio hit .408 (91-for-223) during his record 56-game streak in 1941.  The Chase for DiMaggio continues in none other than New York City on Friday night as the Phillies take on Orlando Hernandez and the Mets.  Utley is 1-for-2 lifetime against El Duque, doubling against him back on June 14 in Philadelphia nine days before the streak began.   

 

Hit Streak Trivia Question – Utley’s streak began with 7^th inning two-run home run off of Beckett in a 10-2 loss to the Red Sox on June 23rd.  Can you name the pitcher that gave up the hit that started DiMaggio’s record streak? (answer below)

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – Chasing Lefty – The only thing Greg Maddux didn’t have an answer for in his Dodger debut was the rain, pitching 6 no-hit innings against the Reds to help L.A. extend their major league best win streak to 6 straight games.  Maddux did not return after the 46-minute delay, giving way instead to Joe Beimel, who was greeted by a red-hot Scott Hatteberg (.397 since June 27) who promptly singled to end the no-hit bid.  Hatteberg also walked three times in the loss.  Olmedo Saenz gave all the runs Maddux would need, hitting a two-run home run in the first to help him earn the 328^th victory of his career and tie him with John Clarkson for 11^th on the career list.  His next win will tie him with Steve “Lefty” Carlton for 10^th all-time. Maddux has never thrown a no-hitter in his 20-year career. In fact, nobody has thrown a no-hitter in baseball since Randy Johnson’s perfect game against Atlanta on May 18, 2004.  The last Dodger to throw a no-no was Hideo Nomo back on September 17, 1996 in Colorado (pre-Humidor). Los Angeles now trails San Diego by three games in the West and both Arizona and Cincinnati by just 2 games in the Wild Card race. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt III – Chase Utley’s three hits made the headlines, but Aaron Rowand also had three hits (one a home run) to go with Chris Coste’s first career 4-hit game to help back Cole Hamels’ 12 strikeout performance in the Phillies 8-1 win over St. Louis Thursday.  Despite losing for the 7^th straight time, the longest current losing streak in the majors, the Cards remained 3 ˝ games up on the Reds, who lost their 5^th in a row in the loss to L.A.  Reigning Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter (10-5, 2.93) will take the mound to try to end the slide on Friday night at home against the Brewers. 

 

Taking Care of (Draft) Business – The new-look Kansas City Royals announced on Thursday the signing of the first pick in this year’s amateur draft, Luke Hochevar, to a 4-year deal.  Hochevar, who twice spurned the Dodgers including last year when they made him the 40^th overall pick in the draft, gets a major league contract from Kansas City and will be placed on the 40-man roster on Saturday.  Financial terms were not released.  He is just the fourth top overall pick in the last 20 years to get a major league contract.  The others were Delmon Young (2003), Pat Burrell (1998) and Alex Rodriguez (1993). 

 

In announcing the deal, Royals Senior Director of Scouting Deric Ladnier told reporters, “We are excited to get Luke signed in a timely fashion, which is a tribute to Luke and the Glass family.”  DN&N took that comment with just a slightly raised eye brow.  Among the players taken in the first round with the first 30 picks, Hochevar is one of only 5 who have yet to play in the minors for their club this season and of the top 44, including the 14 1^st round sandwich picks, he was one of the final 9 to get on the field. 

 

With that in mind, DN&N thought we’d take a look at how those first round picks have fared thus far just two months into their professional careers.  Among the more impressive numbers displayed belong to Tampa Bay prospect Evan Longoria (#3 overall) and Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw (#7).  Brett Sinkbeil (#19) of Florida has made a good first impression and Giants pick Tim Lincecum (#10) opened some eyes in his first two brief professional starts.  Be sure to check out Minnesota farmhand Chris Parmelee (#20), the Friar’s first-year pro Matt Antonelli (#17) and sandwich pick Kristofer Johnson (40) who have done well so far.  But be sure also not to look past some of the unimpressive numbers posted by Kyle Drabek (#18), Cody Johnson (#24) and Kyler Burke (#35). 

 

2006 First Round Draft Picks – Pitchers

 

PLAYER	TM	#	W	L	ERA	S	G	GS	IP	H	BB	K	WHIP
Luke Hochevar	KC	1	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Greg Reynolds	Col	2	0	0	3.68	0	5	5	22.0	18	6	14	1.09
Brad Lincoln	Pit	4	1	2	4.76	0	5	5	22.2	30	6	19	1.59
Brandon Morrow	Sea	5	0	0	0.00	0	4	1	7.0	3	4	9	1.00
Andrew Miller	Det	6	3	0	4.28	0	9	5	27.1	24	16	17	1.46
Clayton Kershaw	LA	7	1	0	1.29	0	6	5	21.0	14	4	31	0.86
Tim Lincecum	SF	10	0	0	0.00	0	2	2	4.0	1	0	10	0.25
Max Scherzer	Ari	11	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Kasey Kiker	Tex	12	0	3	4.50	0	9	8	22.0	19	17	19	1.64
Jeremy Jeffress	Mil	16	2	2	2.95	0	7	3	18.1	12	11	20	1.25
Kyle Drabek	Phi	18	0	2	10.80	0	3	3	10.0	15	5	5	2.00
Brett Sinkbeil*	Fla	19	2	0	2.09	0	8	8	38.2	31	12	34	1.11
Ian Kennedy	NYY	21	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Colton Willems	Was	22	0	1	2.77	0	4	4	13.0	15	2	6	1.31
Avery Morris	LA	26	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Daniel Bard	Bos	28	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Kyle McCulloch	ChW	29	1	2	2.24	0	7	6	24.1	22	11	29	1.36
Adam Ottavino*	StL	30	2	3	3.47	0	8	8	36.1	31	17	35	1.32
Pedro Beato	Bal	32	1	0	3.00	0	8	4	30.0	20	13	28	1.10
Brooks Brown	Ari	34	0	1	4.50	0	4	1	4.0	5	4	5	2.25
Cory Rasmus	Atl	38	0	0	8.59	0	3	1	7.1	7	5	3	1.64
David Huff	Cle	39	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Kristofer Johnson	Bos	40	0	1	0.57	0	8	7	15.2	11	4	13	0.96
Joba Chamberlain	NYY	41	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Chris Perez	StL	42	2	0	2.77	4	12	0	13.0	13	8	14	1.62
Steven Evarts	Atl	43	1	2	1.73	0	7	5	26.0	21	5	21	1.00
Caleb Clay	Bos	44	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

(All statistics through 8/2) *player has played at two levels/statistics are combined totals

 

2006 First Round Draft Picks – Hitters

 

PLAYER	TM	#	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS
Evan Longoria*	TB	3	36	143	27	50	12	39	0.350	0.422	0.678	1.100
Drew Stubbs	Cin	8	38	143	27	36	2	14	0.252	0.357	0.378	0.735
William Rowell	Bal	9	19	68	14	19	0	8	0.279	0.375	0.353	0.728
Tyler Colvin	ChC	13	33	131	29	41	4	26	0.313	0.377	0.511	0.888
Travis Snider	Tor	14	35	130	20	41	6	25	0.315	0.384	0.515	0.899
Chris Marrero	Was	15	21	76	9	23	0	14	0.303	0.372	0.408	0.780
Matt Antonelli	SD	17	35	117	26	34	0	17	0.291	0.442	0.359	0.801
Chris Parmalee	Min	20	30	100	20	30	7	24	0.300	0.368	0.600	0.968
Maxwell Sapp	Hou	23	31	103	16	26	1	16	0.252	0.342	0.340	0.682
Cody Johnson	Atl	24	17	59	9	14	0	8	0.237	0.286	0.339	0.625
Hank Conger	LAA	25	19	69	11	22	1	11	0.319	0.382	0.522	0.904
Jason Place	Bos	27	26	90	7	25	2	15	0.278	0.353	0.367	0.720
Preston Mattingly	LA	31	33	126	14	38	0	19	0.302	0.336	0.373	0.709
Emmanuel Burriss	SF	33	36	138	26	38	1	14	0.275	0.358	0.304	0.662
Kyler Burke	SD	35	27	107	18	21	1	9	0.196	0.267	0.271	0.538
Chris Coghlan	Fla	36	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Adrian Cardenas	Phi	37	31	116	20	37	1	18	0.319	0.394	0.440	0.834

(All statistics through 8/2) *player has played at two levels/statistics are combined totals

 

 

Taking Care of (Auction) Business – The ball hit by Barry Bonds for his 715^th career home run, passing Babe Ruth on the all-time list, sold for $220,100 on eBay to an unnamed California bidder on Thursday.  The price was higher than had been expected, but still far less than the almost $3 million Todd McFarlane paid for Mark McGwire’s then record setting 70^th home run ball in 1999.  Andrew Morbitzer was in line waiting to buy beer when Bonds hit the home run on May 28.  Fans reaching over a railing above him were unable to hold on and it trickled down to the unexpecting Morbitzer on the concourse down below.  Morbitzer says he plans to donate 10% of the money to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, one of DN&N’s favorite charities.    

 

Taking Care of (Contract) Business – The Mets on Thursday announced that they have signed short stop Jose Reyes to a 4-year, $23.25 million contract extension less than two months after his 23^rd birthday.  Heading into Thursday’s game against the Marlins, Reyes was a career .282/.316/.415 batter and was fifth on the all-time Mets franchise list in stolen bases (136) and third all-time in triples (36).  His 10 home runs so far this season have tied him for the Mets single season record among shortstops with Kevin Elster (1989) and Ed Bressoud (1966).  Florida held him hitless in 3 at bats in a 4-1 win.

 

Shut Down - The Giants announced following their streak-ending victory on Wednesday that Gold Glove catcher Mike Matheny would miss the rest of the season while continuing to recover from the effects of post-concussion syndrome.  Matheny has been out since May 31 when he was struck by a foul tip in a game against the Marlins.  It was one of several foul tips the catcher received within a span of three days and Matheny has since said that there have been times in the past where he has blacked out briefly following those types of blows.  “I never saw the tips as concussions,” said Matheny, “I just saw them as getting my bell rung.”  Matheny has undergone extensive tests with Dr. Micky Collins from the University of Pittsburgh and Giants trainer Stan Conte said Wednesday that Matheny has seen 10 different doctors since he was injured.  He will return home to his family in St. Louis to rest, but while the team hopes to have him back next season, there is no guarantee that he will ever play again. 

Hit Streak Trivia Answer – Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hit streak began with a single off of Eddie Smith of the White Sox on May 15, 1941.  ~ Trivial Note ~ DiMaggio and Smith were teammates in the ’41 All-Star game with Smith pitching the final two innings to get the win despite allowing a two-run, 8^th inning home run to Arky Vaughn. DiMaggio was 1-for-4 in the game that the AL won on a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth by Ted Williams.

 

On Deck – Friday night’s marquee match-up pits perennial Cy Young contender Roy Halladay (13-2, 3.04) against the recently surging Jon Garland (11-3, 5.01) in a battle of two teams struggling to find their way.  Garland is 7-0 with a 3.27 ERA since June 13, although the Sox are only 24-19 since that date and have gone just 11-16 since the beginning of July.  This leaves them 8 games behind of the Central leading Tigers and a half game back of the Wild Card leading Red Sox.  Halladay, meanwhile, takes the hill having lost just once since April 9 (12-1, 2.92) and he will be trying to stop the bleeding that comes from the Yankees’ 3-game sweep of the Bluebirds.  New York outscored Toronto 20-4 in the series and extended the Blue Jays’ losing streak to 5 straight games.  Toronto trails the Yankees by 8 ˝ in the East and the Sox by 7 ˝ in the Wild Card race. 

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.