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The Longest Streak Pt
I – The Mets on Thursday afternoon countered a 7th inning, game
tying double by Josh Bard with four runs of their own against San Diego
reliever Doug Brocail to beat the Padres 7-3.
That completed a 3-game sweep and extending their winning streak to 5
straight, the longest current streak in the majors. Orlando Hernandez allowed 3 runs on just 4
hits over 7 innings to even his record at 8-8 and David Wright doubled home the
go-ahead run to help raise the Amazin’s lead over the Phillies in the East to
14 games. The last time the Mets woke up
with a lead this large on August 11 was in 1986 – the year that they won their
last World Series – when they had an 18 game advantage on the Montreal Expos in
what was then a six-team NL East. The
Padres with the loss meanwhile, dropped a half a game behind the Dodgers in the
West when
The Longest Streak Pt IIa – Rookie Tom Gorzelanny pitched well, allowing just 2 ER in 6 innings, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Pirates 5th straight loss as Roger Clemens allowed just 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings to earn the 345th win of his major league career, leaving him 16 behind Kid Nichols for 7th all-time. Gorzelanny was the 6th rookie starter Clemens has been matched up against in his 10 starts this year. Brad Ausmus drove in the Astros’ first two runs and Morgan Ensberg sealed the win with a 7th inning, 3-run home run to help pull the Astros to within 2 ˝ games of Cincinnati in the Wild Card race.
Clemens Trivia Question – Roger made his season debut against rookie Francisco Liriano on June 22. Gorzelanny was the 6th rookie Clemens has been matched up against. Can you name the other four rookies to pitch against the future HOFer this year? (answer below)
Countdown to 3,000 – Craig Biggio was 1-for-4 for
The Longest Streak Pt
IIb – The Bucs’ losing
skid is tied for the longest current streak in the majors with that of the
Boston Red Sox, who were swept in Kansas City for the first time in 15 years,
leaving them 3 games behind Yankees, who also lost on Thursday 5-4 to the White
Sox.
The Longest Streak Pt
III – Chasing DiMaggio – In the
losing cause, Manny Ramirez’ first inning single extended his career best
hitting streak to 25 straight games, the longest in the AL this year and tenth
longest in Red Sox history. Ramirez
moved ahead of Nomar Garciaparra, who hit safely in 24 straight in 1998, and is
now tied with George Metkovich (1944) and Wade Boggs
(1987) on the club’s all-time list. Dom
DiMaggio holds the club record with 34 straight in 1949. Ramirez was 2-for-4 in the loss and is now
batting .402 (37-for-92) since the streak began. The Sox return home on Friday to take on the
Orioles who will send Adam Loewen (2-3, 5.72) to the mound. Manny has never faced the rookie, but has hit
.307 in his career against the
Red Sox Hit Streak Trivia Question – Ramirez just passed Garciaparra’s 24-gamer and is now 1 behind Buck Freeman (1902), Johnny Pesky (1947) and Garciaparra (2003) for a tie for 7th in club history. Nomar also tied Tris Speaker (1912) for the second longest hit streak in Red Sox history when he hit safely in 30 straight games in 1997. Can you name the two Red Sox hitters other than Garciaparra who have had two hitting streaks of 25 games or longer? (answer below)
Quick Hits
Aramis Ramirez is batting .336 (43-for-128) with 13 HR and 36 RBI over his last 34 games.
Scott Hatteberg has continued his hot July hitting into August (12-for-32, .375) and is batting .397 (50-for-126) with 7 HR and 19 RBI in his last 36 games.
Ichiro is batting just .157 (8-for-51) with just 3 doubles, 5 runs scored and 0 RBI in his last 12 games.
Chris Duncan is batting .338 (27-for-80) with 7 HR and 14 RBI since July 14 (23 games).
Shea Hillenbrand has 8 hits in his last 23 AB (.348) and has hit safely in 13 of 16 games as a Giant.
Adrian Gonzalez has reached base safely in 30 straight games.
Today DN&N gives you a look at how teams are doing against both right and left handed hitting as well as left and right handed pitching.
Pitching
(Statistics through 8/9)
1.
2.
3.
14.
13.
12.
1.
2.
3.
3.
14.
13.
12.
Hitting
(Statistics through 8/9)
1.
2.
3.
14.
13.
12.
1.
2t.
2t.
14.
13.
12.
Clemens Trivia Answer – In addition to Francisco Liriano and Tom Gorzelanny, Roger Clemens this year has been opposed by rookies Carlos Marmol (7/3), Anthony Reyes (7/8), Anibal Sanchez (7/14) and Dustin Nippert (8/5).
Red Sox Hit Streak Trivia Answer – If Manny Ramirez can extend his hitting streak on Friday night against rookie Adam Loewen, then he stands a good chance against Kris Benson on Saturday to tie club record holder Dom DiMaggio for 6th on the Red Sox career hit streak list. DiMaggio hit safely in 34 straight to set the club record in 1949 and then 2 seasons later, did so in 27 straight. At the time, it gave DiMaggio the third longest streak in club history. He remained 3rd on the career list until 1985 when Wade Boggs hit safely in 28 straight, the first of his two career hitting streaks of 25 games or longer in a Red Sox uniform. Johnny Damon is fourth on the all-time club list with his 29-gamer in 2005.
On Deck – The
White Sox and Detroit meet again this weekend on the South Side in a huge
series for the defending champs who enter the series in second place, 8 ˝ games
behind the high flying Tigers. Rookie
Justin Verlander (14-4, 2.79) will take the ball for the Motown 9 on Friday
night pitted against Jose Contreras (10-4, 3.75) in the evening’s marquee match
up. Verlander will be pitching on nine
days rest after the Tigers opted to skip his last turn on Sunday. He reported general arm fatigue after his start
against
In The Hole – On
Sunday,
DN&N On Vacation – I will be taking the next week off to celebrate my anniversary in style, but I’ll be back on the 22nd with more News and Notes from around the majors. Until then, see you at the ballpark!
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.