A Tough Week For Streaks
Sunday Paper (Year 3, Volume XIX)
I love a good streak.
If I don't have a huge hatred for the person or the team involved, I always want to see a streak that approaches historic lengths continue as long as possible.
The last time I think I was able to get excited about a big streak might have been the Rockets' 22-game winning streak in 2008 (I thought I wrote about that, but I can't find anything in my archives). (You also may remember I was really late to the Cavaliers' long losing streak this NBA season, so I can't honestly say I was caught up in that one.)
This week, two baseball streaks were on my mind...and they both came to an end.
On Monday Jered Weaver and the Angels lost to the Red Sox. This was not only his first loss of the season - he had won his six previous starts to start the season. In other words, no no-decisions. Just wins - 6-0. I was hoping he'd push that pretty far...and I can't say 30-0 didn't cross my mind for an instant. Needless to say I was sorry he couldn't get to at least 7-0. Now, he's lost two straight starts. So much for even 29-1.
The other streak belonged to a member of Los Angeles' National League entry - Andre Ethier and his hitting streak. Ethier was hitting .414 in his career against Saturday night's scheduled starter, Chris Young...and who knows? Maybe Ethier was thrown by Young's scratched start and the fact that he had never before faced Dillon Gee...but his streak came to an end at 30 games when he went 0-for-4 Saturday night against Gee and 2 relievers.
So it's back to zero for both. The good news? It's only the first weekend in May.
There's still plenty of time in the 2011 season for other streaks to begin.....and end.
*A little more than a month in and I'm a little bit worried about my baseball picks. The Angels are doing OK in the AL West, but came to Boston earlier this week and got their butts kicked. The Brewers haven't been bad, but they looked awful against the Braves this week. (But they did get Zack Greinke back, so there's that to consider.) As far as other divisions - I tweeted this earlier this week, but if you don't follow me on twitter (do it! @200miles_citi) I really think the Francisco Liriano no-hitter was the catalyst for the Twins - I bet they turn it around now. Or at least, I hope....
*It should be noted, in light of Justin Verlander's second career no-hitter yesterday coupled with Yovanni Gallardo's near no-hitter, that one streak I do want to see end is the Mets' no no-hitter streak.
*Looks like Hall of Famer Gary Carter's PBAU Sailfish get into their post-season bracket. If I read it correctly they're playing a post-season game Tuesday afternoon. Not sure how that works considering the average season they had (maybe the host is an automatic qualifier?)...but I bet they do some post-season damage.
*Best fact out of Sports Illustrated this week? That Barry Trotz has been the only coach in the Nashville Predators' 12 seasons in the NHL. I like the loyalty there. And, oh yeah, the streak.
*Speaking of SI, if you haven't read Justin's SI Review over at Sports Crackle Pop! lately, you're really missing out. This week's is a particularly good one.
*I was surprised to hear this week that Tom Durkin was stepping down from calling the Triple Crown races due to stress. I had never really thought about what a stressful job that might be...but if it weighs that heavily on him and he's thinking that much about the stress rather than just the race...he definitely made the right decision.
*Today is my wedding anniversary. Worth linking to this story, about how awesome my wife is. It's also Mothers' Day. So Happy Mothers' Day to all moms, and Happy Anniversary to my wife.
