|
||
|
Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose. Which for those of you whose French is even rustier than mine, translates roughly as: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Never say this blog isn't educational. Usefully educational, now that'd be a different matter, but my point is, two days after we had a three-way tie at the top of the NL West between the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres, and one day after the tie was broken...we're right back there again. So we'll see what Sunday brings as far as unclogging the log-jam goes.
Was doing a spot of delving into the depths of batting futility, inspired by today's AZ pitcher, Doug Davis, whose last hit was July 4th in Cincinatti: since then, he's gone 26 games and 48 at-bats without a knock. That's not bad at all: it's the longest hitless streak in the majors since Bruce Ruffin went 69 at-bats from May 30, 1990 to July 7, 1993. If Double-D can get past Ruffin, he'll have a shot at the all-time champion, Bob Buhl. He had a spell of futility that ran from September 1, 1961 through to May 30, 1963, and lasted 87 at-bats.
That also included the record for most at-bats in a season without a hit: in 1962, for the Milwaukee Braves and Chicago Cubs, Buhl went a startling 0-for-70. Also of note in this area is Ernie Koob, a member of the 1916 St. Louis Browns. He was 0-for-41... but somehow, managed to coax fifteen walks from the opposition, for a respectable .268 OBP. Another memorable streak is Fred Gladding's: it took more than eight years from his debut on July 1, 1961 before he finally got his first hit on July 30, 1969, going 0-for-47. Among recent non-pitchers, we should honour former Diamondback Andy Fox, who was 0-for-40, including 28 consecutive hitless games, from May-September 2004.
I'm off to bed, having just come back from a fabulous Aquabats concert, and will have no voice tomorrow. A long lie-in is proposed; given another 10am start, it's very likely I will not be about for first pitch, hence this early GameDay Thread. Sorry for the weekend randomness: we had Friday's thread, followed by Saturday's thread, then Friday's report, and now Sunday's thread: I should catch up with Saturday and Sunday's reports tomorrow afternoon. Pay attention, for this will be on the test. :-)