| Andrew Perna. 12th May, 2009 - 4:06 pm
 When the Nationals take on the Giants in San Francisco on Tuesday night, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman will be looking to extend his 29-game hit streak.
Six players have hit in more than thirty straight games since 2000, with only five having done so over the course of one season.
Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins recorded at least one hit in 38 straight games a few seasons ago, but the streak started in the 2005 season and ended in 2006.
Zimmerman, who has failed to record a hit in just one game this season, is hitting .363 with a .408 on-base percentage and a .630 slugging mark. In addition, he has been absolutely red-hot in May. His line this month looks like this: .511/.521/.800 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.
He is more than halfway to Joe DiMaggio?s historic streak, and history shows that it?s unlikely he?ll surpass the Yankee great.
However, it?s not out of the realm of possibility for him extend his streak at least a few more games. With that said, what is he in for once the attention and emotion behind his incredible run are over?
Will he continue hitting at a tremendous clip, or will he endure a lull once he finally goes through a game without recording a hit?
Here are the six-longest hitting streaks this decade:
--Rollins, Phillies, 2005-06, 38 games
--Luis Castillo, Marlins, 2002, 35 games
--Chase Utley, Phillies, 2006, 35 games
--Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 2003, 30 games
--Willy Taveras, Astros, 2006, 30 games
--Moises Alou, Mets, 2007, 30 games
Alou?s streak, the most recent, came towards the end of the year. It ended on Sept. 27, with just three more games left in the regular season. After hitting in 30 straight games, Alou went 3-for-14 (.214), well below his .341 mark over the course of the 2007 campaign.
Taveras saw his streak end on Aug. 29 of the 2006 season, and he went 21-for-86 (.244), slightly lower than his .278 batting average on the season.
Pujols, the best hitter in the lot, saw his run end on Aug. 22, 2003. He finished the season by going 41-for-118 (.347). He hit .359 for the year, meaning he didn?t suffer much of a drop off when his streak ended.
Utley hit .309 for the Phillies in 2006, and his run came to an end when he failed to record a hit on Aug. 4 against the rival Mets. He ended that season by going 55-for-217 (.253)
June 22, 2002 was the day that Castillo?s streak ended. At the time, he was playing for the Marlins. He went 91-for-323 (.281) after his run. Like all the players we?ve analyzed thus far, Castillo hit higher, .305, over the entire season.
Rollins? hit streak ended in just the third game of the 2006 season. The dynamic is obviously different, with Rollins having gone 3-for-8 in the 37th and 38th games of his streak.
He hit .277 during the 2006 season; .276 after the streak ended in early April.
As you can see, a majority of lengthy hitting streaks have occurred at the end of the season, so it?ll be interesting to see how Zimmerman fares once his streak inevitably ends.
In all likelihood, Zimmerman?s average will drop closer to .300, as his career mark is .288. He?s never hit higher than .287 over the course of a full season, but he does appear locked and much-improved this year. |
