Ryan Zimmerman's halfway there. Yesterday's 3-for-5 game gave him hits in 28 straight games, halfway to Joe DiMaggio.
That should give you some idea of the magnitude of the former Mr. Monroe's streak: it's taken about five weeks to get to this point. Zimmerman would have to get a hit in every game from now 'til about Flag Day for the record.
For the most part, Zimmerman's gone about it with little fanfare. He's had hits early in the games, killing the nail-biting suspense that makes long hitting streaks so fun. His streaks, like his blog, are completely vanilla.
Saturday's game, though, was a bit of an exception. With the team clinging to a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning, Zimmerman was still hitless. Barring extra innings -- something you can never do with this crapbag bullpen -- this would be his last chance.
Bang! Zoom! He nailed a pitch over the wall in right-center. The hitting streak marched on, and when the D-Backs scored once in the bottom of the 9th, that extra run proved to be the game-winner.
Zimmerman (he really needs a nickname!) has shown impressive power all year. He's slugging .577, almost 140 points above his career average. And it seems legit. He's driving the ball in a way he never has before, and he's been especially powerful going the other way, banging the ball off the wall and into the gaps.
If he keeps all this up, maybe he'll finally have hit enough to get that Gold Glove he deserves.
Chris Needham used to write Capitol Punishment. He wonders if anyone's starting to reconsider the Wright/Zimmerman debate.
