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(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Once a player runs a hit streak to 30, they start getting their own daily segment on SportsCenter. Last night, local product Ryan Zimmerman (Kellam High School, ‘03) of the Washington Nationals lined a fastball into center field in the first inning to reach the 30-game plateau. True to form, ESPN’s signature show ran an extended highlight this morning and will probably create a “Zim Watch” throughout the streak’s duration.
During his remarkable run, Zimmerman is batting .382 with 26 RBIs and 26 runs scored. The third baseman has been the DC club’s brightest star since they moved to the nation’s capital from Montreal, but now benefits from a lineup that this year nestles him between Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn in the batting order.
Other recent notable hitting streaks include Jimmy Rollins reaching 38 games (spanning from 2005 to 2006), and Chase Utley (2006) and Luis Castillo (2002) each getting to 35. The all-time benchmark, of course, remains DiMaggio’s 56-game streak, a record most still consider impossible to break. It is sobering to realize Zimmerman is just over halfway to that point, and the attention he’s receiving is still so well deserved – neither Babe Ruth nor Ted Williams ever had a 30-game hitting streak.
Unfortunately for the Nationals, last night’s game also featured a 9th inning walkoff home run, courtesy of Pablo Sandoval from the San Francisco Giants. Their record now stands at 10 wins, 21 losses. Hopefully the attention that will now center around their star third baseman spurs the team into starting a streak of their own: winning games.
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