Rollins extends hitting streak to 37
Jimmy Rollins stretched his hitting streak to 37 games Monday with a double in the eighth inning of the Phillies’ season opener against St. Louis in Philadelphia.
Rollins ended the 2005 season with a 36-game hitting streak, the ninth-longest over one season in big league history, and the longest in the majors since 1987, when Paul Molitor hit safely in 39 consecutive games.
A three-time All-Star shortstop, Rollins is chasing Joe DiMaggio’s major league record 56-game hitting streak, though there is a twist.
DiMaggio accomplished his feat in 1941. The major league marks for longest hitting streak in one season and longest hitting streak spanning two seasons are separate records.
DiMaggio holds both with his 56-game streak in 1941, but there is a difference in the N.L. records: Pete Rose (1978) and Willie Keeler (1897) share the N.L. mark at 44 games. However, Keeler got a hit in his final game of 1896, so his run of 45 games overall is the first record Rollins is pursuing.
Rollins extended his streak by lining a 3-0 pitch off Adam Wainwright down the right-field line.
Bush begins with ‘slow ball’
Perhaps it was the pitching practice he got over the weekend or inspiration from the new baseball bat outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. gave him. President Bush had lots of oomph in his arm to throw out a strong first pitch for the Cincinnati Reds’ home opener.
Bush became the first sitting president to throw a ceremonial pitch in Cincinnati as the Reds took on the Chicago Cubs. The ball to catcher Jason LaRue was high and off the plate, but Bush called it “my best pitch, which was kind of a slow ball.”
Bush received a loud standing ovation when he took the mound in the Republican-leaning city. He was accompanied by two injured soldiers and a father who lost his son in Afghanistan.
Clemens leaning toward leaving
Roger Clemens made it to opening day – as a spectator – and the seven-time Cy Young Award winner said he still is leaning toward retirement.
“That’s where I am right now,” Clemens said before watching the Texas Rangers host the Boston Red Sox. “Obviously, it’s opening day and I’m about to put a golf visor on and I’m going to enjoy a ballgame.”
Before the start, the 43-year-old Rocket spoke with general manager Theo Epstein and other officials from the Red Sox, the team with which he started his career. Clemens said they just told him the door was open if he wanted to return to Boston.
Clearing the bases
Indians left-hander C.C. Sabathia underwent an MRI on a strained right abdominal muscle, and the team said it will determine his status today. Sabathia had to leave Sunday’s season opener against the White Sox in the third when he got hurt delivering a pitch. … The Pirates and GM Dave Littlefield agreed to a one-year contract extension through 2008, the second time in three seasons he got a new deal on opening day.