Nothing lasts forever...

Ah, I just got done submitting this.

I was just starting to think maybe he could take a run at Hershiser... B.J. ####### Upton. Throwing a lot of shutout innings a row in the major leagues looks like it's hard.

Rays are hanging tough.

Rays are hanging tough.

No doubt. It's especially impressive that they're doing it on the road, where they've been crappy all year. On the other hand, the Rays have been winning all season with pitching, so losing Crawford and Longoria, while severe, are not nearly as fatal as if it would have been Shields and Garza go down.

I believe Ziegler's ERA+ is now 1760.

If he pitched for the Red Sox or Yankees, ESPN would have changed its call letters to EZPN.

If he pitched for the Red Sox or Yankees, ESPN would have changed its call letters to EZPN.

So true. Ziegler would be on the front page of newspapers if he were a Yankee.

They don't call him Bossman for nuthin'

If he were a Red Sox or Yankee, he'd have faced the Red Sox/Yankees and the Devil Rays by now, and probably wouldn't have pitched so many scoreless innings. Of course, the Rangers are in the West.

The right-hander extended that mark to 39 innings to tie the major league single-season record for consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever set by Cleveland’s Al Benton in 1949.

I bet you could have won a lot of bar bets with that one.

1688 IP, 115 career ERA+, made 2 AS teams, showed up low on the MVP ballots twice, lost 2 years to WW2, walked more than he K'd (ahh, those were the days ... when you could post a 115 ERA+ doing that), nice HR rate. Good pitcher. Never heard of him.

If he pitched for the Red Sox or Yankees, ESPN would have changed its call letters to EZPN.

ESPN called. They think you should have devoted that joke to Joba Chamberlain instead of wasting it on an Athletic.

have to hand it to the friggin Rays for hanging tough.

They're really cartoon-flying at this point... the only thing that can stop them at this point is looking at the ground and realizing that they shouldn't be able to fly.

A couple of points to remember about the Rays. Prior to their current road trip, they were 23-28 on the road, which gave them a better road record than most major league teams, and was even slightly better than Boston's current road record. And while every game counts, that 23-28 included an 0-6 in Fenway (Boston is 0-6 at Tropicana Field) where Boston is nearly unbeatable so far. Other than at Fenway, the Rays had a plus .500 record on the road.

As for flying high, I think some people continue to underestimate the talent on this team. They have actually disappointed offensively, given the ability of their hitters. Few if any are having outstanding seasons and many are underperforming. Even those who might be hitting better than expected (Navarro, Hinske) are probably simply nearer the top than middle of their range while Crawford was having the worst year of his career and most of the others have been erratic. There is a better chance that the offense will improve over the next month than that it will decline.

Even the pitching has been playing at a normal level. Perhaps Jackson has been somewhat lucky, but Kazmir is still not fulfilling his potential, Garza is pitching pretty much like you would expect a talented youngster to perform and Shields has been replicating last year. Only the bullpen can be said to have surprised by its effectiveness, no small point I agree, but really the only area where it can be argued there might yet be due some regression.

And to top it off, this team is deep in talent so that it is likely able to survive injury or regression. There are a number of reasonable reserves both on the bench and at Durham who can fill in or even replace players who cannot contribute. While I do think Boston can overtake the Rays, I do not think it inevitable, nor do I think the Rays are playing beyond their actual talent (as Seattle did last year for example). Rather I think this is the beginning of a stretch when the Rays will consistently contend for top spot in the east no matter what other divisional rivals do.

All right. That's it for me. See you in October when the off season shenanigans start.

This seems like as fine a place as any to bring this up...

Orel Hershiser, 1988, actually pitched 67 consecutive scoreless innings. He pitched 59 and then was halted by the end of the regular season... you all know that. He then shut out the Mets for the first eight innings of game 1 of the NLCS (they finally cracked him in the ninth and won the game, though Jay Howell actually took the loss.)

The officially recognized record is 59, but... other than the simple tradition that only the regular season counts, why? Certainly the innings in the championship series against the best lineup in the NL are an achievement.

More to the point, suppose Brad Ziegler this year, or Carl Pavano or something next year, threw 62 consecutive scoreless innings. It would seem to me inappropriate to remove Hershiser from the record book on account of that; I think it really should just make for an extra line. Pavano with the regular season record of 62 innings, Hershiser with the total record of 67 (including playoffs). I just wonder how that would be handled by the Selig...

They're really cartoon-flying at this point... the only thing that can stop them at this point is looking at the ground and realizing that they shouldn't be able to fly.
As long as they have the Bugs Bunny air brakes, they should be fine.

I just wonder how that would be handled by the Selig...
Why poorly, of course.

Hershiser really was unbelievable that year. He finished the regular season with 8 straight complete games, the last 5 of which were shutouts of course, then a 10-inning scoreless effort before being taken out (the game went 15).

It's also interesting to note that he pitched an extremely similar year in 1989 and finished 15-15.

The right-hander extended that mark to 39 innings to tie the major league single-season record for consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever set by Cleveland’s Al Benton in 1949.

I bet you could have won a lot of bar bets with that one.

..... Good pitcher. Never heard of him.

Really, Walt?

He's the answer to a fairly famous trivia question.

Quick--anybody

Who are three guys who've never been in my kitchen.

I believe the question is "Who holds the major league single-season record for consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever?"

I believe the question is "Who holds the major league single-season record for consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever?"

OK smart-ass, I meant another famous trivia question

(you got me, though)

Al Benton is a pretty boring name, I probably wouldn't remember that piece of trivia even if I'd heard it before.

I was all over the George McQuillan story, though. That's a cool name despite his non-cool life.

I agree that a consecutive inning shutout streak shouldn't stop at the regular season. I forget, does it carry over the end of the season? That is, he gave up runs in the postseason but did he then have a consecutive shutout inning streak at the start of 89? That would seem silly.

The same is true of a hittig streak. Say some guy has hit in 54 straight games to end the regular season and then hits in 3 straight divisional series games. That doesn't break the record. But if he doesn't hit in a playoff game but then hits in 3 straight to start the next season, that would? Weird. I don't see any reason playoff games shouldn't count in streaks.

Al Benton is a pretty boring name, I probably wouldn't remember that piece of trivia even if I'd heard it before.

only pitcher to pitch to Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle

The same is true of a hittig streak. Say some guy has hit in 54 straight games to end the regular season and then hits in 3 straight divisional series games. That doesn't break the record. But if he doesn't hit in a playoff game but then hits in 3 straight to start the next season, that would? Weird. I don't see any reason playoff games shouldn't count in streaks.

I thought hitting streaks don't officially carry over from season to season. It gets mentioned sometimes in notes columns and the like, but I don't think it's official.

Aha!

Re 26, you may be right - I've heard that too. But Hershisher's streak carried over (even though he gave up runs in the playoffs).

Anyone know if the hitting streaks carry over or not?

Anyway, Hershiser was kind enough to yield a run in the first inning of opening day 1989, saving us from pondering THAT particular question.

According to Wikipedia:

Major League Baseball recognizes two hitting streak records: Longest hitting streak in one season, and longest hitting streak over multiple seasons (e.g. Rollins 2005-2006). Keeler's, Sisler's, and Rollins' streaks are listed as 44, 34, and 36 games when discussing single-season streaks, and 45, 35, and 38 games when discussing multiple-season streaks.

Keeler's, Sisler's, and Rollins' streaks are listed as 44, 34, and 36 games when discussing single-season streaks, and 45, 35, and 38 games when discussing multiple-season streaks.

this actually came up in 1978 when Rose was catching and passing everybody--was Keeler's 44 games or 45? Answer was: depends on what you mean

I think the hitting streak from season to season is a little silly. The reason the hitting streak is such a feat is because the player was hot (at least hot enough to knock out a single each game) for an extended period of time. The season-to-season streak is two streaks, not one. It's not like he stayed dialed in all winter long.

The season-to-season streak is two streaks, not one. It's not like he stayed dialed in all winter long.

Maybe he did. If Orel Hershiser had been throwing simulated starts at max intensity every five days from October through March, maybe he would have been ready to go on Opening Day. And then when his streak ended, his career would end too!

That's pretty much what we all thought happened Opening Day 1990, Crispix.

Congrats for providing what was no doubt the highlight of the season for me, Brad.