Halfway to DiMaggio, the Ethier chase is sized up by author/expert Kennedy
AP/Alex Gallardo
Andre Ethier follows an RBI single toward the hole at shortstop with Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto looking on during the fifth inning Monday night at Dodger Stadium. The infield single extended Ethier's hitting streak to 28 games.
Kostya Kennedy, whose book, "56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports" was one of the "30 Baseball Books in the 30 Days of April" reviews that we were pleased to include, is as any credible expert in today's world about hitting streaks.
Like the one that the Dodgers' Andre Ethier has going -- 28, halfway to 56.
In a column posted today on SI.com (linked here), Kennedy hits many of the same notes that he included in the book about why 56 has become so unreachable, even when there seems no logical explanation for why it can't happen again.
AP/Mark J. Terrill
Andre Ethier grounds toward San Diego first baseman Brad Hawpe on Sunday as catcher Nick Hundley, right, looks on along with home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and starting pitcher Dustin Moseley, below. That made the streak reach 27.
But there are many other angles to Ethier's run. Kennedy writes:
Halfway to what Joe DiMaggio did in 1941, and already there is talk of the hallowed record that shimmers far in the distance. "Even the Great DiMag would say that you have to have a little luck," the Dodgers television announcer Vin Scully was drawling shortly after Ethier made it 27 straight on Sunday.
Luck indeed. In that game, Ethier's ground ball was muffed at first base by the Padres' Brad Hawpe, a converted outfielder. Ethier made it easily to first. After a pause, the ball was ruled a hit. The hometown crowd cheered. It would be Ethier's only hit of the day.
"When I was deciding whether to call it a hit or an error, I wasn't even thinking about the streak," says Don Hartack, the game's official scorer.
That won't be possible anymore for Hartack, or for whomever is scoring a Dodgers game. From now on close attention will be paid to every ball that Ethier hits with his streak on the line. He ran the streak to 28 with another infield hit, this time against the Cubs, on Monday night, and now he has the third-longest hitting streak in the 128-year history of the Dodgers. This streak is starting to mean something. The easy part is over.
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