There are certain streaks out there that I don't care to follow - the streak of gray hairs starting to show up on my head; the streaks of toothpaste on my kids' bathroom mirror; the streak of sunlight that comes in through my blinds and wakes me up on Saturday mornings. But in sports, we love to follow streaks. Consecutive games lost or won; consecutive runs, goals, or touchdowns scored; streaks of perfection and glory or streaks of defeat. Baseball nerds like myself love streaks, whether we follow consecutive-game hitting streaks (like Andre Ethier's 30-game one earlier this year); consecutive scoreless innings pitched (one of the earliest streaks I remember following back in the days of Orel Hersheiser); or consecutive games played (who could forget Cal Ripken's 2131 game?). We get excited with streaks, big or small, long or short. Which is why I am happy to say that Michael Morse of the Nationals has an 11-game hitting streak. You're probably thinking: "If Andre Ethier's streak went all the way to 30 games, why is an 11-game one so important?" Well in the grand scheme of things, it's not. But as a Nationals fan, I'm just going to bask in this one for as long as it continues. Morse is no DiMaggio, but he's a very good hitter and can play whatever position you ask him to play (he's currently in first base since Adam LaRoche is on the disabled list). And like I've mentioned before, he's quite a hottie. So yeay for Mr. Morse - let's hope his streak continues for a little while longer - us Nats fans need the excitement!
Speaking of the Nationals and streaks, they won their third game in a row last night by beating the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1. This sent the D-backs down to second place, half a game behind the Giants. Jordan Zimmermann finally got the offensive support he never gets, so he finally got a long-deserved win. Everyone is freaking out because Jayson "Werth-less" got hit by a pitch on the elbow, but if he sits out a game or two I don't consider that a big loss (though his fielding prowess will be missed more than his lack of hitting). I give the Nationals credit for hanging in there and playing decent baseball despite all their injuries, and I hope they do well on the rest of this road trip.
Speaking of players with admirable streaks, yesterday in 1941, Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's disease (he should have seen that coming!). "Sweet Lou" had a great career full of streaks (including a game in 1932 where he hit 4 consecutive home runs in a 20-13 Yankee victory), and is still considered to be one of the classiest players of the game.
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