Big money, big money, no whammies, no whammies… goddammit, double whammy for the Phillies as the Fightins drop 3 straight to start the season and J-Roll goes 0-4 to end his hitting streak at 38, miles away from Joe Dimaggio. We didn’t think Jimmy would get to 56 but we thought he’d make it interesting and get somewhere in the 40s. It was also a welcome respite from the endless steroids stories.
Rollins said all the right things in his post-game conference (“It’s more disappointing that we lost.” ; “I’ve always said I’d trade in the streak for a win. Unfortunately, the streak ended and we lost anyway.”) but you know he was mighty disappointed not to be able to keep chasing the unbreakable baseball record.
Here’s some reaction from around the blogosphere:
[The Sports Pulse]:
“The streak is over and I’m sad to see it end. I was rooting not only for the streak but for Jimmy Rollins who has quietly become on the best shortstops in the game. I can root for a guy who plays hard and want to be the best without coming off as arrogant.”
[Phillies Nation]: “As we’ve seen in the slew of interviews leading up to the season, J-Roll thoroughly enjoys the spotlight and relishes in the pressure to get hits and get on base. However, in this opinion he’s borderline selfish. He should be up there helping out his teammates batting behind him by taking pitches, drawing walks, fouling balls off, and in general tiring the opposing pitcher and exposing his stuff. There’s a slim chance that with the attention off him for a while he’ll start thinking more along these lines, but again, those chances are indeed slim.”
[Peter on All]: “Jimmy Rollins’ streak is over, but sincere congratulations go out to him for a job well done. There will be no controversy that a two season hitting streak is a valid one. For the record, I think that what he accomplished, having a whole off-season between at-bats, is much tougher than a single season mark.”
Links:
[Baseball Musings]: Game by game stats for Rollins’ streak
[Philly.com]: Streakin’ backward
