Beat the Streak Report: Thursday, July 22
The bad news is that Wednesday was another tough day in Streakland, with Ichiro Suzuki, Omar Infante, Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero eating donuts for dinner and destroying the hopes and dreams of about 15 percent of our nation-wide audience combined.
The medium news is that Carl Crawford put up an 0-for-0, pressing the pause button 7.5 percent of all streaks — that’s a lot of pausing — an incredible amount of pausation.
The great news is that Derrek Lee went 2-for-5 to extend my streak to a season-high 10 games. Did someone say I’m gaining some street cred around here? Have I possibly started to figure this whole thing out? Am I contemplating quitting my job so that I’ll be eligible for the $3,000,000 grand prize?
These are all good questions to ponder as we look at Thursday’s picks.
Time for Thursday’s picks
Oh, hello there …
? Mark Teixeira: .636 AVG (7-for-11) lifetime vs. Royals starter Bruce Chen
? Adrian Gonzalez: .500 AVG (7-for-14) lifetime vs. Braves starter Tim Hudson
? David Wright: .556 AVG (5-for-9) lifetime vs. Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda
? Orlando Hudson: .636 AVG (7-for-11) lifetime vs. Orioles starter Kevin Millwood
? Ichiro Suzuki: .346 AVG (18-for-52) since ’05 vs. Red Sox starter John Lackey
Feeling kinda spicy?
? Nick Punto: .458 AVG (11-for-24) lifetime vs. Orioles starter Kevin Millwood.
You had me at Millwood until I did some recon and saw that Punto is hitting .192 over his last 10.
You’ll thank me later …
? Nelson Cruz: .208 AVG (5-for-24) lifetime vs. Angels starter Jered Weaver
? Albert Pujols: .176 AVG (3-for-17) lifetime vs. Phillies starter Cole Hamels
? Ryan Howard: .182 AVG (2-for-11) lifetime vs. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright
Leaderboard time!
“cwlarson” kept his gravy train flowing, riding Robinson Cano’s coattails to reach a 33-game streak. And he better keep it up if he wants to avoid the fire breathing out of this hit dragon.
Yeah, I was referring to myself as a mythical creature there. This has to stop.
Side note: The thought of a dragon holding a baseball bat is funnier than I initially imagined.
Top MLB streakers
? Buster Posey: 15 games
? Ian Kinsler: 14 games
? Adam Lind: 14 games
? Nelson Cruz: 10 games
? Orlando Hudson: 10 games
Beat the Streak Report 
I’m definitely riding the Teixeira wagon today. Not only is he hitting .368 in July but he even hits better right handed than left handed in his career. He hits Chen well so it’s obvious he is my choice. Yanks in Survivor and A Rod in HR BTS.
Teix still can’t hit at night though. His July night #s are still awful. But he owns Chen so that is probably enough to get him through. Although this is new Chen. The guy who is determined to stay in the big leagues.
I went with Jeter. He can still hit lefties. It don’t matter to me because I got resetted 2 days ago and got “resetted” again yesterday with all walks for Thome.
Good luck to everybody who chose Votto as he is out of the starting lineup for Thursday but you know he will pinch hit.
Another big PH wipe-out in the making with HRam out. Probably not going to PH unless Johnson blows the game early which is highly unlikely. I posted yesterday that he is gonna be rested soon by the mgr.
Votto too is unlikely to PH unless the Votron Volquez blows games early. Probably not gonna happen with down dominant the Voltron force was on his last start. And the mgr. really wanted to rest Votto for days already but couldn’t because of Rolen being out.
I think today is the day to determine if anyone’s gonna win this. There is a lot of trap set for huge wipeout today. If everyone passes today, there is still hope for someone getting the big salami.
MCab can’t hit during the day this month.
JHamil is going against Weaver who threw 2 hitters against TX this month. Blanking both JHamil & Vlad that day.
Ichiro most likely in a huge slump.
LaV’s List
Today’s Top Picks of the current Top2500, 109 batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Mark Teixeira 226 9.13(1rst & 3rd)
Adrian Beltre 224 9.05(2nd & 4th)
Hanley Ramirez 202 8.16
Kevin Youkilis 201 8.12
Ichiro Suzuki 171 6.91
Miguel Cabrera 151 6.10(4th)
Orlando Hudson 148 5.98
Joe Mauer 125 5.05
Derek Jeter 107 4.32
Robinson Cano 72 2.91
Josh Hamilton 69 2.79
Adrian Gonzalez 65 2.63
No Selection 47 1.9
Delmon Young 45 1.82
Yesterday Top2500 reset was 24.56%, with biggest culprit being Ichiro
Highest “No Selection”:2 on Pg#6 with streaks of 17 back to zero.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Pick
RIP2TheCompetition, 18, pg 6, J. Hamilton
http://www.jew, 14, pg 27, A. Beltre
_Em_, 14, pg 28, A. Beltre
iheartstrazzy(AKA The hit Dragon), 10, pg 58, O. Hudson
forcook, 9, pg 92, I. Suzuki
dave55, 8, pg100+, K. Youkilis
baseballgirlie13, 15, reset by J. Hamilton
I like Jew’s pick of Beltre. He seems to be back on his hot-bat wagon and he is in his best box (lefty-away-night).
@btsplayer Yah i liked all the numbers associated with beltres game today..like my chances of him getting a hit but still holding my breathe and hoping my streak can get to 15 today!! lol meanwhile my brother is at 10 and chose denard span today..says he has a feeling span is gna get a multi hit game..guess we will see bout that!!
Only 15 out of top 2500 have Votto ,7 ppl have B. Boesch who is not starting and as pointed out 202 have HanRam.
I didn’t even notice that Weaver is pitching for the Angels. I don’t like Hamilton’s chances and maybe he’s finally cooling off is Hamilton.
@btsplayer Never underestimate Dustbag’s miserable management… He was giving Jay Bruce a “day off” on Sunday to “clear his mind” but still pinch hit him in the 7th.
Slumping during the day this month or not, Miguel Cabrera delivered with an RBI single in the fourth. In addition, I’m up to 5 and done for the day. Hah, 8.8% of the way!
While everyone is thinking Tex, I went with Jeter to hopefully bring me to tie my season high of 5.
Marlins game was hilarious at the end. A triple followed by 2 intent walks plus a single by a catcher who probably felt slightly snubbed.
My picks today;
Beat the Streak and Home run: Mark Teixeira
Survivor: Yankees
Highest no selection;
Beat the streak: 2 way Tie between “mean22” and “laaron26” (page 6) with streaks of 17
Survivor: “ianeb72199” (page 2) with a streak of 9
Home run: 2 way Tie between “cblueiis2” (page 1) “kmwoods20” (page 2) with streaks of 3
All of them are going back to 0 on their streaks in the respective game.
So here we go, 2-2 tie going to the bottom half of the ninth with the P spot due up first to bat, is HanRam gonna PH?
No HanRam today pushing the pause Button on 200 streaks.
miggy takes me back to 2 in bts And with Fla pulling it out I go to 2 in survivor as well. GL to all tonight.
M
“Am I contemplating quitting my job so that I’ll be eligible for the $3,000,000 grand prize? ”
I don’t think that would matter, since you had your job during part of the streak though.
But I would love to know why that makes you ineligible to win?
I could see if you actually PLAYED or even were a coach or manager.
Like I’d love to work for MLB Network someday, but I don’t think I could take having to quit BTS.
It is a HUUUGGGEEE part of my life.
Why the requirement?
“I’m definitely riding the Teixeira wagon today. Not only is he hitting .368 in July but he even hits better right handed than left handed in his career. He hits Chen well so it’s obvious he is my choice. Yanks in Survivor and A Rod in HR BTS.”
The only reason I did not go there is that Chen has actually pitched pretty well this year.
A tip of my Cub cap to ooliber for working on the top 2500 list each day. Always interesting to see who they took.
Well I’m back at the 0 again in survivor. Hot Hammels outduels hot Wainwright in steamy St. Louey today.
“Another big PH wipe-out in the making with HRam out. Probably not going to PH unless Johnson blows the game early which is highly unlikely. I posted yesterday that he is gonna be rested soon by the mgr.”
I am confused.
Why would they be MORE likely to pinch-hit if the game is a blowout?
“@btsplayer Never underestimate Dustbag’s miserable management… He was giving Jay Bruce a “day off” on Sunday to “clear his mind” but still pinch hit him in the 7th.”
The Rangers did the same with Josh Hamilton the day before the ASB.
When I see a guy has the day off, if there is no physical injury mentioned, I always watch the game extremely nervously, particularly if it is a NL hitter.
“Hot Hammels outduels hot Wainwright in steamy St. Louey today.”
Well, the bullpen beat St. Louis.
Not Hamels.
Jeter brings me to 5. Good Luck, Hit Dragon, I almost picked O-Dog as well.
@ champion how did Hamels not beat the Cards. He pitched 8 innings and gave up 1 hit. Just because he didn’t get the win the credit goes to him as much as anyone.
Tex is going off. Going for the cycle Im calling it.
On the subject of strategies…….does anyone know the strategy of the all-time BTS leader – the guy who made it to 49?????
Blog author goes down. Better keep his day job now!
Strategies: Pick 1 of these 5 for every game – Cano, Ichiro, Cabrera, Hamilton, & Longoria. What are odds all 5 will fall in same day? Close to 0%. Trick is not picking the 1 or 2 that will. Oh & if 1 or more of those don’t play, substitute with Prado, Polanco, Pujols, or another favorite.
Not my strategy, I rode the #5 horse of Twins to start a new streak. Gitty-up!
Josh Hammy got his, good job RIP.
Biting my nails for Beltre – 0 for 3 after 6. If I make it to 15, I’ll get ahead of my statistician brother-in-law and that would feel good! It’s not like the Hyphen to hold anyone back.
“On the subject of strategies…….does anyone know the strategy of the all-time BTS leader – the guy who made it to 49?????”
Mkaratzia: Timely and lucky and lemming picks. Hardly anything out of the ball park. The same startegies used by any other high streakers. That is bad pitching and strong hitting. I recall he rode Ichiro, Hanley, Magg and Braun hard. I could be wrong but I seem to recall those names.
“I’ll get ahead of my statistician brother-in-law and that would feel good!”
I just talked to Beltre. He says he doesn’t math geeks so he will bet a hit just for you. He said he was taking easy because the game is won already and was mostly thinking about picking put a dozen of Taco Bell Gorditas on the way back to hotel.
Yes! I told you. Good thing I made a call to Beltre. Just texted him and told him to have a blast with Gorditas.
HELL YA BELTRE I LOVE YOU!!
@dodgerlu Thanks….hoping for a first at-bat hit tomorrow or else I’ll be stuck @ work wondering if my guy got me a hit.
Beltre just texted me back during the pitching change. He said whoever is catching for Seattle tomorrow will be feeling some Gorditas his way when he takes big swings. Poor Bard.
Thanks, btsplayer!
It seems like every night there is a no hitter or 2 in the making. Sometimes more than 2 a night. Next thing, Suppan will be throwing a perfect game. I guess all the hormones from 2 yrs ago are wearing off. Time to speak to Manny or A-Roid’s sources because this is not good for BTS.
Now curious to see if Lackey’s no-hitter will hold. Will they leave him in? It’s not a shutout.
Haha. Lackey’s no hitter broken. So cool.
Yeah, thanks to Bard, no less! I think he took issue with that gordita remark.
@ponyforkeana: go back & read your “classy” comment. You should look @ your face in the mirror before opening your hole.
Hmmm. Name calling. Who did I name call? Calling a leader getting lucking day after day is not name calling. I called it like I see it.