Beat the Streak Report: Monday, August 9
And I’m back.
I’d like to thank Ian for pinch-hitting for me on Friday, and while it
wasn’t quite an African Safari, I was stuck in traffic for four hours
near Scranton, Pennsylvania around midnight last night. Which is even
more fun than it sounds.
Anyway, it was a pretty solid Sunday all around in Streakland, as
Robinson Cano, Joe Mauer, Adrian Beltre, Ichiro Suzuki, Nick Markakis
and Miguel Cabrera each laced hits to keep the gravy train going for
38.5 percent of the galaxy.
My condolences to those 3.4 percent who selected Delmon Young and are now officially out of the running for the $3,000,000.
But, alas, all is not lost for you fine folks. Even though you won’t be
closing out the campaign a BTS legend, reading books about yourself and
books about books about yourself, you still have time to win $10,000 and
beat out the ineffable name — Dick George — and his 43-game streak.
So there’s that.
Time for Monday’s Picks:
Oh, hello there …
? Nick Markakis: .500 AVG (6-for-12) since ’05 vs. White Sox starter Edwin Jackson
? Derek Jeter: .333 AVG (10-for-30) lifetime vs. Red Sox starter Jon Lester
? Evan Longoria: .500 AVG (3-for-6) lifetime vs. Tigers starter Armando Galarraga
Feeling kinda spicy?
? Chris Getz: .455 AVG (5-for-11) lifetime vs. Angels starter Ervin Santana
You’ll thank me later …
? Miguel Cabrera: .000 AVG (0-for-7) lifetime vs. Rays starter David Price
? Johnny Damon: .111 AVG (1-for-9) lifetime vs. Rays starter David Price
? Billy Butler: .222 AVG (4-for-18) lifetime vs. Angels starter Ervin Santana
Leaderboard time!
Right in the thick of the hunt for each of hour mega grand prizes is
“gfc2112”, who eschewed Ian’s not-so sagacious advice from Friday and
rode non-blue-chipper Clint Barmes to a 33-game streak.
Shows how much Ian knows.
Top MLB streakers
? Raul Ibanez: 16 games
? Juan Pierre: 15 games
? Adrian Beltre: 14 games
? Hunter Pence: 14 games
? Omar Infante: 11 games
? Howard Kendrick: 10 games
Beat the Streak Report 
Dave (Blog Guy). How about considering a countdown with each daily blog, prominently highlighted? The countdown could indicate how many more gamedays left to reach 57 and also how many gamedays left to beat dick.george
^^ Or optionally. Instead of how many gamedays remaining, minimum current streak required to still be in the running for both the jackpot & consolation prizes?
I don’t want to make a pick today… does anyone know of someone who is available to pick but will not be in the lineup?
@neil. Look at rotoworld.com. Example: Matt Watson (OAK) taken to hospital yesterday (possible kidney stones). Unlikely to be in line up today. Jack Wilson (SEA) fractured a finger yesterday in a bathroom fall, unlikely to be in line up today. Maybe more. Rotoworld is a good source for injuries & line up changes.
Thanks. I changed my mind though… looking ahead at the remaining schedule there are still alot of days with less than a full slate of games. A couple days only have 6 games. Going with Cano today… but I’m nervous.
I’ve decided to go with Omar Infante today. He has been on fire lately and the braves are facing the astros so I don’t feel to bad about this pick. I know it’s do or die but if I pick someone who isn’t playing that is almost as bad as not getting a hit since I only have like three days where I can afford to do that. Here’s hoping to my favorite team winning and Infante getting a hit. Go Braves and GL to everyone!!
Well I am officially out of the running for 3 million since Delmon Young did not get a hit yesterday, but I am going to continue playing until I cannot beat the streak of Dick George at 43. GL to everyone else though and even though I cannot win, I want someone to win so that we can prove it is possible, haha. I want to see MLB pay out 3 million to someone.
ditto goober85 on all counts. Good luck everyone!
Hmmm, a couple of “No Selections” on front page.
Pujols most selected. Picking best player in divisional series btwn #1 & #2 teams… If I were Reds, I’d be saying, “Don’t let Pujols beat you”. Quality of pitches to hit may not be good, but we’ll see later tonite how that ended up.
Yup. They not gonna give Pujols much to hit. Most likely Jay will benefit. The pitcher will want to throw strikes to get Jay out before facing Pujols.
Anyway, this is exactly when Pujols usually disppoint. When he looks red hot on paper, that is when he goes 0-fer.
My picks;
Beat the Streak: Nick Markakis
Home Run Beat the Streak: Paul Konerko
Survivor: Giants
Highest no selections;
Beat the Streak: “memsahib66” on page 1 with a streak of 22….. Are you kidding me?
Home Run Beat the Streak:12 with HR streaks of 2.
Survivor:”bmc123456″ on page 4 with a 7 game winning streak.
All “No selections” in each game back to 0.
All Beat the Streak “No selections” are eliminated from $3 Million Prize contention.
“Yup. They not gonna give Pujols much to hit. Most likely Jay will benefit….”
Also Holliday should benefit. If pitching around/walking Pujols, not gonna do the same for Holliday (except possibly in 8th/9th inning). If I’d pick STL, Jay or Holliday would be my pick with higher confidence than Sir Albert, especially Mon/Tue/Wed.
Hey everybody – don’t forget the consolation prize on Sept for Opening Day tix. A small prize but better than nothing. I will play regardless just to fine tune strategies and get my baseball fix in before the NFL takes over. :). Going with Braun. Good luck to all!!!! And the count down
idea is great!!!!
@champion_88- I will definitely keep trying. Like I said, I still want the chance at the $10,000. I will keep playing until I can’t beat that. So I will definitely keep trying at full effort.
This is about all I can post for now. The standings page won’t let me load page 2. I’ll keep trying but dont know if/when I finally get the stats that they will incl the Yankee/BoSox game or not.
LaV’s List
Yesterday’s Top2500 Reset was back down to 16.2% with D. Young killing the most hopes and dreams.
And 20.4% paused.
Highest “No Selection”:Pg# 1 with a streak of 22 back to zero. And there was a 2nd one on the first page as well, with a streak of 19.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
Dave55, 9, pg 31, 673, R. Braun
forcook, 8, pg 41, 956, J. Votto
popi21 7, pg 67, 1430, A. Pujols
darwi 6, pg , 2021, D. Jeter(good)
bullfrogs, 6, pg 94, 2021, J. Heyward
_EM_, 9, RESET BY D. Young
GL to all
M
“Well I am officially out of the running for 3 million since Delmon Young did not get a hit yesterday, but I am going to continue playing until I cannot beat the streak of Dick George at 43. GL to everyone else though and even though I cannot win, I want someone to win so that we can prove it is possible, haha. I want to see MLB pay out 3 million to someone.”
Considering there has been a 1-game tiebreaker each of the past 3 years, I would not give up hope yet.
There is always an outside chance of 2-3 games worth of playoffs at the end of the year.
You might as well keep trying at full effort right now, just in case.
You REALLY do not want to be kicking yourself later on!
“Also Holliday should benefit. If pitching around/walking Pujols, not gonna do the same for Holliday (except possibly in 8th/9th inning). If I’d pick STL, Jay or Holliday would be my pick with higher confidence than Sir Albert, especially Mon/Tue/Wed.”
I have found Holliday to be even worse than Pujols though, in terms of going 0 for in favorable situations.
Worse so, because he gets all his AB’s.
Pujols might go 0 for 3 with 2 walks in a favorable matchup, but Holliday would go 0 for 5.
@champion_88. Maybe & not worth argument really. First, I’d never select a player from either team in this situation (#1 & #2 with 2 games apart in standings). Managers tend to play these games more strategically and will not hesitate on wasting resources: pitchers & pinch hitters. But in the grand scheme of things I think Jay/Holliday may see better opportunities than Pujols. Of course Pujols could get hit in 1st 2 ABs. After those ABs, may not see another good one. This “logic” of mine, I’d apply to any divisional matchup btwn #1 & #2 teams.
There we go finally got it to run past page 2.
LaV’s List
Monday’s Top Picks of the current Top2500, 122 Batters picked overall, only 9 games today.
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Albert Pujols 352 14.08(2ND)
Ichiro Suzuki 224 8.96
Nick Markakis 147 5.88(2ND)
Evan Longoria 126 5.04(5TH)
Derek Jeter 120 4.8(GOOD)
No Selection 94 3.76
Aubrey Huff 83 3.32
Robinson Cano 80 3.2(0-FER)
Buster Posey 76 3.04
Alex Rios 74 2.96
Torii Hunter 71 2.84(4TH)
Omar Infante 70 2.8
Carl Crawford 59 2.36
Jason Heyward 55 2.2(1RST)
Paul Konerko 53 2.12
Ryan Braun 46 1.84
Joey Votto 41 1.64
Brian McCann 38 1.52
Adrian Beltre 37 1.48(0-FER)
Yesterday’s Top2500 Reset was back down to 16.2% with D. Young killing the most hopes and dreams.
And 20.4% paused.
Highest “No Selection”:Pg# 1 with a streak of 22 back to zero.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
Dave55, 9, pg 31, 673, R. Braun
forcook, 8, pg 41, 956, J. Votto
popi21 7, pg 67, 1430, A. Pujols
darwi 6, pg , 2021, D. Jeter(GOOD)
bullfrogs, 6, pg 94, 2021, J. Heyward
_EM_, 9, RESET BY D. Young
GL to all
M
“Hey everybody – don’t forget the consolation prize on Sept for Opening Day tix. A small prize but better than nothing. I will play regardless just to fine tune strategies and get my baseball fix in before the NFL takes over. :). Going with Braun. Good luck to all!!!! And the count down
idea is great!!!!”
Is the September contest actually confirmed to be happening?
Either way, you have the Postseason BTS contest to further fine tune strategies!
“Thanks. I changed my mind though… looking ahead at the remaining schedule there are still alot of days with less than a full slate of games. A couple days only have 6 games. Going with Cano today… but I’m nervous.”
Cano: 0 for 3, 1 walk.
Should have stuck with your gut.
“@champion_88. Maybe & not worth argument really. First, I’d never select a player from either team in this situation (#1 & #2 with 2 games apart in standings). Managers tend to play these games more strategically and will not hesitate on wasting resources: pitchers & pinch hitters. But in the grand scheme of things I think Jay/Holliday may see better opportunities than Pujols. Of course Pujols could get hit in 1st 2 ABs. After those ABs, may not see another good one. This “logic” of mine, I’d apply to any divisional matchup btwn #1 & #2 teams.”
That is probably more to do with the fact that the # 1 and # 2 teams in a division are liable to have better pitching than lousier teams.
One thing about Holliday is something akin to what champion_88 has said. This guy always look beautiful until you pick him. He burned me so many times this year. I think someone said earlier about hitting well is one thing but finding a hitter that is consistently predictable is another story. He used to be so much more predictable (maybe because he was hitting better) when he was in COL.
One of the problem with Holliday is he doesn’t have a consistent pattern. Some months he will hit lefties well. Some months at home. This guy is all over the place.
champion – I thought so but maybe Dave verify….
“First, I’d never select a player from either team in this situation (#1 & #2 with 2 games apart in standings).”
I agree with this. All kinds of weird things happen when both teams are desperate for that win. I wouldn’t eve rule of beaning, fights, injury from overplaying, etc. Most importantly, the guys batting the RBI spots will be pitched very carefully. Later inninngs will be tons of pitching changes to get slight edge of these guys.
I remember last year, the last guy standing to get to the grand prize with no games to spare. I think he got stopped at 40 by Mauer. Tigers walked him twice. Once intentional and the first walk was 4 balls all outside.
My Picks Today:
BTS: Chone Figgins: 1-game hitting streak
HR BTS: Evan Longoria: 1-game HR streak
Survivor: Athletics: 8-game win streak
@yanksgiantsdevils33: Still got 3 outs left. If CHW score 1 run, looking at extra innings. And as I am writing this Konerko just hit a homer. You’re still alive right now. I’m starting to get that sinking feeling with Infante 0-3 right now; though he has 1 more AB & maybe 2 if 5 more can reach.
I’m out of $3 million contention as Markakis goes 0 fer. Terrible
@ponyforkeana My luck has reached it’s worst to an extent. Konerko Homers to tie the game but in the 10th inning Brian Roberts the batter IMMEDIATELY BEFORE Markakis hits a walk off homer and officially eliminates me from the grand prize.
On the other hand I had Konerko on Home Run Beat the Streak. I am Loving Konerko and Hating Roberts right now.
Out of Jason Heyward, Derek Jeter, Austin Kearns (for a possible pause) and Nick Markakis I got the only 0 fer in that bunch (even Austin Kearns got a hit). And what a way to get eliminated with the preceding batter hitting a game ending homer.
What remains in Beat the Streak for me is the 18 (surpass my longest streak of 17),30, 35 and 45 targets. Once there is less than 17 days left I will quit for the season.
@yanksgiantsdevils33: Won’t make you feel any better, but in reality, every one of us will most likely be reset at least one more time before Oct 3rd. Though MLB may not be worrying about paying out $3million, Dick.George will be worrying about losing $10k each time someone cracks the 30+ barrier.
“Athletics: 8-game win streak”
Monday – Seattle 3 Oakland 1
New manager wins his first game with M’s. New O’s manager is also doing well. New rule of thumb? – Not a good idea to pick a team in survivor against a manager in his first game with his team. Every player on that team is out to impress and play their best game. Champion_88 tough to lose that 8 gamer this way.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It sucks too, because my analysis showed a tie in strength between the Rays and A’s and, of course, the Rays won, just to annoy me.