New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has achieved many things since beginning his career in the Big Apple. He's won four World Series championships -- and is only a win away from his fifth -- a World Series MVP in 2000, three Gold Gloves and is a 10-time All Star.
He's also a New York institution and Yankee legend with the likes of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth. Except there's one thing Jeter may end up with that none of those other Yankee heroes had. There are plans to have a bridge named after him in New York.
Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 26 games Tuesday in an 8-2 Seattle win over the Baltimore Orioles, setting a team record previously set by well, himself in 2007. Yet, the brilliant hitter remains 30 games from equaling Joe DiMaggio's astounding 56-game hitting mark set in 1941. That's 30 games. Another month of scratching out hits. Another series of bloops, bleeders, line drives and drag bunts.
That number isn't lost on Ichiro, who was asked about the probability of closing in on 56.
"I think it's true when they say that its the hardest record to break," he said Tuesday night.
Ichiro said his biggest regret Tuesday was not inviting his wife Yumiko and dog, (that's correct) Ikkyu, to the ballpark to watch him set the club record. Ichiro then pulled out a Japanese fan with an image of his Shiba on both sides.
"But at the same time, if you think about it, if I didn't invite them, it didn't mean that much to me," he said. "But once I got this far, I wanted to achieve it. Now I wish I would have asked them to come."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know... That instant replay has been in use in the majors for reviewing homers since last August, but there had not been a single home run taken away until Wednesday.
And then it happened twice.
First, Pittsburgh's Adam LaRoche hit a first-inning drive that was initially ruled a three-run homer. After umpires checked the replay, they determined that the ball had not cleared the fence, and LaRoche instead had a two-run double.
A few hours later, in Milwaukee, Marlins pinch-hitter Ross Gload had a would-be solo homer reversed.
Alex Rodriguez has had his name besmirched in the most embarrassing ways lately. Madonna? Lenny Kravitz? Couldn't he and his wife at least find two semi-relevant entertainers to shack up with? Madonna is the best we can do? Joe DiMaggio got Marilyn Monroe, and A-Rod gets Madonna? That just ain't right.
"You have to take the good with the bad and not take yourself too seriously," he explained later. "I think that's the one thing that over the first four or five years [in New York], I kept knocking myself over the head, and trying to re-explain myself. If this gentleman asked me that question, I probably would've been here for three or four hours trying to explain my personal life -- and kind of made an ass out of myself, really."
In other words, A-Rod knows that no answer is good enough for the tabloid jackals, so he gives no answer at all. That it took five years for Mr. Rod to figure this out is most shocking. Derek Jeter never answers anything, dude -- why do you think so many people like him?
Also, Jeter gets with, like, Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel and God knows who else. A-Rod gets with Madonna. Sigh.
Despite whatever contrarian knee-jerk reaction you might have to Dane Cook shouting at you, the 2007 World Series is shaping up to be a classic. The Boston Red Sox, paragons of consistent domination, and the Colorado Rockies, the hottest team baseball has seen in a long, long time, squaring off. It's going to be a good one.
But just how high does the Rockies' incredible run rank? Even without a World Series, is it the craziest team achievement in baseball history?
On the morning of Sept. 16, the Rockies were in fourth place in the National League West. They were 6½ games out of first place, and 4½ games behind the wild card-leading Padres. They'd lost three straight games, and they were dead in the water. Or so it seemed. On the afternoon of Sept. 16 the Rockies trounced the Marlins 13-0, beginning a season-ending surge that would include one loss and 14 wins, including a one-game playoff for the wild card. Since then they've swept their Division and League Championship Series, and so they enter the World Series next week having won 21 of 22 games, and it's safe to say that no team has ever entered the World Series on a run like the Rockies'.
For the record, Neyer's No. 1 and No. 2 miracles were Boston's comeback in 2004 and DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak in 1941. No matter what happens to the Rockies in this series, they're already perched near some incredibly lofty company.
Major League Baseball's favorite punctuation mark has long been the asterisk. Roger Maris got one when he broke Babe Ruth's record and you might have heard that Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball will be emblazoned with one before it heads to Cooperstown. There will probably be more to come as the juiced up stars of recent years set marks. How then, amid all this asterisk-mania, did Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak avoid getting the treatment?
That question is being asked by a Canadian magazine called Walrus and they've uncovered a fair bit of evidence that suggests DiMag's streak may not be free from controversy. It's not because of anything Joltin' Joe did or took but because the official scorer for his home games was Dan Daniel.
Daniel was a local sportswriter who would today be considered something closer to a PR man. He was friends with the players, traveled with the team and had his expenses paid for by the Yankees. He was also the sole decider on hits and errors at Yankee Stadium and serving his team and friends may have trumped his objectivity according to the article's author David Robbeson.
You didn't really think he could do it, did you? Brandon Webb surrendered a run in the first inning on Wednesday night's game against the Brewers, ending his streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 42 -- 17 shy of tying Orel Hershiser's record. Webb would have needed back-to-back complete game shutouts to break it, which isn't easy to do. Now that some attention has been brought to the record, I'm thinking it might be as tough to break as Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Not surprisingly, Webb is relieved that it's all over:
"It was really a relief," Webb said of the streak coming to an end Wednesday. ... "I was feeling it a little bit today, with all the attention it was getting, so to get it out of the way in the first inning I think was a relief," Webb said. "And I was able to get back pretty quickly and get back to where I wanted to be and ended up throwing a pretty good ballgame."
The bottom line, as Tom Fornelli pointed out, is that the D-Backs won the game. The final was 3-2, allowing Arizona to remain in first in the NL West by three and a half games. With 34 games left on Arizona's schedule, Webb could throw nothing but complete game shutouts for the rest of the season, and he still wouldn't reach Hershiser's mark. Now that's impressive.
What are baseball's most unbreakable records? Almost anyone reading this would immediately go with Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak, or Cy Young's astounding career win total of 511 (!!!). I did the exact same thing.
1. Most consecutive batters reaching base safely, an astounding 19, by the Dodgers in 1952. 2. Most hits let up in a 9-inning game, 36 by J. Wadsworth in 1894. 3. Most HR allowed by a winning pitcher, 6 by two guys in the 30s. This could be breakable, but it is crazy to think that it could happen. 4. Least Double Plays hit into: 0 by future (hopefully) Hall of Famer Craig Biggio. Can someone hit into negative double plays to break it??
The Craig Biggio mark is perhaps most astounding to me, perhaps because I've honestly never heard of Biggio's double-play prowess before. Is this the least talked-about milestone in this, the seminal year for milestones?
Anyway, go to The Generals for the entire list, and come on stat-heads -- got any refutations or records of your own?
Did you know that Joe DiMaggio kept a diary? Well yeah, buddy, he did. And not only that, a 2,000 page, 29 volume collection of entries from 1983-1993 is up for sale now.
April 28, 1989: "Up at 5 a.m. ... Book people felt me out with questions pertaining to baseball. Some part of my private life but not too strong on that. Will not reveal anything in a negative way towards Marilyn -- only books that have come out on her might have not been truthful."
If you're a fan of DiMaggio, these will probably give you one of the most intimate looks into Joe's life, save for somehow getting a transcript of his inner thoughts directly from his brain. (Someday I hope this kind of technology is available, don't you?)
I anxiously await 30 years from now when Jim Thome's diary entires are revealed.
HI DIARY IT'S ME JIM TH JIM THOME TODAY I WOKE UP BUT I HAD THE SHOWER WATER ON TOO HIGH AND IT BURNED MY BACK SO THEN I PUT IT ON LOWER I MADE COFFEE BUT THAT WAS TOO HOT TOO EVERYTHING WAS HOT HOT HOT
It's been a pretty long-standing record now -- Joe DiMaggio hit for 56 straight games back in 1941 -- 66 years ago. Since DiMaggio's streak, only one player has even hit in 40 straight games -- Pete Rose who went for 44 straight in 1978. And no, this isn't just a slow sports day where I'm breaking out the bar discussions. This issue was raised by Giants outfielder Randy Winn, whose spectacular 20-game hitting streak gives him the right to speak about the challenge of hitting in 56 straight:
"Sure," he said. "Nobody thought Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak would be broken. A lot of people didn't think Babe Ruth's home-run marks would be broken and a lot of people didn't think Hank Aaron's mark would be broken. There are probably people who never thought Pete Rose would break the hits record, or that anyone would ever get 4,000 hits again. It seems that eventually all of those have fallen, so why not DiMaggio's?"
Dude, you got a third of the way to DiMaggio, and you're telling me it's going to fall? These days we're lucky if a player just makes his way into the lineup 56 straight games. To get at least a hit in each one? Lots of things in the game would have to change. I'm going to have to go ahead and say no, this isn't going down.
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has achieved many things since beginning his career in the Big Apple. He's won four World Series championships -- and is only a win away from his fifth -- a World Series MVP in 2000, three Gold Gloves and is a 10-time All Star.
Ichiro Suzuki 
Starting Five
Despite whatever contrarian knee-jerk reaction you might have to Dane Cook shouting at you, the 2007 World Series is 
Major League Baseball's favorite punctuation mark has long been the asterisk. 
You didn't really think he could do it, did you? 
What are baseball's most unbreakable records? Almost anyone reading this would immediately go with 
Did you know that 
It's been a pretty long-standing record now -- Joe DiMaggio hit for 56 straight games back in 1941 -- 66 years ago. Since DiMaggio's streak, only one player has even hit in 40 straight games -- Pete Rose who went for 44 straight in 1978. And no, this isn't just a slow sports day where I'm breaking out the bar discussions. This issue was 
