3Ryan Zimmerman's Hit Streak.
After going 1 for 4 with a double in the first game of 2009 against the Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals' third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was 0 for 5 in game two of the season-opening series with the Fish in what was then known as Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Zimmerman was 1 for 5 in game three, with his second double of '09 off Marlins' left-hander Andrew Miller in the sixth inning and his next-to-last at bat. Over the next six weeks, the Face of the Nationals' Franchise© would hit in 29-straight games before going 0 for 3 on the road in San Francisco to end a 30-game hit streak that caught the attention of the entire baseball world and ended with the 24-year-old, 5th-year pro hitting .357 with a .408 OBP, a .608 SLG and a 1.016 OPS...
"I'll tell you, it makes you appreciate how much 56 really is..."
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"I'll tell you, it makes you appreciate how much 56 really is," Zimmerman told Washington Post writer Chico Harlan, in an article entitled, "Zimmerman's Hit Streak Ends, but Nats Get Win", after his own streak had come to an end some 26 games away from Joe DiMaggio's mark, but DiMaggio's run is just one historical achievement of many in the New York Yankees' franchise lore, while Zimmerman's was one of the first positive stories out of DC since the team moved from Montreal in 2005. "He put us on the map a little bit with what he did," then-Nationals' skipper Manny Acta told the Washington Post's Mr. Harlan.
In 15 games of the 30-game streak, Zimmerman had just one hit. In 14 of the 30 games, Zimmerman would get a hit in his first at bat. There were just two real close calls in the span of the 30-game streak. In game 5 of 30, on April 13th in Philadelphia, Zimmerman hit in just 1 of 5 AB's, connecting on a ninth inning home run to keep THE STREAK alive, and on May 9th, in Arizona, in the 27th game, Zimmerman's home run in the 8th left him 1 for 4 on the day and the one hit was the difference in a 2-1 DC win.
Over the 30-game span of the streak, Zimmerman was 50 for 131, for a .382 AVG, with 11 doubles, 8 HR's and 26 RBI's, and when it was over, Zimmerman was hitting .357 with a .408 OBP in 33 games and 143 AB's. Ryan Zimmerman earned his first All-Star appearance in 2009 as a result of the first-half he put together. Zimmerman would go on to hit 37 doubles, 3 triples and a career-high 33 HR's in 2009, while collecting 106 RBI's and posting a career-best .292 AVG, .364 OBP, .525 SLG and an .888 OPS. With the longest hit-streak of the season and a career high in HR's, maybe Ryan Zimmerman's finally hit well enough to earn himself the Gold Glove this season...(laughs)...we'll see...