I've always wondered this. At one point in time do people start talking about hitting streaks on a nightly basis? I mean, a five-game hitting streak, that's nothing. Those happen all the time. Once you get to ten, the home team fans start to notice and maybe you'll hear something on a broadcast. Fifteen is getting there, but it's not quite national attention-worthy. For some reason, the magic seems to lie at 17. I think that's when it starts getting mentioned on SportsCenter on a nightly basis. Even if you go 1-for-5 with a single and your team loses 11-1, your hitting streak gets mentioned at 17 games and above. I suppose Alfonso Soriano can be the basis for my theory. I was oblivious to the fact that he had a 15-game hitting streak coming into this week's series with the Pirates. I knew he'd been hitting well of late, but I had no idea this hitting streak was happening. When he got a hit in Tuesday's 15-inning marathon, I was kind of surprised, but then thought, "Well, who cares about a hitting streak shorter than 15 games anyways?" Last night he homered in the first at-bat of the game and provided the Cubs with their margin of victory in their 1-0 win over the Pirates and his hitting streak is being mentioned as part of the lead story, along with the Cubs' win and oh yeah, Jason Marquis' 3-hit shutout of the Buccos. So it seems that we've gone from "who cares" to "national story" somewhere between 15 and 17 games. I will monitor the situation from here on out.
Speaking of Marquis, because it'd be remiss to ignore his performance, damn was he good last night. He only allowed three hits and two runners to reach second base, striking out five Pirates and walking none. I am almost completely positive that this is the same Jason Marquis that had an ERA of over 6.00 and got left off of the Cards' playoff roster for the likes of Jeff Weaver, although now I think a DNA test may be necessary for conclusive evidence.
