August 11, 2007
Do You Think He's Velma's Favorite Player?
Bobby Jenks tied David Wells' AL record for conseutive batters retired Friday night:
The Chicago closer retired the side in the ninth Friday night in the White Sox 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners, his 33rd save in 38 chances. He's set down 38 straight batters, tying David Wells' American League record set in 1998 with the New York Yankees.
It's the fourth-longest streak in major league history.
"That's unbelievable," said White Sox starter Javier Vazquez. "That's tough to do, especially in (that) situation."
Jenks did not make himself available to the media afterward because he did not want to discuss the streak, a team spokesman said. He's three batters away from tying the record Jim Barr set for San Francisco in 1972.
I'm wondering what people think of this streak compared to Wells? Wells pitched a perfect game, Jenks just needs to get a few outs at a time. Bobby has had some tough competition to face. On 7/24 the three batters he retired were Polanco, Sheffield and Ordonez. He also had a Matsui, Molina, Cano inning on 8/2 and a Wells, Thomas, Hill inning on 7/28. Yes, he's had a couple of inning where he was facing the bottom of the order, but all in all it looks like a pretty good lineup against him. Here's the list of everyone he retired:
Mike Rouse | 07/17/2007 | 0 |
Grady Sizemore | 07/17/2007 | 1 |
Casey Blake | 07/17/2007 | 2 |
Julio Lugo | 07/19/2007 | 0 |
Coco Crisp | 07/19/2007 | 1 |
Dustin Pedroia | 07/19/2007 | 2 |
Placido Polanco | 07/24/2007 | 0 |
Gary Sheffield | 07/24/2007 | 1 |
Magglio Ordonez | 07/24/2007 | 2 |
Mike Hessman | 07/24/2007 | 0 |
Mike Rabelo | 07/24/2007 | 1 |
Ivan Rodriguez | 07/26/2007 | 0 |
Craig Monroe | 07/26/2007 | 1 |
Brandon Inge | 07/26/2007 | 2 |
Matt Stairs | 07/27/2007 | 0 |
Royce Clayton | 07/27/2007 | 1 |
Reed Johnson | 07/27/2007 | 2 |
Vernon Wells | 07/28/2007 | 0 |
Frank Thomas | 07/28/2007 | 1 |
Aaron Hill | 07/28/2007 | 2 |
Andy Phillips | 08/01/2007 | 0 |
Shelly Duncan | 08/01/2007 | 1 |
Melky Cabrera | 08/01/2007 | 2 |
Hideki Matsui | 08/02/2007 | 0 |
Jose Molina | 08/02/2007 | 1 |
Robinson Cano | 08/02/2007 | 2 |
Mike Hessman | 08/04/2007 | 0 |
Craig Monroe | 08/04/2007 | 1 |
Brandon Inge | 08/04/2007 | 2 |
Ryan Raburn | 08/05/2007 | 0 |
Mike Rabelo | 08/05/2007 | 1 |
Mike Hessman | 08/05/2007 | 2 |
Casey Blake | 08/08/2007 | 0 |
Franklin Gutierrez | 08/08/2007 | 1 |
Ryan Garko | 08/08/2007 | 2 |
Jose Lopez | 08/10/2007 | 0 |
Yuniesky Betancourt | 08/10/2007 | 1 |
Ichiro Suzuki | 08/10/2007 | 2 |
Posted by David Pinto at
09:42 AM
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Pitchers
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TrackBack (0)
Starter or reliever, it's an amazing streak. My instinct tells me it would be somewhat harder as a reliever, simply because you would have to be "on," at least with respect to your control, on many different nights (in this case 13) as opposed to two. Anyone know what Jenks's longest previous streak without walking anyone is?
If this is the fourth longest perfect streak, anyone know what #2 and #3 are? I have not seen this mentioned anywhere.
Good point about being "on" so many different times. I would point out, on the flip side, that as a reliever you don't really have to deal with fatigue as a starter would.
Thanks, Miq. I guess it should come as no surprise that the performances of four of the five other pitchers who reached 38 consecutive -- Browning, Johnson, Wells, and Haddix -- all included perfect games (OK, Haddix's doesn't count anymore). Only Barr and now Jenks reached this mark without doing it, and obviously Jenks is the only reliever in the group.