PHILADELPHIA -- Jimmy Rollins stretched his hitting streak
to 38 games Wednesday with a double in the first inning of
Philadelphia's game against St. Louis.
Rollins grounded a 1-0 pitch from Mark Mulder down the
left-field line to keep up his pursuit of Joe DiMaggio's major
league record 56-game hitting streak. In the season opener Monday,
Rollins waited until his final at-bat before extending his streak
with a double off a 3-0 pitch in the eighth inning.
Rollins ended last season with a 36-game hitting streak, the
ninth-longest over one season in big league history, and the
longest in the majors since 1987, when Paul Molitor hit safely in
39 consecutive games.
A three-time All-Star shortstop, Rollins is chasing DiMaggio's
65-year-old record, though there is a catch. DiMaggio accomplished
his feat in the same season in 1941. The major league marks for
longest hitting streak in one season and longest hitting streak
spanning two seasons are separate records.
DiMaggio holds both with his 56-game streak in 1941, but there
is a difference in the NL records: Pete Rose (1978) and Willie Keeler (1897) share the NL mark at 44 games. However, Keeler got a
hit in his final game of 1896, so his run of 45 games overall is
the first record Rollins is pursuing.
The old Phillies franchise record of 31 was set by Ed Delahanty
in 1899.
Rollins hit .379 (61-for-161) during his season-ending streak,
nearly helping Philadelphia make the playoffs. The Phillies
finished one game behind NL wild-card winner Houston and two games
behind NL East champion Atlanta.
Rollins' last game without a hit was Aug. 22, when he went
0-for-4 against San Francisco. He began the streak with a
ninth-inning double the following day against the Giants' Brian Cooper.
If he keeps going, Rollins could tie Keeler at 45 next Thursday
in Atlanta and would have a chance to break the NL mark in Colorado
the following night.