This isn't the typical sabermetrics-type post that appears here, but it's impressive none-the-less. During yesterday's exciting game against the White Sox, Ian Kinsler extended his hit streak to 25 games with three hits. As it stands, the All-Star is second on the Rangers' all-time hit streak list - three behind Gabe Kapler.
To say that the Mets are on a roll would be an understatement. The Mets have given up only 3 hits or less in each of their last five victories, a feat that had never been accomplished in the modern baseball era. Five different pitchers combined to one-hit the Rockies on Saturday, giving the Mets their 8th straight win, and helping the bullpen maintain their 0.00 ERA over their last 18 1/3.
Phillies fans can relax now, Ryan Howard is officially back to playing like Ryan Howard. The Philadelphia slugger has 8 home runs in his last 10 games to go along with 16 RBIs, bringing his totals up to 28 and 84 respectively. I guess Howard isn't too thrilled about not being selected to the NL all-star roster.
John Danks has been a huge surprise for the White Sox this year, and has made Kenny Williams look like a genius for acquiring him in the Brandon McCarthy deal with Texas. Since they're dedicated to figuring out why things occur in baseball, BTBS has figured out why Danks has broken out in 2008 (Spoiler: it's linked to the development of a solid fourth pitch).
The short answer to the question is: It's complicated. There was a brief dip in the velocity of the set-up man's fastball, but it returned to form after a good amount of rest from Lou Piniella. THT says the root of Marmol's struggles are two-fold. On one hand, he's struggling with control. On the other, he doesn't have the same horizontal movement on his fastball as he did at the beginning of the year, which is what made him nearly unhittable earlier in the season. Alarmingly for Cubs fans, this could very well be a product of fatigue.
