Streaks and Milestones in Baseball

by Lynda Collins What streaks and milestones will go down in history and which will just go down? Every season sees streaks and milestones take center stage, but 2006 seems to have more than usual.

Jimmy Rollins enters the season on a 36-game hitting streak. Tejada has played in 918 straight games. Ichiro will try for 6 straight 200-hit seasons. Trevor Hoffman needs 43 saves to become the all-time leader.

Bonds needs his 47 HR. Sammy Sosa needs 12 HR for 600. Also, there are several impressive team streaks on the line. Which will we still be talking about this time next year? Stay tuned.

Have the New York Mets emerged from the shadow of the mighty Yankees?

Not likely. Adding Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran last year and Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, and Paul Lo Duca this year is a pretty nice haul for sure.

But the Mets still haven’t been able to pull off the blockbuster deal for Manny Ramirez and despite fewer headline moves over the last year than the Mets, the Yankees did make the playoffs in 2005. Until the Mets do the same and the Yanks prove they are, in fact, in decline, the boys from Queens are still going to play second fiddle.

Do the Texas Rangers finally have enough pitching?

This seems to be an annual query that is eventually answered in the negative.

This winter they lost the volatile, but consistent, Kenny Rogers to free agency, but added veterans Kevin Millwood, Adam Eaton, and Vicente Padilla to their rotation without having to part with OF Kevin Mench or 3B Hank Blalock, who were frequently mentioned on the rumor mill. If the Rangers can find adequate arms to fill the final slots in the rotation, they have enough offense to make some noise in the AL West.