The Baseball Desert

Friday, June 18, 2004

Eight straight

OK, so nobody's under the illusion that the Devil Rays are going to make a run at the AL East title, but as I said yesterday, I'm just enjoying the fact that they're putting together a nice string of wins. Last night they won their eighth straight game, beating the Padres 4-1.

The game also featured a doubly-historic homer by Fred McGriff: it was McGriff's 493rd career home run, which puts him in a tie with Lou Gehrig for 21st place on the all-time list, and it was also the 43rd different ballpark in which he has homered, which is a major-league record. McGriff signed a minor-league contract with Tampa Bay at the start of the season in the hope that he could continue his pursuit of the mythical 500-homer milestone. There seems to be a lot less fuss surrounding him than there is surrounding Ken Griffey, Jr., who is just one blast short of the same 500-homer mark, but I'm crossing my fingers for McGriff, as it would be a fitting curtain-call on a fine 18-year major-league career.