Plunk Everyone

Yesterday, Carlos Quentin of the White Sox got hit by a pitch thrown by David Aardsma of the Red Sox. That was the first time ever that a pitcher whose name starts with a double A has hit a batter whose name starts with Q, but it also extended Quentin's streak of getting hit by pitches to 4 consecutive games. A handful of players in recent history have been hit by pitches in 4 straight games, including Don Baylor and FP Santangelo, and most recently Shawn Green, but no one in the era we have such records for (the retrosheet era, or 1956 to today) has been hit in 5 straight games. So Carlos Quentin could be the first tonight - maybe the first eve, but definitely the first since prior to 1956.

That's just one of several historic things Quentin could do this season - he's also leading the league in both plunks and homers. If he holds on to both leads he could be the 6th player ever to lead his league in both categories, joining Mike Schmidt (NL 1976), Harmen Killebrew (AL 1964), Joe DiMaggio (AL 1948), Al Rosen (AL 1950), and Cy Williams (NL 1927). Maybe if he did that he'd also win the MVP award, and be the first player since Orlando Cepeda in 1967 to win the MVP and lead the league in getting hit by pitches. And, Quentin could also break the White Sox single season record for HBPs. He's currently on pace to get hit 25 times, and the White Sox record is 23, set by Minnie Minoso in 1953. He could also be the first player ever to hit 45 homers and get hit 25 times in a season. Plus, he's already broken the record for the most times a players whose last initial is Q has been hit by a pitcher whose last name starts with a double A. David Aardsma is still the all time major league leader in alphabetical order, just ahead of Hank Aaron.

Labels: Carlos Quentin