That’s right, I’m taking this up a notch. Jamie McOwen, who joins Jay Bruce on the list of historical Bus Leagues mancrushes, is attempting to extend his hitting streak to 46 games tonight in Modesto. Because I have nothing better to do on a Friday night, I will be listening in to the team’s radio feed and updating the situation after each of McOwen’s at-bats until he gets a hit.
We’ll see how long this lasts. (Please don’t wait until the ninth inning.)
1st at-bat, 1st inning: With one out and Tyson Gillies on first, McOwen popped out to first. Just kidding – I have no idea what I was looking at. McOwen bunted into a force out with one out and Kuo Hui Lo on first base.
10:56 PM – McOwen is scheduled to lead off the top of the third for High Desert. The Mavericks trail Modesto, 2-0.
10:59 PM – McOwen walks on four pitches to lead off the inning. With the count at 3-and-0, High Desert’s announcer remarked that one of the amazing things about the streak is McOwen’s refusal to chase bad pitches just to preserve the streak.
11:11 PM – McOwen is now leading the league in hitting – his average stands at .354 after tonight’s 0-for-1. Alex Liddi has gone 0-for-2 with two strikeouts to lower his mark to .353. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Ab-solutely nothing.
11:14 PM – Modesto pitcher Connor Graham has eight strikeouts through four innings. He has allowed just two hits, both first inning singles.
11:28 PM – Graham comes out early. I was only half-listening, but I believe they said he was coming back from an injury and being held to a strict pitch count. He went five scoreless, allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out nine. High Desert’s Tyson Gillies led off the sixth with a single.
11:33 PM – McOwen grounds into a 6-4-3 double play. He is now 0-for-3 with a walk. He will have at least one more chance to extend the streak.
12:21 PM – McOwen is due up second in the ninth against Craig Baker and his 21 saves.
12:23 PM – McOwen goes down on strikes. Unless High Desert ties it up (Kuo Hui Lo is on first with one out in a 2-0 ballgame) the hit streak is all done.
12:25 PM – Alex Liddi strikes out for the third time in four at-bats and it’s official: Jamie McOwen’s 45-game hitting streak is done, finished. The little * that denotes an active streak can be removed.
Andrew says I jinxed him. I say nay. With the media attention that dude was getting over the last week or two, there’s no way Karma looked at the hero worship being laid on him by a small minor league blog and said, “We can’t have that.” Karma isn’t that petty…I don’t think. If she is, well, sorry Jamie.
Oh well, we’ll just have to find something else interesting to latch onto. Hey, Baker has 22 straight saves for Modesto. Hmm…
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