Quick hits: Story flying, Padres striving
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Quick hits:
- The Rockies and Padres gather at Coors Field for a weekend series with a couple of streaks on the line. Colorado rookie shortstop Trevor Story will make his Coors Field debut on Friday having become the first player since 1900 to homer in the first three games of his career. He hit a total of four big flies in Arizona.
- Seattle's Robinson Cano also homered in his first three games -- and like Story, he hit four home runs in that span. He and Story will go into Friday looking to tie the Major League record of hitting at least one home run in the first four games of a season. The record was set by Willie Mays in 1971, and it has since been matched by Mark McGwire (1998), Nelson Cruz (2011) and Chris Davis ('13).
Video: Cano, Story showing power at the plate to begin 2016
- The record for consecutive games with a home run is eight. Dale Long did it for the Pirates in 1956, and the record was equaled by Don Mattingly with the Yankees in '87 and Ken Griffey Jr. with the Mariners in '93.
- The Padres, meanwhile, show up at Coors Field having been shut out in 27 innings during a three-game sweep by the Dodgers at Petco Park. That constitutes the longest scoreless streak to start a season in Major League history. The Cardinals were shut out for the first 26 innings of the 1943 season.
- The Padres were outscored by the Dodgers, 25-0, in the three games. In Tuesday's 3-0 loss, San Diego had just two singles against Scott Kazmir and three relievers. As a franchise, the Padres have an all-time batting average of .295 at Coors Field.
Video: JP Morosi talks about the Padres, Blue Jays and more
- The Cubs were the last team to be shut out in four consecutive games, from April 27-May 1, 1992, according to Baseball Reference's play index. The 1903 Pirates pitching staff set a record with six consecutive shutouts June 2-6, 1903.
- The Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1943 despite their season-opening struggles. They lost 1-0 in the first two games at Cincinnati, both going extras. The Cards scored their first run in the sixth inning of Game 3, which they won, 2-1. Hall of Famer Stan Musial scored both runs, and there was not an RBI either time. He was called safe coming home on a Harry Walker fly ball in the sixth when Reds catcher Ray Mueller dropped the throw from the outfield, and he scored in the eighth inning on a passed ball.
- The Dodgers' three shutouts equaled the Major League record to start a season, set by the 1963 Cardinals. St. Louis beat the Mets by 7-0 and 4-0 scores to open the season, and then came home to beat the Phillies, 7-0. The Cards' scoreless streak stretched to 32 innings before the Phillies' Tony Gonzalez scored on a Wes Covington double with nobody out in the sixth.
- During Spring Training, Cano said he was healthy this year, and while he didn't make an issue out of it, a hernia that required surgery in October did affect him a year ago. The early results seem to support his contention: four home runs in three games. Last year, Cano hit four home runs in the first three months of the season, going deep for the fourth time on June 26. He hit his fifth home run on July 1 in his 78th game of the season.
Video: Robinson Cano's power surge leads Mariners - The Yankees are looking for their 24th consecutive winning season. The Detroit Red Wings have clinched a 24th winning season in a row, the longest active streak in the NHL, and San Antonio is finishing up its 19th consecutive winning season, the longest in the NBA. The New England Patriots have the longest current streak in the NFL at 15 seasons.