The arrival first of CC and now of Ray Durham has me thinking about competition.
One of the things I liked seeing in the game last night -- beyond the Crew snuffing out the Cards, of course -- was Sheets and CC goofing off in the dugout. At one point the camera focused on them and they seemed to be cracking each other up.
But I can't help wondering about how different players feel as they get new competition on their own team. At least, it seems to have an impact at the plate.
After a 0-35 hitting slump by Brewers starting pitchers, CC came along, pounded some hits, and the other pitchers suddenly got hot.
We're now on a six-game hitting streak by starting pitchers. And it's reasonable to think it might continue since Suppan is up tonight, bringing his 59 career hits about a third of which are RBIs.
Weeks is another example. Going into last night's game, he'd had just eight home runs.
So when Ray Durham arrived yesterday -- supposedly just to bolster the team, but we have to wonder if it's to better fill the 2B spot -- was that the incentive Rickie needed to power his 431-foot three-run homer?
Hard to tell. Baseball is full of coincidences that masquerade as stats.
Maybe teammate-to-teammate competition has nothing to do with it. But if it plays any part in the fact that we're coming off the All Star break with a four-game winning streak...it sure works for me.
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