Friday, June 21, 2002
At 34 games, Castillo ties a DiMaggio
By STEVEN WINE
AP Sports Writer
MIAMI — During his 34-game hitting streak, Luis Castillo has confronted sliders, sinkers, curves, cutters and plain old fastballs.
Now here comes a knuckler.
He'll try for No. 35 Friday night in muggy Miami against Detroit's Steve Sparks, one of two knuckleball pitchers in the major leagues.
“Hopefully the humidity helps the action on my knuckler, and I'll give him a run for his money,” Sparks said.
Castillo slashed a single in the first inning Thursday against Cleveland to extend the streak to 34 games. That broke Rogers Hornsby's record for a second baseman and tied Dom DiMaggio — brother of Joe DiMaggio, owner of the record 56-game streak — and three other players.
He then scored the first run to help the Florida Marlins beat Cleveland 3-0 in a game called in the bottom of the sixth inning because of rain.
Castillo, who finished 1-for-3, slapped a 2-2 pitch from Ryan Drese to left field — the 12th time he has had a hit in the first inning during the streak.
The Tigers, who play a three-game weekend series in Miami, were glad to hear the news because they want a chance to stop the streak.
“We were hoping he'd get a base hit,” said Sparks (3-6, 5.96).
Left-hander Mark Redman (3-7, 3.83) will face Castillo on Saturday, followed by right-hander Jeff Weaver (5-8, 3.36) on Sunday.
“I can see Castillo extending that streak,” Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. “He's tough in the fact he can run like the wind and puts the ball in play. He's a good little player. He has a chance to go far.”
Because of Sparks' knuckler, the switch-hitting Castillo said he might bat right-handed against the right-hander. That's what he did the last time he faced a knuckleball pitcher, Tim Wakefield of Boston, in 2001.
“I'll see what I want to do when I take batting practice,” Castillo said.
Neither the Indians nor bad weather could stop him Thursday. The start of the game was delayed 17 minutes by rain, and there was another delay of 1 hour, 42 minutes before the game was called at 11:02 p.m.
“If Luis didn't get a hit in the first inning, I guarantee we'd be here until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning so he could get a hit,” Marlins third-base coach Ozzie Guillen said.
It was Florida's second rain-shortened game during the streak.
Castillo, a Dominican, matched Benito Santiago's record for the longest hitting streak by a player born outside the United States and surpassed Hornsby's 33-game streak in 1922.
“This guy has been unbelievable,” Marlins catcher Mike Redmond said. “I couldn't imagine playing in 34 games in a row.”
Four other players had one-season streaks of 34 games — Dom DiMaggio (1949), Santiago (1987), George McQuinn (1934) and George Sisler (1925). Only 10 players have had a longer streak, including just two since 1950 — Pete Rose (44) in 1978 and Paul Molitor (39) in 1987.
“When I'm finished, I'll feel good for what I did,” Castillo said.
Announced attendance was 8,045, and there were perhaps 5,000 fans actually on hand, some wearing rain slickers. Many gave Castillo a standing ovation when he drove a single past third baseman Travis Fryman.
While the stands were mostly empty, there was at least one sign of the buzz building around the streak: The Marlins arranged a postgame news conference for Castillo for the first time.
“Every day I have a little more pressure,” he said.
Florida completed a three-game sweep of the Indians in the first meeting between the teams since the 1997 World Series, which the Marlins also won. Cleveland scored just one run in three games and managed only two hits off A.J. Burnett (8-5).
“If you don't hit the ball, it makes for a dead game,” Manuel said.
Castillo scored the only run Florida needed. Following the first-inning single, he advanced to second with his 24th stolen base, took third on a groundout and came home when Cliff Floyd hit a liner off the right foot of Drese (7-5).
Castillo is hitting .400 during the streak, which has raised his average to .338 from .260 on May 8.
“He's in rarefied air, boy,” manager Jeff Torborg said. “He has had some run. You're talking five weeks he's hit .400. It's fun to watch.”
Notes: Hansel Izquierdo will start for Florida on Saturday against Detroit. ... Floyd, a career .301 hitter vs. left-handers, is batting just .200 (13-for-65) against them this season. ... Cleveland's Milton Bradley snapped an 0-for-15 skid with an infield single in the second. ... The Marlins climbed three games above .500 for the first time since May 16.
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At 34 games, Castillo ties a DiMaggio
