Washington fans have come to expect big things from Michael Morse, ever since he broke out with a career season in 2011. The latest in that line of successes from the man affectionately dubbed “The Beast” by Nationals fans was an 18 game hitting streak, extended Thursday night with a mammoth home run in Houston. Only, it wasn’t an actual 18 game streak.
Major League Baseball has overruled the scoring of a play back on August 2nd against Philadelphia, changing what had been ruled a hit to an error on Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
In effect, Morse had a 10 game hitting streak, went hitless for a game, and picked right back up with a seven game streak on the other side (now 8 games, thanks to a hit in last night’s win versus Arizona).
And it seems Morse didn’t even notice.
"I didn’t even know I had a hitting streak."
That was his response prior to last night’s game when asked about the scoring change, according to Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com. Apparently, at least according to Zuckerman, that type of nonchalant attitude towards statistical accomplishments is normal for Morse.
It seems the scoring change was initiated by the Phillies organization, who believed Rollins should have been charged with an error on the play and requested that MLB take a second look. The resulting change also converts an earned run into an unearned one for Cole Hamels, perhaps part of the team’s motivation for making such a request.
It’s ultimately of no major consequence to the Nationals. Even without Morse in the midst of what would have been the third longest hitting streak in franchise history the team is still continuing to win and sits comfortably atop the NL East.