| | KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At this pace, fans in Baltimore might
get to see Cal Ripken's 3,000th hit after all.
The slumping future Hall of Famer began a six-game road trip to
Kansas City and Minnesota this week six hits away from becoming the
24th man to reach the milestone.
| |  | |
| Ripken |
After going 0-for-4 Thursday in a 6-5 loss to the Royals, Ripken
remains four short.
The Orioles have a weekend series in Minnesota before returning
home for three games against Tampa Bay.
Ripken started the season with 2,991 hits and is 5-for-30
(.167), averaging less than a hit a game. He was 2-for-12 in
Kansas City in a three-game Royals sweep and can't shake a slump
that saw him hit just .143 in 22 spring games after spending the
winter recovering from back surgery.
Many of Ripken's career moments have come in Baltimore, where he
broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record, ended his own Iron Man
streak at 2,632 in 1998 and hit career homer No. 400 last
September.
But Ripken, who grew up in the Baltimore area, has repeatedly
said that it would "dishonor the game" to hold back in an effort
to get the big hit back home.
"To get it there would make it really special, since I'm from
there as well as the fact I've always played there," he said.
"But I just want to get the hits. I don't care if it's a home run,
a jam job or a bad decision by the official scorer."
Ripken would be the first man to get his 3,000th in April and
the seventh to have 3,000 hits and 400 homers. | |
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