Here's a tip to anyone who is considering playing BTS (Beat the Streak): Start a player who is playing against the team with the worst ERA in baseball. As of May 4th, The Yankees have the worst team ERA in baseball. The Orioles are second worst and the Indians are third.

Building off moose's tip, instead of ERA, look at what pitching staff has given up the most hits. You can see an updated chart at mlb.com sortable team stats: pitching: hits allowed.

Right now the Orioles lead the pack with 307 hits allowed. Here's the top ten:
307: Baltimore Orioles
297: Cleveland Indians
280: Minnesota Tw-ins
278: Houston Astros
272: Toronto Blue Jays
271: Te-xas Rangers
271: New York Yankees
269: Florida Marlins
267: Boston Red Sox
263: Los Angeles Angels

I've been picking players who are facing the Orioles. Last year the worst pitching staff was the Pittsburgh Pirates. I successfully employed the Pittsburgh Pirate stategy last year, and it earned me the championship in the Amazing League.

Right now I'm using the Baltimore Oriole strategy.

Moose, your current streak is a league high FOUR GAMES. Right now I'm sitting on a two-game active streak.

I now have the longest streak in the league with FIVE GAMES. Will I make it six tonight? Paul Konerko of the White Sox will answer that.

I can't believe you relied on a white sock to maintain your streak and it paid off.

My longest streak end at 4 last week with melvin mora getting a big bagel.

Melvin Mora? Why are you relying on that old goat? Melvin Mora? For real? Your streak deserves to die when you pick MELVIN MORA. C'MON. YOU KNOW BETTER. Melvin Mora.

Yes, I went out on a limb with a White Sock. But nobody was playing the Orioles, so I had to go with the next worst pitching staff (in terms of hits given) and that's the Indians. I seem to recall Paul Konkero being a good hitter for BTS. And he has, my streak is now SIX GAMES.

I'd really like to beat my all-time high of... oh crap i don't even know what my all-time high is.

Everyone in our league has an active streak.
ryanwestrom has a 3 game streak active, i have a 4 game streak active, and spudart has a ten game streak active!

yesterday's picks that allowed everyone to keep going:
spudart: Willie Bloomquist
dascenzofan: Joe Mauer
ryanwestrom: Adam Jones

I have Justin Morneau going today.

Willie Bloomquist. You know it. Today I go with Scott Rolen of the Blue Jays against the White Stockings.

matt's streak ended at 10. mine ended at 5. ryan's ended at 3. Nick Markakis ended my streak going 0 for 4 yesterday.

I'm starting Big Poopie now that he has a new nickname. Nothing can stop Big Poopie.

Ever since my streak ended at 10, i feel like I've been flopping around like a dead fish. Or a near-dead fish.

Oh I never did my report for the month of May. Here it is:

May in recap:
16-for-26. That's a pitiful 61.5%

5/31: Raul Ibanez: 1-for-4
5/30: Pedro Feliz: 0-for-4
5/29: Raul Ibanez: 2-for-4
5/28: Miguel Cabrera: 0-for-4
5/27: Carlos Beltran: 0-for-0
5/26: David Wright: 2-for-5
5/25: Carlos Beltran: 2-for-3
5/24: Cristian Guzman: 0-for-3
5/23: Adam Jones: 0-for-4
5/22: Johnny Damon: 0-for-4
5/21: Robinson Cano: 3-for-4
5/20: Johnny Damon: 0-for-4
5/19: Robinson Cano: 0-for-3
-----------------END OF 10-GAME STREAK
5/18: Scott Rolen: 0-for-3
5/17: Willie Bloomquist: 1-for-4
5/16: Mark Teahen: 0-for-0
5/15: Mark Teahen: 3-for-4
5/14: Alberto Callaspo: 2-for-4
5/13: Michel Hernandez: 0-for-0
5/12: Jason Bartlett: 2-for-4
5/11: Paul Konerko: 3-for-4
5/10: Robinson Cano: 2-for-4
5/09: Nick Swisher: 1-for-2
5/08: Robinson Cano: 2-for-4
5/07: Brendan Harris: 0-for-0
5/06: Jason Kubel: 0-for-0
5/05: Evan Longoria: 2-for-4
5/04: Jason Bartlett: 1-for-4
-----------------START OF 10-GAME STREAK
5/03: Adam Lind: 0-for-3
5/02: Aaron Hill: 2-for-6
5/01: Jose Bautista: 0-for-1


April recap:
15-for-23 for a 65.2% correct rate.

4/30: Robinson Cano: 1-for-4
4/29: Bobby Abreu: 1-for-4
4/29: Bobby Abreu: 1-for-4
4/28: Torii Hunter: 0-for-4
4/27: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/26: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/25: Nelson Cruz: 0-for-4
4/24: Marlon Byrd: 1-for-4
4/23: Jermaine Dye: 1-for-4
4/22: Paul Konerko: 0-for-5
4/21: Jermaine Dye: 1-for-3
4/20: J.D. Drew: 0-for-0
4/20: J.D. Drew: 0-for-0
4/19: Jason Bay: 0-for-3
4/18: J.D. Drew: 1-for-4
4/17: Jason Bay: 1-for-3
4/16: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/15: Prince Fielder: 1-for-2
4/14: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/13: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/12: Brandon Phillips: 1-for-3
4/11: Brandon Phillips: 2-for-3
4/15: Prince Fielder: 1-for-2
4/14: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/13: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/12: Brandon Phillips: 1-for-3
4/11: Brandon Phillips: 2-for-3
4/10: Brandon Phillips: 0-for-0
4/09: Albert Pujols: 1-for-4
4/08: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/07: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/06: You haven't made your selection for this day

I had four 0-for-0s during my 10-game streak this year.

I just started HR BTS. Big Poopie is my first pick. He hit a homer. I am 1 for 1 in HRBTS. I'm riding the Big Poopie train all the way

I have a streak of 4 games going, and I didn't have a player selected for today! I just picked Joe Mauer. http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/4989_0_3_0_C/
* Facing Oakland, 4th most hits given up in the past 30 days (251)
* Minnesota has the 10th most hits in the past 7 days (55)
* Mauer has the most hits for the Twins in the past 7 days with nine. Ideally, I like players who have 10 hits in the past 7 days.
I only go into this much research when I have like 3 or 4 games under my belt.

today i start big poopie. tomorrow i start melky cabrera. my march to 57 starts with the big poopie.

My march to 57 started with... AARON ROWAND. ewww. Here's what gave me four so far: Aaron Rowand, Aaron Rowand, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon. It's true. I'm embarrassed, but i have four games.

Here's my top picked players from 2008. (The number is the number of times I selected that player):
8: Albert Pujols
7: JJ Hardy
7: Aramis Ramirez
7: Cristian Guzman
6: Matt Holliday
6: Alfonso Soriano
4: Edgar Gonzalez
4: Ian Kinsler
4: Jose Reyes

As the season progresses, I'll be curious to see who my top picks are.

i picked the big poopie for the last three games and he went 0 for 10. I will not be going big poopie for a long time now.

One of those games he faced Jason Marquis. He's something like 2 for 36 lifetime against marquis now.

why do you not use big poopie's nickname for your list?

I forgot to include his nickname. I will try to remember in the future.

I started Joe Mauer. You should have started Joe Mauer. He went 2-for-4. My selection for today is Prince Fielder. He certainly will not fail me. I WILL be at a six game streak tomorrow. BANK IT.

Here's my top picks so far for 2009:
6: Prince Fielder
5: Robinson Cano
5: Brandon Phillips
4: Johnny Damon
3: JD Drew
3: Paul Konerko
I was waiting to do this at the end of the month, but i couldn't wait. My selection for Prince Fielder for today will be my SEVENTH time using him this year... ut oh. I just looked up those six times I used him. Here are the results:
4/15: Prince Fielder: 1-for-2
4/14: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/13: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/15: Prince Fielder: 1-for-2
4/14: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
4/13: Prince Fielder: 0-for-4
eep. +holding breath+

Prince Fielder killed my five-game streak. Mark my words I shall never use Prince Fielder for Beat the Streak ever again in the year of 2009. Prince Fielder, you are off the island!

My longest anti-hit streak is 3 games.

5/24: Cristian Guzman: 0-for-3
5/23: Adam Jones: 0-for-4
5/22: Johnny Damon: 0-for-4

5/20: Johnny Damon: 0-for-4
5/19: Robinson Cano: 0-for-3
5/18: Scott Rolen: 0-for-3

Overall there are 38,095 users of the Beat the Streak application on Facebook.

streak: rank
30 1
28 3
27 4
26 5
25 7
23 9
22 11
21 9
20 17

11 318
10 447
9 654
8 979
7 1411
6 2003
5 2791
4 3923
3 5382
2 7364
1 9957
0 14514

7362 are serious players (people with a streak of 3+ games)
Overall there are 38095 members.

Erik's streak of five games puts him at the 38th percentile.
My streak of 10 games puts me at the 6th percentile.

But Erik has not installed the facebook application, so he really doesn't count in these stats. :-P

May in recap:
20-for-26. That's 77.9%

x 5/31/2009: Chase Utley: 2-for-3
0 5/30/2009: Raul Ibanez: 0-for-5
x 5/29/2009: Raul Ibanez: 2-for-4
- 5/28/2009: Akinori Iwamura: 0-for-0
x 5/27/2009: David Wright: 1-for-5
x 5/26/2009: David Wright: 2-for-5
x 5/25/2009: Daniel Murphy: 0-for-1
x 5/24/2009: Adam Jones: 1-for-4
0 5/23/2009: Adam Jones: 0-for-4
x 5/22/2009: Brian Roberts: 3-for-6
0 5/21/2009: Nate McLouth: 0-for-3
- 5/20/2009: Jason Jaramillo: 0-for-0
0 5/19/2009: Nick Markakis: 0-for-4
x 5/18/2009: Justin Morneau: 4-for-5
x 5/17/2009: Joe Mauer: 2-for-4
x 5/16/2009: Justin Morneau: 2-for-3
- 5/15/2009: Delmon Young: 0-for-0
- 5/14/2009: Adam Lind: 0-for-0
x 5/13/2009: Alex Rios: 1-for-4
x 5/12/2009: Aaron Hill: 2-for-4
- 5/11/2009: Ryan Garko: 0-for-0
x 5/10/2009: Nick Markakis: 1-for-3
x 5/09/2009: Nick Markakis: 3-for-5
0 5/08/2009: Melvin Mora: 0-for-4
x 5/07/2009: Carl Crawford: 2-for-5
x 5/06/2009: Carl Crawford: 1-for-5
x 5/05/2009: Jason Bay: 1-for-3
x 5/04/2009:Dustin Pedroia: 1-for-4
0 5/03/2009: Carlos Quentin: 0-for-4
x 5/02/2009: Mike Fontenot: 1-for-3
x 5/01/2009: Mike Fontenot: 2-for-3

April in recap:
2-for-3. That's 66.7%
x 4/30/2009: Mike Fontenot: 1-for-3
0 4/29/2009: Mike Fontenot: 0-for-3
x 4/28/2009: Mike Fontenot: 1-for-5
4/27/2009: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/26/2009: You haven't made your selection for this day
4/25/2009: You haven't made your selection for this day

what i don't understand is that I had a 7 game streak from May 9 - May 18, but MLB says my longest streak is 5.

What gives? I want my 7 game streak.

77.9% wow. Best of the year!

BIG POOPIE HIT A HOMER TODAY. MY HR BTS STREAK IS UP TO THREE! I'm at the 30% marker to getting 10!

You have 3 games in a row in HR BTS? Wow.

I'm still sitting on four games in regular BTS thanks to Carlos Lee sitting out Sunday's game. It's kinda tiring having players not play. At least he didn't pinch hit and give me a goose egg.

Tonight I have my standard Aaron Rowand going up to the plate to give me five. I still do not like Aaron Rowand. I'm trying to change my viewpoint on him.

Scratch Aaron Rowand. Dude's got only six hits in the past week. I'm going with SF's Pablo Sandoval instead. He's got 12 hits in the past week. PABLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Nick Green is my man today. I'm sitting on a six-game streak.

Boston 5th best team with 65 hits in the past 7 days.
Florida 4th worst pitching giving up 455 hits in the past 30 days.
Nick Green 8 hits in the past 7 days.
Nick Green 2 hits yesterday.

I also picked Jason Bay yesterday, but he mustered just one hit, although he is sitting on 9 hits the past week vs. Green's 8 hits. I like to mix it up.

Jason Bay ended my streak yesterday at 7 games. He only played through four innings.

For this series, I'm going with all Baltimore players.

Philadelphia 3rd worst pitching staff with 263 hits given up the past 30 days
Baltimore Orioles 2nd best team with 71 hits in the past 7 days

In the last 7 games three Orioles have 9 or more hits:
Aubrey Huff 10 hits
Melvin Mora 9 hits
Nick Markakis 9 hits

I'm starting each of these guys the next three days.

I took the top 300 players from Facebook's Beat the Streak (that's everyone with a streak of 12 or higher) And then did a word count on the frequency of networks. Here's the top networks in Beat the Streak:
12 NEWYORK
9 TORONTO
8 SANJUAN
8 CHICAGO
6 SANFRANCISCO
5 BOSTON
4 ATLANTA
4 DETROIT
4 EDMONTON
4 NORTHJERSEY
4 HALIFAX
3 HAMILTON
3 MANCHESTER
3 MONTREAL
3 BUFFALO
3 MILWAUKEE
3 OTTAWA
3 CALGARY
3 TAMPABAY
2 SEATTLE
2 SANDIEGO
2 SPRINGFIELD
2 CLEVELAND
2 DENVER
2 VANCOUVER
2 HOUSTON
2 PORTLAND
2 BALTIMORE
2 PHILADELPHIA
2 ROCHESTER
2 STCATHARINES
2 NIAGARA
2 FORTHAYS
2 KITCHENER
2 LONDON
2 RALEIGH
2 MINNEAPOLIS
2 STPAUL
2 NORTHERNINDIANA
2 DURHAM
2 PENNSTATE
2 PHOENIX
2 BIRCHMOUNTPARKCOLLEGIATE
2 STLOUIS
2 SUFFOLKCOUNTY
2 JERSEYSHORE
2 TCNJ
2 PROVIDENCE
2 SALTLAKECITY
2 SUDBURY
2 WESTCHESTER

June recap:
19-for-25 for a 76% correct rate.

7-game hitting streak
8-game hitting streak

6/30/2009 Brian McCann 0-for-5
6/29/2009 Vernon Wells 1-for-4
6/28/2009 Scott Rolen 2-for-3
6/27/2009 Miguel Cabrera 1-for-4
6/26/2009 Miguel Cabrera 2-for-4
6/25/2009 Alberto Callaspo 1-for-4
6/24/2009 Alberto Callaspo 1-for-6
6/23/2009 Alberto Callaspo 1-for-3
6/22/2009 Rick Ankiel 0-for-3
6/21/2009 Nick Markakis 0-for-1
6/20/2009 Melvin Mora 0-for-0
6/19/2009 Aubrey Huff 1-for-4
6/18/2009 Jason Bay 0-for-2
6/17/2009 Nick Green 1-for-3
6/16/2009 Jason Bay 1-for-4
6/15/2009 Pablo Sandoval 3-for-5
6/14/2009 Carlos Lee 0-for-0
6/13/2009 Tony Gwynn 1-for-4
6/12/2009 Aaron Rowand 1-for-4
6/11/2009 Pablo Sandoval 1-for-3
6/10/2009 Aaron Rowand 1-for-3
6/09/2009 Prince Fielder 0-for-3
6/08/2009 Joe Mauer 2-for-4
6/07/2009 Johnny Damon 2-for-4
6/06/2009 Derek Jeter 1-for-4
6/05/2009 Johnny Damon 0-for-0
6/04/2009 Aaron Rowand 2-for-7
6/03/2009 Fred Lewis 0-for-0
6/02/2009 Aaron Rowand 3-for-4
6/01/2009 Paul Konerko 0-for-3

This weekend I'm going with Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp.
* Los Angeles Dodgers (2nd hottest hitting team with 75 hits in the past seven days)
* Milwaukee Brewers (3rd worst pitching staff with 272 hits in the past seven days)
* Rafael Furcal 13 hits past seven days
* Matt Kemp 12 hits past seven days

oops that's 375 hits given in the past THIRTY days, not seven.

I took almost a month off from BTS. I had a season-high 7 game streak going on 7/19 and I neglected to make a pick and my streak ended. When I saw what happened I pretty much soured on BTS. Prior to that 7 game streak my longest was 4. My only goal for this game was to hit 10.

So it's almost a month later and I started up BTS on 8/15. And my FIRST FOUR PICKS GOT HITS. I'm 4 for 4! No better way to get back in the game.

David Eckstein, Brian Roberts, Kurt Suzuki, and Aaron Hill. I have Rafael Furcal going tonight. Hopefully I'll be half way to ten.

Furcal ended my perfect return from retirement.

Jumbo-sized Prince Fielder did squat for my yesterday. My streak still stands at zero. Tonight I have Carl Crawford going agains the O's.

Here's the results from my July

7/31/2009 Bobby Abreu 3-for-5
7/30/2009 Craig Counsell 1-for-4
7/29/2009 Ryan Braun 1-for-3
7/28/2009 Craig Counsell 0-for-0
7/27/2009 Ryan Braun 3-for-4
7/26/2009 Derrek Lee 0-for-0
7/25/2009 Kosuke Fukudome 1-for-4
7/24/2009 Alfonso Soriano 1-for-4
7/23/2009 Jimmy Rollins 2-for-4
7/22/2009 Jeff Francoeur 0-for-4
7/21/2009 Angel Pagan 1-for-4
7/20/2009 Luis Castillo 1-for-3
7/19/2009 Franklin Gutierrez 2-for-5
7/18/2009 Franklin Gutierrez 1-for-3
7/17/2009 Jose Lopez 3-for-5
7/16/2009 Franklin Gutierrez 1-for-4
7/12/2009 Rafael Furcal 0-for-3
7/11/2009 Matt Kemp 1-for-3
7/10/2009 Rafael Furcal 1-for-6
7/09/2009 Joey Votto 1-for-4
7/08/2009 Franklin Gutierrez 1-for-4
7/07/2009 Franklin Gutierrez 1-for-2
7/06/2009 Joey Votto 1-for-4
7/05/2009 Ryan Church 0-for-4
7/04/2009 Ramon Hernandez 1-for-4
7/03/2009 Joey Votto 1-for-4
7/02/2009 Brian McCann 1-for-4
7/01/2009 Yunel Escobar 1-for-1

JULY: 23-for-25, 88.5%

So far this year:
APRIL: 2-for-3, 66.7%
MAY: 20-for-26, 77.9%
JUNE: 19-for-25, 76%
JULY: 23-for-25, 88.5%

Through July, here's my most used players:
7 Prince Fielder
5 Robinson Cano
5 Aaron Rowand
5 Franklin Gutierrez
5 Brandon Phillips
4 Alberto Callaspo
4 Jason Bay
4 Johnny Damon

I got a one-month subscription to http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/

SO FAR THIS YEAR:
GAMES WITH AT LEAST ONE HIT
103 Ichiro Suzuki
94 Aaron Hill
93 Ryan Zimmerman
93 Michael Young
93 Nick Markakis
93 Derek Jeter
91 Hanley Ramirez
90 Carl Crawford
90 Robinson Cano
89 Albert Pujols
89 Matt Holliday
89 Alberto Callaspo
89 Miguel Cabrera
88 Ryan Theriot
88 Pablo Sandoval
88 Carlos Lee
88 Orlando Cabrera
87 Felipe Lopez
87 Matt Kemp
87 Orlando Hudson
87 Jacoby Ellsbury
87 Ryan Braun
86 Shane Victorino
86 Mark Teixeira
86 Mark Reynolds
86 James Loney
86 Todd Helton
85 Miguel Tejada
85 Alexis Rios
85 Prince Fielder

GAMES WITH NO HITS (not including 0-for-0)
54 Mark Loretta
52 Ian Stewart
52 Mike Fontenot
51 Chris Young
49 Colby Rasmus
49 Ross Gload
48 Laynce Nix
48 Jody Gerut
48 Greg Dobbs
47 Joe Thurston
47 Kevin Kouzmanoff
47 Jeremy Hermida
47 Chase Headley
47 Willie Harris
47 Clint Barmes
46 Jayson Werth
46 Dan Uggla
46 Nick Punto
46 Carlos Pena
46 Greg Norton
46 Daniel Murphy
46 Brandon Inge
46 Micah Hoffpauir
45 Jeremy Reed
45 Jason Michaels
45 Adam LaRoche
45 Gerald Laird
45 Mike Jacobs
45 J.J. Har-dy
45 Darin Erstad
45 Jack Cust

Every time i set up my bts, i note the teams with the worst pitching staff in the past 30 days. Then i write down who they are faceing. Then i go to http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&season=2009&seasonType=2&split=61&cat=hits&order=true&type=reg

I go down the list of teams who are facing the worst pitching staffs.

For instance today, Baltimore has the worst pitching staff in the past 30 days. That makes Cleveland at the top of my list. I look up Cleveland hitters in the past 7 days. Andy Marte and Shin-Soo Choo both have 10 hits. I like to pick two players who are hot on a team. If just one player is hot, then the team really isn't hitting hot. I like to have two players with 10+ hits

APRIL 2009: 15-for-23; 65.2%; 3-game streak
MAY 2009: 20-for-26, 77.9% 10-game streak
JUNE 2009: 19-for-25, 76% 7-game streak, 8-game streak
JULY 2009: 23-for-25, 88.5% 6-game streak, 6-game streak

Bummer I didn't record my stats from August and September. But I had a 13-game streak in there somewhere.