3 More Hits For Uggla - Streak at 31

Dan Uggla wasted no time extending his hitting streak against Florida last night singling off of Anibal Sanchez in the top of the first inning giving him 31 straight games with a hit. With the base hit Uggla ties the record for the 25th longest hitting streak in Major League Baseball History becoming only the 35th player to have a streak of longer than 30 games. In the past ten years, only three other players have accomplished the feat: Jimmy Rollins had a 38 game hitting streak spanning the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Rollins' teammate Chase Utley had a 35 game hitting streak in 2006 and Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo hit in 35 straight games in 2002.

Photo Credit: content.usatoday.com

Uggla finished the game with 3 hits in 5 at bats and drove in a pair as the Braves cruised to a 6-2 win. Uggla is now hitting .355 during the streak and has as many runs batted in (29) during the streak as he did before the streak began (86 games). Equally impressively he's now seen his average raised by 51 points (.173 to .224) since the streak began on July 5th.

The Braves are off today and open up a 3 game series against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. Carlos Zambrano has the ball for the Cubs in the opener and he's gotten the better of his encounters with Dan Uggla thus far. Uggla has just 1 hit in 9 at bats in his career against the big Dominican righthander. Zambrano has been struggling a bit this year though. His ERA is north of 4.00 (4.46) for the first time since his rookie season in 2001 and it's also the first time since 2001 that he's been allowing more than a hit per inning. Still, he enters the contest with a record of 9-6 and will be a challenge for the red-hot Uggla.