I'm not sure there's ever been a more unlikely player to have a 30 game hitting streak than Dan Uggla this year. Following Atlanta's 4-1 win over Colorado on the 4th of July, Uggla was hitting .173 with just 55 hits in 86 games. Since that time, Uggla has hit .345 (41/119), has matched his 86 game total in home runs with 12, has 27 runs batted in (just 2 fewer than he had in his first 86 games) and he's seen his batting average shoot all the way up to .220 - still not good, but it shows how bad things were. What makes Uggla's streak even more impressive is that he's not really a contact type hitter. Over the past four seasons, he's averaged nearly 160 strikeouts. He's not particularly fast either tallying just 20 stolen bases in 6 seasons and while he did hit 7 triples as a rookie back in 2006, he's only hit 6 since then. A career .258 hitter (including the streak), he's certainly been forced to earn the hits he's gotten.
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Uggla is the 55th player in Major League History to have a hitting streak of at least 30 games and the second play to do so this year (Dodgers Outfielder Andre Ethier had a 30 game hitting streak earlier this season). Of those 55 though, only 34 managed to extend their hitting streak to 31 games, the most recent of whom was Phillies second baseman Chase Utley who hit in 35 straight games back in 2006. Uggla will try to make it 31 straight tonight as the Braves wrap up a 3 game series with his former team, the Florida Marlins. Anibal Sanchez will be taking the mound for Florida. In his career against Sanchez, Uggla has 1 hit in just 3 at bats.
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