3-T) Roger Clemens -- 20 straight wins Streak: June 3, 1998 - June 1, 1999 The Rocket put together his run while wearing two different uniforms, beginning it with the Blue Jays as he pitched his way to a second straight AL Cy Young Award and then continuing it after he was traded to the Yankees. Clemens needed a little luck along the way
Aaron Judge Jersey, escaping with a no-decision in seven different starts in which he allowed three earned runs or more -- including a seven-run implosion against the Orioles and a five-run start against the Rangers in early 1999. Still, Clemens went nearly an entire calendar year without suffering a loss. 3-T) Rube Marquard -- 20 straight wins Streak: Oct. 1, 1911 - July 3, 1912 After winning his final decision of 1911, Marquard made history of his own by going 19-0 to start the'12 campaign -- still a record for the most wins without a loss to begin a season. Marquard's record would have actually been 20-0 if he had played in the current era; he pitched a scoreless inning of relief on April 20 and then watched his Giants come back for a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth, but rules in those times gave the win to the pitcher who tossed the most innings. New York's offense made it comfortable for Marquard: He won each of his first dozen decisions of 1912 by at least three runs. 7-T) Jose Contreras -- 17 straight wins Streak: Aug. 21, 2005 - July 4, 2006 Contreras'run had some perfect bookend symmetry as it started and ended against the Yankees, with Hall of Famer Randy Johnson opposing him in both games. Wedged in between the separate legs of Contreras'streak in the 2005 and'06 regular seasons was the'05 postseason
Alex Rodriguez Jersey, which saw the Cuban righty win three of his four starts and help lead the White Sox to a long-awaited World Series title. 7-T) Johan Santana -- 17 straight wins Streak: July 17, 2004 - April 26, 2005 Santana pitched brilliantly even in defeat, surrendering just two runs on a pair of homers by the Angels in a 2-1 loss that snapped his streak on May 1, 2005. The Twins'ace twirled plenty of gems before that, including a 14-strikeout, no walk performance against the Orioles in September 2004 that helped him sew up his first of two career AL Cy Young Awards. Altogether, Santana strung together 22 straight outings in which he allowed three earned runs or fewer to close out the'04 season. 7-T) Dave McNally -- 17 straight wins Streak: Sept. 22, 1968 - July 30, 1969 McNally went 15-0 out of the gate to begin the'69 campaign, earning him the nickname “McLucky” from some of his teammates (the Orioles came back to win seven games that McNally left while trailing on the scoreboard), but it wasn't his fault that he had a high-powered Baltimore lineup with stars like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Boog Powell backing him up. The left-hander eventually strung together four straight 20-win seasons for Earl Weaver's ballclub. 7-T) Johnny Allen -- 17 straight wins Streak: Sept. 10, 1936 - Sept. 30, 1937 Allen came oh-so-close to preserving his streak for at least one more winter
Aroldis Chapman Jersey, but he finally suffered a loss in the Indians'last game of the season after he was outpitched in a one-hit shutout thrown by Tigers pitcher “Whistling Jake” Wade, who entered that game with a 5.64 ERA. Allen finished his career with a 142-75 record, for a .654 win percentage that ranks 11th among Modern Era pitchers with at least 200 career decisions. Clint Frazier returned to the Yankees from the team's alternate site in Moosic, Pa., on Wednesday night and hit a home run and got three hits and ended up a triple shy of a cycle as the Yankees beat the Braves. It doesn't mean Frazier, a perennial prospect, is now officially on his way to being Mike Trout or Mookie Betts at Yankee Stadium. But he showed once again in his season debut that he's no alternate-site guy when he gets a chance to play. He's got the talent to be a big-room guy, like the big room at Yankee Stadium, even without fans in attendance this season. Frazier falls triple shy of cycle in '20 debut Frazier has never been known for his defense, he's occasionally been a little rough around the edges from the time the Yankees traded for him four years ago. And he's had his dust-ups with the media, most notably last season, when he kicked the ball around in the outfield one Sunday night against the Red Sox and then walked away from the media afterward. What he can do is hit. And make you want to watch him do it. And make you wonder all over again how much more he might do if he got to the plate a lot more. Right now Giancarlo Stanton is back on the injured list with a hamstring injury and no one is sure for how long, after a season when he played just 18 games because of various injuries. Aaron Judge, who missed 60 games last season with injury issues
Bernie Williams Jersey, was pulled from a game against the Braves the other night with what was described as tightness in his lower body. Maybe it is nothing with Judge. Maybe it's something. When Judge hits, he hits home runs, some out of sight, and already has nine this season, in 62 at-bats. When he sits, and you can look this up, he doesn't hit any. In 2018-19, he sat out 110 games. Even with Stanton and Judge just combining for 30 homers a year ago, the Yankees still managed to hit 306 as a team. They can still mash this year. You wonder how much more they could if Clint Frazier did more playing and less bouncing around. The Yankees are going to be just fine in the American League East. And they've done fine the past couple of years with Frazier being nothing more than a part-time, stop-gap player, winning 100 one time and 103 another. But there always concerns about Stanton and Judge
Brett Gardner Jersey, neither of whom would have started the regular season on time if it had started back in March. Maybe this season is finally Frazier's big chance, after all the excitement at the Trade Deadline of 2016, when they got him from the Indians in the trade that sent Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Frazier, once drafted ahead of Judge, was 21 at the time. Now he is about to turn 26 in September. So it's fair to ask the question about him in the summer of 2020: If not now for the Yankees, when? Frazier had concussion issues for almost all of 2018. Last year he got into 69 games for the Yankees and hit 12 home runs and if he'd gotten twice that many, he might have gone for 30. Even if Judge's lower-body tightness just turns out to be something minor, this is a time when the two terrific defenders in the Yankee outfield -- veterans Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks -- are hitting .171 and .227 respectively. But as long as the Yankees continue to hit, with or without Stanton, it appears that Frazier will continue to be an alternative from the alternate site -- as much fun as he is to watch when he is on a ballfield, even behind the mask he started wearing during summer camp and hasn't yet taken off. Of course he hit a home run in his first at-bat back. “I'm just glad that tonight I was able to start with a bang,” Frazier said after the game. “Tonight was my first real game of 2020, and it felt good. It's not going to be easy every time I step up to the plate. Being in the alternate site from a few weeks, I wondered if I was going to get back. I was just thrilled to play tonight.”He would go to the Minor Leagues in other seasons not knowing if, or when, he would be back to the big club. There is always the chance that Frazier could be included in the kind of trade that brought him to the Yankees if general manager Brian Cashman goes looking for more pitching at the Trade Deadline, the way the Indians were looking for pitching when they traded Frazier away. This is what Cashman said about Frazier at the time of that deal: “The bat speed is already legendary. He's got all the tools -- he can run, he can hit, he can hit with power, he can play all three outfield positions -- he's a very exciting, high-energy guy that shows up in a dirty uniform. That's the exciting thing about his mentality. He's a super-competitive guy.” On Wednesday night, Frazier came back from Moosic, Pa., and looked like a big-room guy and got three hits and the Yankees won. The last time I wrote about him here last June the column ended this way: “Let the kid play.”