Our dear Matsui is very adept at flying under the radar, leaving his cronies like A-Rod and Jeter to deal with the spotlight. As a result, sometimes Matso's accomplishments get overshadowed by his flashier teammates, which is unfortunate given his propensity for putting up consistently solid numbers. In New York, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle with all the big stars and scandals (THANKS, Clemens [and you too, McCready]), so I wanted to take a brief moment here on YC to salute the dude responsible for keeping many an inning alive.

Here's what he's done so far:
At-bats: 119
Hits: 41
Walks: 14
K's: 14
Average: .345 (#1 in AL)
RBI: 17
OBP: .426
Slugging: .496
Hit Streak: 16 games

2008 is shaping up to be another year for Matso, and with the absence of A-Rod and Posada at the moment his job is even more vital than ever before (unnecessarily dramatic sentence?). So far he has stepped up to the plate (pun! Hardy har har... I'm a goddamn comedic GENIUS) and picked up the slack left by his injured comrades and it looks like he is in the zone, so to speak. His consecutive games played streak was brought to an abrupt end back in April of 2006 when busted his wrist, but he's got a new streak going now - hits.

How long can he keep that up? What are the betting' odds on him making it to 30 games? 40? 50? 57?

Don't jinx it!