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Now, 91 plate appearances is not a huge sample and Rivas has certainly never been considered a power hitter. However, his complete lack of power this year is rather amazing. Consider that Rivas had averaged one extra-base hit for every 13.9 plate appearances coming into this season, a rate that would give him 6-7 extra-base hits this year. Instead, he has none.

The only other hitters still stuck on zero extra-base hits while getting even 50 plate appearances this season are Willie Harris, who is a utility man for the White Sox, and Charles Thomas, who was so bad as an outfielder for the A's that they sent him down to Triple-A earlier this month. Harris has gone 74 plate appearances without an extra-base hit, while Thomas has gone 55.

The real question is whether or not Rivas' complete inability to hit a ball into the gap this season is unique, not just in the context of this season, but throughout baseball history. Believe it or not, it is. Here is a list of the hitters with the most plate appearances in a season without any extra-base hits in the history of the sport:

                         YEAR       PA
Herman Pitz              1890      346
Bill Holbert             1879      245
Jim Donahue              1886      199
Jack O'Connor            1906      184
Charlie Bastian          1889      180
Vic Willis               1902      161
John Keefe               1890      161
Art Whitney              1882      158
Joe McGinnity            1899      157
Mike McNally             1916      151

The first thing you'll notice about the above list is that all the seasons are from before 1920, and nearly all of them are from before 1900. Comparing Rivas' 2005 season with, for instance, how many plate appearances some guy named Herman Pitz had without an extra-base hit in 1890 doesn't interest me very much, so let's adjust the parameters a little.

Here's a slightly revised list, this one showing the hitters with the most plate appearances in a season without any extra-base hits during the last 80 years (which coincides nicely with the end of the Deadball Era):

                         YEAR       PA
Dwain Anderson           1973      144  
Dave Nelson              1969      137  
Pat Corrales             1972      135  
Mike Gallego             1995      132  
Bob Swift                1951      118  
Paul Casanova            1974      113  
Frankie Baumholtz        1956      112   
Doc Farrell              1933      112  
Tom Egan                 1974      109  
John Simmons             1949      107

Ah, much better. That list shows the top 10, but in all a total of 18 non-pitchers have finished a season with zero extra-base hits and more than 91 plate appearances since 1925. Dwain Anderson holds the modern record at 144 plate appearances in a 1973 season that saw him hit .121/.232/.121 in 71 games between the Padres and Cardinals. With 91 plate appearances already under his belt, Rivas is nearly two-thirds of the way to Johnson's pathetic mark.

The Twins' team record belongs to Dean Chance, who went 108 plate appearances without an extra-base hit in 1967 and then followed it up with 106 plate appearances and zero extra-base hits in 1968. Of course, Chance was a pitcher and won 36 games during those two seasons, so the fact that he didn't have any power was fairly irrelevant.

The Twins' team record for non-pitchers belongs to Luis Gomez, who went 81 plate appearances without an extra-base hit in 1975. Gomez was a utility infielder who played eight seasons in the majors, the first four with the Twins, and finished his career with zero home runs in 1,391 plate appearances. In 1975, he hit .139/.182/.139 and got just 81 plate appearances in 89 games. In other words, he was being counted on to hit about as much as Chance was.

Unfortunately, we can't do an "Extra-Base Hit Watch" for Rivas. Well, we could do it, but it wouldn't make much sense beyond providing a daily opportunity to mock him (as if I needed that). This is the sort of record that Rivas could "break" in July and then ruin with a bloop double down the right-field line in August. Because until the final day of the season, the streak will always be in jeopardy. Hopefully it won't take that long.

Today at The Hardball Times:
- Ten Things I Didn't Know Last Week (by Dave Studeman)