Andre Ethier riding the momentum

LOS ANGELES -- It started out, as so many things do in life, small.

It was a simple little infield single that a hustling Andre Ethier managed to beat out against San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain in the fourth inning on April 3, and Ethier subsequently would be erased on Matt Kemp's double-play grounder. Thanks to the quick-changing mathematics of opening week, it inflated the slow-starting Ethier's batting average from a lackluster .111 -- he had just one hit in nine previous at-bats -- all the way to .200.

By the end of the day, Ethier would have two more hits to raise his average to .333, the Los Angeles Dodgers would have their first loss of the season in the form of a 10-run pounding by the Giants, and no one who was at Dodger Stadium that day would have any idea what they had just witnessed, as far as Ethier was concerned.

It was the start of the longest April hitting streak in major league history and the longest in any month since 2009. The streak stands at 24 games as Ethier and the Dodgers prepare to open a six-game homestand Friday night when they host the San Diego Padres.

Ethier is hitting .402 (37-for-92) during the streak, including a game-winning, solo homer off Florida Marlins reliever Brian Sanches in the 10th inning on Wednesday that made the Dodgers' long flight home and their first off day in almost three weeks a lot more enjoyable than they otherwise would have been.

But the weird thing about hitting streaks is how random they can be -- how randomly they begin and how randomly they end. The longest one of all time, the 56-game streak by Joe DiMaggio in 1941, was snapped by Cleveland Indians pitchers Al Smith, who had a career record of 99-101, and Jim Bagby, whose career mark was 97-96. Pete Rose's National League-record 44-game streak in 1978 was a casualty of Atlanta Braves hurlers Larry McWilliams (78-90) and Gene Garber (96-113).

Could Padres lefty Clayton Richard, who will take the mound Friday, be one of the guys who ends Ethier's streak? Could Richard combine with a couple of guys from San Diego's outstanding bullpen, say, Mike Adams or Luke Gregerson or Heath Bell, to put a stop to all this?

Perhaps. But unless there is a lopsided game -- such as the 16-4 Braves victory over Rose's Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 1, 1978, that allowed Garber to focus on striking out Rose to end that game and the hitting streak -- that won't be their goal. Hitting streaks aren't like no-hitters, in which the opponent is doing anything possible to break it up. Hitting streaks are more organic, something that happens over the course of time while teams are busy trying to beat each other.

Ethier said that for the most part, opposing pitchers haven't been attacking him any differently as the streak has gotten long enough to gain national attention. Really, the Dodgers have had only a couple of blowouts during the streak -- a 10-1 loss to the Braves on April 19 and a 12-2 win over the Chicago Cubs Friday -- and in each case, Ethier already had gotten his hit long before the game got out of hand.

"I have to tip my hat, especially to [the Marlins]," Ethier said after Wednesday's game. "They are still coming at me and for the most part giving me strikes. They are still giving me an opportunity to swing the bat and keep this going."

There have been a handful of key moments during Ethier's streak:

• On April 3 (Game 2 of the streak) against the Giants, Ethier's lone hit came against Sergio Romo in his final at-bat in the seventh inning, when he singled to drive in the final run of a decisive, four-run rally.

• On April 8 at San Diego (Game 5), Ethier's only hit in five plate appearances was an infield single off Chad Qualls.

• On April 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals (Game 14), he came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the ninth hitless in three at-bats and the Dodgers trailing 1-0. He led off that inning with a double into the right-field corner, then scored on Matt Kemp's walk-off homer.

• On Sunday at Chicago (Game 21), Ethier's streak looked as if it might take on a note of controversy when he was credited with a hit on a ball that was bobbled by Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney in the top of the first inning. Based on replays, the scorer appeared to have ruled correctly, but it still was a play that legitimately could have gone either way. Ethier wouldn't get another hit until the ninth, when he singled sharply to left to end any doubt.

Some other fun facts:

• Ethier always comes to the plate in the first inning because he bats third. Eight times during the streak, he has ended the suspense early with a hit in that at-bat.

• Ethier has nine multiple-hit games during the streak, including four three-hit games. He has nine doubles, three home runs, 14 runs scored and 15 RBIs during the streak.

• Ethier's overall average during the streak has risen from .111 to .380.

Ethier has started every game the Dodgers have played this season. It's tough to give a guy a breather when he is your hottest hitter and you have three other starters who have been out because of injuries at one time or another.

But in the unlikely event Dodgers manager Don Mattingly were to give Ethier a day off during the streak, and if Mattingly then needed Ethier to pinch hit or enter that game defensively, the streak would be put into peril simply because Ethier wouldn't figure to get more than one at-bat -- maybe two.

In that event, by the way, the streak would not end if Ethier were to have no official at-bats, although there is one exception to that rule: If a player has no official at-bats but does have a sacrifice fly, the streak is over. That rule doesn't apply to any other type of plate appearance that doesn't result in an official at-bat (walk, hit batsman, sacrifice bunt).