Aug. 3

New kid in town
This has been an exceptional year for rookie pitchers, both in terms of production -- Rodrigo Lopez is numero uno, with Jason Jennings, Damian Moss, Josh Fogg, Jorge Julio and Jason Simontacchi -- and potential star power, such as John Beckett, Mark Prior, Brett Myers, John Lackey and Kirk Saarloos.

But it's also been an interesting year for American League rookie position players, most of whom have impacted pennant races. The Rookie of the Year will likely come from between Toronto's Eric Hinske -- who has been in the top dozen AL hitters in OPS for weeks -- and Lopez. But Mark Ellis, whose OPS trails only Alfonso Soriano and Ray Durham among regular AL second basemen, has proven to be a key ingredient for Oakland, with the promise of 15-18 homer pop. Bobby Kielty and Dustin Mohr have been huge for the Twins as has Nick Johnson for the Yankees.

Here's a statistical rundown:

Player	Position	Team	AVG	HR	RBI	OPS
Hinske	3B	Tor.	.274	18	56	.865
Kielty	OF	Minn.	.322	8	35	.970
Mohr	OF	Minn.	.294	9	33	.807
Johnson	1B	NYY	.251	14	50	.780
Ellis	2B	Oak.	.281	4	17	.806
Pena	1B	Det.	.303	3	15	.891

Statistics through Aug. 2.

Life after death
The Twins went into the weekend with seven straight crowds over 25,000, which they hadn't done since 1994. The Expos averaged more than 14,064 per game in July.

Money for nothing
Between Darren Oliver ($7 million), Rich Garces ($2.5 million) and Jose Offerman ($6.5 million, plus a $2 million buyout for 2003) the Red Sox have eaten $18 million in contracts thus far this season.

Everybody's better
Todd Hollandsworth is the Rangers' seventh center fielder this season; the other six combined to hit .195 with seven homers and 26 RBI. Dennys Reyes is their seventh lefty reliever; the other six were 4-11, 5.71.

Chasing the sun away
The Mighty, Mighty Devil Rays won seven games in July.

If you gotta go, go now
Chad Hermansen's failed Pittsburgh career numbers: .199-12-29

The old school off the bright
By the rankings of Baseball Prospectus, here are the five best and three worst regular offensive performers at each position:

Catchers
Best
1. Mike Piazza
2. Jorge Posada
3. Paul Lo Duca
4. Jason Varitek
5. A.J. Pierzynski

Worst
1. Einar Diaz
2. Keith Osik
3. Henry Blanco

First basemen
Best
1. Jason Giambi
2. Jim Thome
3. John Olerud
4. Rafael Palmeiro
5. Todd Helton

Worst
1. Tony Clark
2. Jose Offerman
3. Lee Stevens

Second basemen
Best
1. Alsonso Soriano
2. Jeff Kent
3. Junior Spivey
4. Ray Durham
5. Jose Vidro

Worst
1. Brent Abernathy
2. Jose Ortiz
3. Abraham Nunez

Third basemen
Best
1. Edgardo Alfonzo
2. Eric Hinske
3. Eric Chavez
4. Mike Lowell
5. Robin Ventura

Worst
1. Craig Paquette
2. Aramis Ramirez
3. Vinny Castilla

Shortstops
Best
1. Alex Rodriguez
2. Derek Jeter
3. Nomar Garciaparra
4. Miguel Tejada
5. Omar Vizquel

Worst
1. Neifi Perez
2. Cesar Izturis
3. Juan Uribe

Left fielders
Best
1. Barry Bonds
2. Brian Giles
3. Adam Dunn
4. Albert Pujols
5. Luis Gonzalez

Worst
1. Chuck Knoblauch
2. Jeff Liefer
3. Gabe Kapler

Center fielders
Best
1. Jim Edmonds
2. Lance Berkman
3. Bernie Williams
4. Torii Hunter
5. Randy Winn

Worst
1. Juan Pierre
2. Adrian Brown
3. Doug Glanville

Right fielders
Best
1. Sammy Sosa
2. Ichiro Suzuki
3. Larry Walker
4. Vladimir Guerrero
5. Magglio Ordonez

Worst
1. Jose Guillen
2. Jeromy Burnitz
3. Aaron Guiel

In the middle of the night
Through Thursday, the Braves, Devil Rays and Pirates each had only 10 homers out of the cleanup spot in the batting order.

(Source: Elias Sports Bureau)