June 9

Closing time
The Seattle Mariners have outscored their opponents 63-17 in the eighth inning through Friday, which is about all you have to know about their incredible bullpen.

Cover me
For some examples of protection and lack of it, here is what the positions behind the following hitters have produced:

Player	BA	OPS	HR	RBI
Jason Giambi	.212	.606	5	31
M. Ramirez	.263	.733	7	32
B. Bonds	.301	.882	8	42
E. Martinez	.353	.950	6	43
M. Piazza	.232	.639	6	25
D. Mientkiewicz	.244	.693	5	24
C. Jones	.229	.647	6	31

Powderfinger
Kerry Wood is 4-0 with 36 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings since his chat with Nolan Ryan. Which is reminiscent of what happened to Randy Johnson's career after a similar chat.

The golden road to unlimited devotion
Quality starts per staff (through June 8):

National League
Chi. Cubs, 33
N.Y. Mets, 33
Los Angeles, 33
Arizona, 32
Florida, 32
Atlanta, 31
St. Louis, 31
San Diego, 29
Milwaukee, 28
Philadelphia, 27
Colorado, 26
San Francisco, 24
Cincinnati, 21
Houston, 20
Montreal, 19
Pittsburgh, 14

American League
Minnesota, 35
Boston, 33
Anaheim, 32
Oakland, 30
Seattle, 28
Baltimore, 27
Detroit, 27
Toronto, 26
Chi. White Sox, 24
Kansas City, 23
N.Y. Yankees, 23
Cleveland, 21
Tampa Bay, 16
Texas, 15

Who's been foolin' you?
Former Mariners owner George Argyros -- now ambassador to Spain -- called his former club this week to ask if they would invest in baseball in that country.

Former Rangers club president Tom Schiffer, George W. Bush's associate and the brains behind the building of The Ballpark at Arlington, is ambassador to Australia.

"And Kathleen Harris," says one GM, "is going to be named the ambassador to Chad."

Back in the USSR
Mariners GM Pat Gillick on the signing of Russian right-handed pitcher Olig Koranov:

"Our scout, Kenny Madeja, who signed Derek Lowe, John Smoltz and Ryan Anderson, really likes him. The only condition is that he goes to the Northwest League (Everett) and we play at least one exhibition in Moscow, Idaho."

Above the treeline
OK, so everyone knows that when Mike Hampton homered twice on Tuesday it gave him four for the season, challenging Wes Ferrell's major-league record of nine and the NL record of seven shared by Don Drysdale and Don Newcombe. He is the first pitcher since Ken Brett of the '73 Phillies to hit four in one season; Brett did it in four consecutive starts.

Hampton has a bet with Todd Helton that he'll finish with a higher batting average than the star first baseman. Brett was once bet $10,000 by fellow Angels pitcher Paul Hartzell that he couldn't go to Puerto Rico and bat at least .270 as a regular player.

Brett went to Puerto Rico and hit .270, but Hartzell still wouldn't pay off the bet.

Remembering the mambo
There was something about the 28th and 29th rounds of this year's draft -- the state of Florida and names. The Devil Rays took right-hander Mumba Rivera -- apparently no relation to Bombo -- from Marshalltown (Iowa) CC in the 28th round and the Marlins took OF/C Gooby Gerlits from Parkland, Fla. in the 29th round.

Family reserve
Just to make their major investments feel at home, the Twins took Joe Mauer's brother Jake, a second baseman at St. Thomas (Minn.) College, in the 23rd round, and the Phillies took the brother of their No. 1 pick Gavin Floyd, outfielder Michael Floyd of South Carolina, in the 22nd round.