It wasn't publicized. It wasn't planned. It just happened that Wednesday evening, perhaps the two greatest fielding pitchers in major league history were together in the same ballpark -- San Diego's Petco Park.

Kibitzing on the field before the game and watching from the press box during was Jim Kaat, winner of a record 16 Gold Gloves, who was just visiting after retiring from broadcasting work.

Starting for the Padres against Arizona was Greg Maddux, who last season tied Kaat's record of 16 Gold Gloves and very well might break it with a 17th this season.

Kaat, now 69, is retired from his job as a Yankees broadcaster and is spending this summer driving a motor home around the country with his wife. They're stopping along the way, playing every golf course in sight (they've been through Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana and California, among other places, so far) and are currently spending two months in the San Diego area.

Maddux, now 41, is 10-9 with a 3.79 ERA in 28 starts for the Padres and remains ultra-competitive and highly engaged. He says he's having more fun now than he ever has, and judging from the conversations, it's pretty hard to argue with him.

Among the many amazing things about Maddux is that, even now, he still manages to make one or two defensive plays a game that make you stop and marvel.

Even if you're a 16-time Gold Glover like Kaat.

"I got a lot of attention as a fielder because I was quick for a big man," says the 6-4 left-hander. "He's much better mechanically than I was. I really enjoy watching him.

"I had the quickness, but I made some errant throws early in my career."

An old coach with the Chicago White Sox named Al Monchak helped Kaat correct that flaw by having him slow his throwing down a bit while raising his arm. Kaat's bad habit was flinging hard throws sidearm -- or lower.

While Kaat was watching the Padres' 3-1 win from the press box, Maddux made a spectacular third-inning play, bounding to his right off the mound, cat-like, to field an Orlando Hudson bouncer. Rookie Justin Upton tried to score from third, but Maddux fired a strike to the plate to nail him.

Kaat marveled that Maddux finishes his follow-through to the plate in perfect fielding position.

"That's something that is taught when you're young, at the Little League-level," Kaat said.

After the game, Maddux allowed that his follow-through allows him to be in better fielding position than most pitchers but, typically humble, he shrugged off any notion that it's a result of any brilliance from him.

"You work on your footwork," Maddux said. "You make sure your legs are under you when you throw. You don't rush throws. You don't want to throw from bad arm angles. You field it and you throw when you're supposed to throw it. If not, you don't throw it.

"A lot of pitchers try to rush it. But you have to make it a routine play."

Padres manager Bud Black said he wouldn't hazard a guess as to how many runs Maddux's fielding has saved the Padres, who are locked in what could be an epic NL West battle with Arizona and the Dodgers heading into September. But. ...

"He's constantly saving hits," Black said. "He really is like having an extra infielder.

"He's the best I've ever seen."

He certainly opened the eyes of the guy who literally is less than half his age.

Upton, the ultra-promising Arizona rookie right fielder who turned 20 on Aug. 25, could only shake his head a day later.

"Most pitchers, that ball gets by him," Upton said of Hudson's bouncer that seemed headed for the hole between shortstop and third base. "I was reading it as going past the pitcher. But it didn't get by.

"Once I took off, I peeked. And I was like, 'Ah man' ... I knew I was done. I didn't know he was quite as mobile as he is."

Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said he didn't fault Upton for running because he, too, thought it was a good read, and he wants his players to be aggressive on the bases and force defenses to make plays.

Which, as he continues to show time and time again, Maddux is eminently capable of.

"He's almost like a handball player out there," Melvin said. "When he throws it, off the bat, it's almost like he knows where it's going, which way it's bounding."

Likes: I don't wish any ill will toward the Mets, but man, you've gotta appreciate what the Phillies are doing right now. ... Jim Kaat. What a nice man. ... Rob Riggle's dispatches from Iraq on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" last week. Outstanding, particularly the one involving Indiana. ... Bill Murray driving a golf cart through the streets of Sweden (or through the movies). ... St. Mary Catholic Central (Monroe, Mich.) laying a 28-7 thumping on Flat Rock in Thursday night high school football to move to 2-0 for the season. Next victim: New Boston Huron.

Dislikes: Two years after Katrina, we can't do better than this for New Orleans?

Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Day:

"Me and my old school pals had some mighty high times down here
"And what happened to you poor black folks, well it just ain't fair
"He took a look around, gave a little pep talk
"Said "I'm with you" then he took a little walk
"Tell me how can a poor man stand such hard times and live"

-- Bruce Springsteen, How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times and Live

By firing both the general manager, Tim Purpura, and the field manager, Phil Garner, Houston owner Drayton McLane made a bold statement to Houston fans Monday that he expects much more than the disappointing 2007 Astros have delivered.

Get past that statement, though, and, by definition, the Houston bloodletting also means this:

McLane thinks his team was good enough to win despite the fact that, in what was an organizational decision, the Astros decided to keep a washed up Craig Biggio in the lineup every day until he punched his 3,000th career hit -- even when he was struggling into June to hit .230.

It means he thinks his team was good enough despite the offseason defections of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. And despite the fact that key acquisition Jason Jennings was injured and didn't pitch most of the season.

The first part of all this -- the first pargraph -- will win fans.

The second part of it -- the delusional thinking that the way this Astros team was set up was good enough to win even an eminently mediocre NL Central -- should make Houston fans afraid, very afraid.

By not making it an either-or deal, by firing both Purpura and Garner, McLane obviously thinks this Astros team has underperformed badly.

If he didn't think it was a very good club to begin with, then you fire the GM and hang onto the manager who salvaged the wreckage from the Jimy Williams years and maneuvered the Astros to within one game of the World Series in 2004 and followed that up by leading the Astros to their first-ever World Series appearance in '05.

If he thought it was good enough to win but didn't, then you hang onto the GM and can the manager.

The biggest thing the Astros did right in recent years wasn't even of their own making: They caught a huge dose of good fortune when two local pitchers became free agents and wanted to pitch in their hometown. Clemens and Pettitte teamed with Roy Oswalt, and that was the engine that led them to the World Series.

Purpura learned a hard lesson after that by allowing Carlos Beltran to set his own timetable during his free agent winter, and the Astros lost him and weren't able to add a suitable replacement. The Jennings deal last winter -- made only after the Jon Garland trade with the White Sox unraveled -- turned out to be a huge mistake.

There are major flaws at the big-league level. The Astros farm system mostly is barren.

Add to that Biggio's continued presence in the lineup early in the season, which hurt the Astros far more than it helped them for the season's first 60 or more games.

Not a lot of what's gone on in Houston this season made sense.

Was the point to prop up a franchise player as he limps toward a milestone hit?

Or was it to win games?

Because it became clear quite early that one of those didn't fit with the other.

So the Astros today are an organization at a crossroads.

McLane clearly wants a new direction -- among other things, he must pay Garner for the 2008 season, and some of those who know McLane well were stunned that he dumped Garner simply because the owner despises paying people not to work.

But if he wants a new direction, he should have thought of that far earlier this season. Like, before Biggio's 3,000th hit.

What you'll be talking about this week: Armageddon reruns.

Yes, just when you thought you'd heard nearly the last of the Yankees, who fell to a whopping 7½ games behind Boston in the AL East on Sunday (with only 32 left), here come the Red Sox to Yankee Stadium for a three-game series Tuesday through Thursday. Three intriguing pitching matchups, too, with the Yanks' Andy Pettitte opposing Daisuke Matsuzaka on Tuesday, Roger Clemens and Josh Beckett Wednesday and Chien-Ming Wang against Curt Schilling on Thursday. Best part is, none of these games should last until 3:30 a.m., as the Yankees' overnight special with Detroit did Friday and into Saturday. But these Yankees-Red Sox games go on forever, so you never know.

What you should be talking about: The Pacific Northwest Classic.

While the Red Sox-Yankees will get all the pub because, well, they rarely play meaningful games (ha!), the really important series in the AL this week is in Seattle, where the mule-stubborn Mariners were clinging to within 1½ games of the first-place Angels going into their game with Texas on Sunday night while leading the Yanks by 2½ in the wild-card race.

One key for the Angels: They must figure out a way to play better on the road. They've got the best home record in the AL at 44-20 but are only 32-34 on the road.

Two keys for the Mariners: Jeff Weaver, Wednesday's starter, is only 6-10 overall but he's on a roll, winning four consecutive decisions in August. Meanwhile, outfielder Jose Guillen has been sensational, hitting .344 with six homers and 19 RBI in August and, since June 1, hitting .314 with 13 homers and 52 RBI.

What you also should be talking about: The anti-Samsonite Kids.

This might be the last gasp for struggling Milwaukee, which pulls into Wrigley Field for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday. The Brewers begin the week 1½ games behind the Cubs, but here's the deal: Milwaukee's 25 road victories are second-fewest in the NL to Houston's 24. They've got to play better on the road -- especially in this final series of '07 against the Cubs.

"One thing I've said, I challenge anybody to remember a pennant race where a game in August decided it," cagey Brewers veteran Craig Counsell says. "Nobody remembers the games in August."

True, but with St. Louis charging hard -- the Cards now are within two of the Cubs, only half-a-game behind the Brewers and with three in Houston coming up -- the Brewers need some W's. Now.

What you might want to talk about: Philadelphia catcher Carlos Ruiz's takedown of the Padres' Marcus Giles on Friday night in the City of Brotherly Love. The "slide" knocked Giles clear onto the disabled list with a knee sprain and a hip pointer.

It looked like a dirty play, though Ruiz said there was no intent and the Padres seemed to agree the kid just needs to learn how to slide. Still, they were furious, as evidenced by this entertaining Greg Maddux quote from the postgame clubhouse Friday: "(Expletive) play, just an (expletive) slide. There's playing hard and playing dirty. That's playing (expletive)."

The Padres, who now lead the Phillies by three games and Atlanta by four in the NL wild-card chase, open a crucial four-game series with Arizona on Monday night in Petco Park. The Padres trail the Diamondbacks by three games in the NL West.

Likes: Every time Tim Wakefield pitches, the guy gets a decision. ... Zack Greinke back in the rotation in Kansas City. I really hope the kid gets it together. Anybody who walks out of spring camp (as Greinke did two years ago) obviously has problems, but he's a good kid, seems back on track and Lord knows the Royals need some breaks. ... My friend Ollie, completely disgusted with his hometown Tigers (who now are 13-25 since July 19), e-mailing several negative statistics as he was attempting to figure out what's wrong with Jim Leyland's club over his lunch hour at work the other day. I'm going to suggest to my editor that Ollie write a guest column or two next week while I head for the beach or something. ... The Falcons of St. Mary Catholic Central (Mich.) High 39, Erie Mason 0 in Saturday afternoon's high school football opener. The game was supposed to be played Friday night but postponed when vicious thunderstorms ripped through the southeastern Michigan/Ohio area. Yes, same band that pushed Friday's Detroit-Yankees game back to 11 p.m. and caused them to play until 3:30 a.m.

Dislikes: Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, hurt again. ... Milwaukee's Chris Capuano, blasted in relief the other day. ... Detroit's Jair Jurrjens with a sore arm. The guy was lights out against Cleveland on Tuesday, so good that the Indians' Fausto Carmona threw a 77-pitch, complete-game three-hitter and still lost.

Rock 'n' Roll lyric of the day:

"If it suddenly ended tomorrow
"I could somehow adjust to the fall
"Good times and riches
"And son of a bitches
"I've seen more than I can recall"

-- Jimmy Buffett, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

PHOENIX -- Through all of the ups and downs of this streaky Milwaukee Brewers season, the most peculiar occurrence of all is the snowballing effect of the Chris Capuano slump.

Here's a guy who went 18-12 in 2005 and was an NL All-Star in 2006, and in 2007 it reached the point where Brewers manager Ned Yost had no choice but to send him to the bullpen this week.

Not only is Capuano is 0-10 with a 6.70 ERA over his past 16 starts, the Brewers are 0-16 in those starts.

"I'm trying to keep a good perspective on things," Capuano said in the visitors' clubhouse at Arizona's Chase Field the other day. "I feel like I've been through a lot of tough times, coming back from Tommy John (ligament transfer) surgery, a tough year is nothing I can't overcome."

A Duke graduate with a degree in economics and an eighth-round draft choice by Arizona in 1999, the left-handed Capuano is no dummy. He knows he hasn't been miserable in every one of those 16 starts. He knows, but for a funny hop here, a key error there or even had a stroke of good fortune, Milwaukee would have -- should have -- won at least a few of those games.

Still, when the team that once had baseball's best record is struggling for a playoff spot and it isn't winning anytime you touch the ball, it's difficult not to take things personally.

"The toughest thing for a professional athlete to control is his psyche," Capuano said. "Very few guys have unwavering confidence at all times. Every time I get ready to pitch, I take five minutes, clear my head, do a lot of breathing, open my mind and forget all of the bad stuff. I try not to dwell on the negative."

He was, after all, 5-0 on May 7. For the season, he's 5-10 with a 5.33 ERA. The Brewers' present plan is to use him as a long man, and they'll see what happens from there.

"These things always find a way of working out," manager Ned Yost said.

The plan is to re-insert Capuano back into the rotation after he gets a break and has a chance to clear his mind. After all, it's not like the Brewers are overloaded with starting pitchers. How long his banishment to the bullpen will be, though, isn't clear.

"As far as a hard date, I don't have it," Yost says. "We'll go day-to-day."

As Capuano said: "The season hasn't all been written yet."

And by the time it is, perhaps his luck will change.

"I haven't seen something like that from a guy who's had so much success," 10-year veteran infielder Craig Counsell said. "It's weird. It's not like they were hitting him around the park. It's not like he's lost it."

Likes: Coach Jack Giarmo and the St. Mary Catholic Central Falcons of Monroe, Mich., kicking off the high school football season Friday night against the bad guys, the Erie Mason Eagles. Jack was an all-state fullback when we went to school together, and he helped lead the team to a 9-0 record our senior year. Me? I didn't play -- heck, I was a writer back then, too. I ran cross country in the fall and wrote about the football team in the school paper, and it has been fun watching from afar as he has rebuilt and maintained a tradition-rich program. Listen to Coach, kids, and make sure to enjoy every minute of the season. There's nothing like fall Friday nights.

Dislikes: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen considering moving Jim Thome to the leadoff spot if the season is nearly finished and Thome needs more at-bats to reach 500 home runs. Noble thought on Guillen's part to try to help a classy guy like Thome, but the game is diminished when winning and losing take a back seat to individual accomplishment. Plus, for the integrity of the pennant races, Guillen can't be messing around like that. The White Sox finish the season with three games against Detroit in late September. What if it's make-or-break time for the Tigers? How do you think Cleveland would enjoy Thome hitting leadoff for the Sox? Bad idea, and I hope it doesn't come to that.

Rock 'n' Roll lyric of the day:

"Broken down shacks, engine parts
"Could tell a lie but my heart would know
"Listen to the dogs barkin' in the yard
"Car wheels on a gravel road
"Child in the backseat about four or five years
"Lookin' out the window
"Little bit of dirt mixed with tears"

-- Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

PHOENIX -- Well, Dave Trembley never will forget his first game as the permanent manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Just hours after chief operating officer Andy MacPhail handed Trembley his very own set of keys to the Orioles' car Wednesday, Baltimore did something no major league team has done in 110 years: The Orioles surrendered 30 runs in a single game, getting blasted 30-3 by the Texas Rangers.

Word of the Orioles' misfortune rattled around the game like a triple in the corner.

"That will mess up a team's run differential," Arizona manager Bob Melvin joked before the Diamondbacks game Wednesday night's game with Milwaukee.

You might say. And Melvin is particularly sensitive to that given that the Diamondbacks this year are a baseball anomaly: They led the NL West by 3½ games over San Diego despite the fact that Arizona had a run differential of minus-32 going into Wednesday's series finale with Milwaukee. Opponents had outscored the Diamondbacks 575-543.

Typically, teams with minus run differentials have losing records. And according to the Pythagorean formula created by computer analysis guru Bill James, the Diamondbacks should be in last place in the NL West instead of in first.

Each day, the Diamondbacks are showing why the game is played on the field and why despite people's best attempts at explaining it, baseball sometimes remains inexplicable -- which is the fun of it.

Needless to say, Melvin, based on his own experience this year, thinks run differential is overrated.

"I do," Melvin said. "Each game is an individual game. Some are blowouts, and the blowouts can skew things. I don't put a lot of stock in the numbers.

"We seem to be against the grain, though."

Before the blowout, the Orioles, despite a 58-65 record and a fourth-place standing in the AL East, had a run differential of plus-11. They had scored 571 runs and surrendered 560 this season.

In one game -- albeit one of the most unusual games played since 1900 -- the Orioles' run differential suddenly was minus-16. They had scored 574 runs -- and surrendered 590.

Likes: Air conditioning. When it's 108 degrees, as it was when my plane landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, you can't get to the AC quickly enough. The airport terminal was quite an oasis after the heat blast through the jetway. The AC in the rental bus was divine after the heat blast from the terminal to the shuttle area. And the AC in the rental car couldn't cool down quickly enough as I steered it toward Chase Field. And while I'm not much for retractable roof stadiums, the 79 degrees inside when Brandon Webb threw the game's first pitch at 6:40 p.m. PDT was mercifully lower than the 103 degrees it was outside.

Dislikes: Canceled flights. Yep, I was stung on Wednesday, and they're always the worst when you're traveling on the day you're working a game and don't have much wiggle room. ... Gary Sheffield's sore shoulder is a serious bummer for Detroit, and Cole Hamels' elbow issue could sabotage the Phillies.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"She put 900 dollars
"On the fifth horse
"In the sixth race
"I think his name was Chips Ahoy"

-- The Hold Steady, Chips Ahoy

Garret Anderson is the Los Angeles Angels' all-time leader in RBI, total bases, games played, hits and doubles.

He owns the longest hit streak in club history (28 games, in 1998), he's the only Angel ever with four seasons of 100 or more RBI and his lifetime .297 average entering this season ranked third on the club's career list (behind Vladimir Guerrero's.328 and Rod Carew's .314).

Yet it wasn't until he passed Joe Rudi on the Angels' all-time grand slam list by belting his ninth in the sixth inning of Tuesday's 18-9 annihilation of the Yankees that he notched a career first:

First-ever curtain call.

Yes, becoming only the sixth player since 1969 to collect 10 or more RBI in a game and setting an Angels' single-game record with 10 RBI has a way of putting a sellout crowd of 44,264 into a frenzy.

"Including tonight?" Anderson asked when someone wondered how many curtain calls he's taken in his career. "One. That I can remember."

Did anyone in particular have to nudge him up the dugout steps to acknowledge the thunderous ovation? Nope.

"I've been playing baseball long enough that I kind of got the idea," Anderson said.

At 34, he's nowhere near the consistent run producer he once was. His legs ache from too many innings, his back sometimes catches from too many hard surfaces.

This year in particular, the doubles have dwindled, the homers haven't appeared and there have been far too many nights at designated hitter instead of in left field for his liking.

Going into Tuesday's game, Anderson was batting a career-low .273 with only six homers and 40 RBI. Yet manager Mike Scioscia said that over Anderson's past 30 or so at-bats, he's noticed the outfielder finally beginning to discover some of the old magic.

"The last 30 or 40 at-bats, he's lined out at least once a game," Scioscia said.

Hitting is an elusive art that often comes and goes at the oddest of times, and Anderson said late Tuesday that he knows he needs to put his career effort into a box, enjoy it for a bit and then move on to the next challenge.

But he remains optimistic that he can pick it up from here, partly because his body seems to be back together. He played the outfield in both games of a doubleheader in Boston on Friday, which was a good indication that he's feeling better.

"The last week-and-a-half, two weeks, I feel like I'm in shape and can play every day," Anderson said. "I don't fight (Scioscia) when he DHs me anymore, but I prefer to be out there."

No telling when Anderson's next curtain-call might come, but one thing is certain: Anderson will not be looking for it.

"At this rate, there's probably not another one," he said, chuckling. "It took 13 years to get this one.

"I don't see myself playing for 26 years."

Likes: Talking Frank Sinatra with Yankees manager Joe Torre in the dugout before Tuesday night's game. ... What a terrific, down-to-earth guy Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain is. The kind of guy you really want to see do well -- he has had to work for every last thing he has gotten in life. ... Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Funny guy. ... The NL Central. It's charming in sort of a that-doggy-in-the-window-is-cute way. ... Seattle, still in the race. Great city, and great fun being there in October. ... Summer nights, had me a blast. Summer nights, happened so fast.

Dislikes: School starting (in my neighborhood, at least) next week. There should be a Federal law mandating no school before Labor Day. How much baseball are kids going to miss next week because they've gotta start going to bed early? ... August traffic on Southern California freeways. It'll all clear out by the time everybody heads home for work and school after Labor Day weekend.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Well it's always fun and games until
"It's clear you haven't got the skill
"In keeping the gag from going too far
"So you're running around the parking lot
"'Till every lightning bug is caught
"Punching some pinholes
"In the lid of a jar
"While we wait in the car
"With cigarettes and Red Vines"

-- Aimee Mann, Red Vines

If it's Monday, that means Jason Giambi is on the Yankees bench (until the eighth inning, at least, when he pinch hit for first baseman Andy Phillips).

If it's Sunday, that means shortstop Derek Jeter is getting a blow.

Check back in another day or two and likely it will be Johnny Damon getting a day off and Giambi in the lineup as a designated hitter.

One thing the July acquisition of Wilson Betemit did was give Joe Torre more options. Betemit can play any of the infield positions -- which is one reason why Jeter was rested on Sunday. And sometime later this week, Torre said, expect Alex Rodriguez, who smashed his 40th homer in Monday night's game in Anaheim, to get a day off.

"I feel good because we're playing with a lot of passion, Torre said. "We're working hard. I think a big part of it is we have a deeper squad. It gives us the opportunity to change parts on occasion.

"I'd like to believe it keeps us fresher."

Likes: Glad to see Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley cleared to start swinging a bat. The sooner he can come back -- and it won't be determined when he'll resume playing until later this week -- the better chance the Phillies have for fun in September. ... If ever a team needed a win, it was Milwaukee in the Arizona desert on Monday. ... Rick Ankiel, going deep. ... What, the White Sox won a game Monday night? Was beginning to think that might not happen till 2008.

Dislikes: Farewell, Wild Bill Hagy. Who could ever forget his antics at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, leading the "O-R-I-O-L-E-S" cheers (man, the guy could spell!) and everything else about the scruffy Orioles' superfan. Somehow, the newer ballparks like Camden Yards just don't spawn the wacky characters that the old places did and for that, as nice as these new palaces are, baseball is a bit worse off. They were scheduled to hold a moment of silence for Hagy before Monday's Orioles-Rangers game, but that was before rain washed it away. Regardless, here's hoping Hagy is educating the angels on Eddie Murray, Rick Dempsey, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer and the rest of the crew tonight.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"Well I wouldn't trade my life for diamonds and jewels
"I never was one of them money hungry fools
"I'd rather have my fiddle and my farmin' tools
"Thank God I'm a country boy"

-- John Denver, Thank God I'm a Country Boy

What you will be talking about this week: The Dragnet Arizona's Brandon (not Jack) Webb is putting over other teams.

With a scoreless innings streak resting at 42, Webb next takes aim at Milwaukee and Chris Capuano at Arizona's Chase Field on Wednesday. Webb's is the fifth-longest shutout streak since 1940. He'll move to third if he can whitewash the Brewers, and then he would have a chance to break Orel Hershiser's record 59 scoreless innings in San Diego the following week.

What you might be forgetting to talk about: While Webb has been building his scoreless innings streak, White Sox closer Bobby Jenks has his own incredible streak: He's retired 41 consecutive batters in a row. Remember?

Problem is, Jenks' streak has been stalled: He hasn't pitched since Aug. 12, partly because clubs don't need closers when they're losing (the Sox streak reached eight in a row Sunday -- and partly because he was given some time off last week after tweaking an ankle while walking his dog during last Monday's off day. See Michael Vick, good things (such as retiring 41 batters in a row) happen to those who treat their dogs well.

What I'll be talking about: Let's see how much we can find out about the Los Angeles Angels.

Why now? Well, immediately after the four-game weekend series in Boston (which they split), the Angels wing on home and open up a three-game set against the New York Yankees on Monday night. Oh, we're going to be learning quite a bit about the Yankees, too, as they try to pull closer than their current four-game deficit behind Boston. Rookie Phil Hughes pitches Monday night against Dustin Mosely, followed by Mike Mussina (against Kelvim Escobar) and Andy Pettitte (against John Lackey).

What is definitely worth talking about: Cleveland blew a chance to increase its lead over Detroit to 2½ games on Sunday when Tampa Bay figured out a way to take down the Indians. But Eric Wedge's club has a direct opportunity this week to increase its lead during a three-game series in Detroit that opens on Tuesday. It's the final series in Detroit for these clubs -- the Tigers travel to Cleveland for three in September -- and Detroit has Justin Verlander (Wednesday) and Nate Robertson (Thursday) waiting.

What will be very entertaining to talk about: After the Yankees finish in Anaheim and Detroit gets done with Cleveland, the Yanks head to Michigan for a crucial four-game series beginning on Friday. Is it getting hotter by the day, or is it just August?

What will be nearly as entertaining to talk about: How about this in the NL: The wild-card co-leaders (heading into the week) meet when San Diego travels to Philadelphia for three beginning on Friday. Then, just beyond that, the Padres go home to host first-place Arizona in what could be an NL West classic. As for the Phillies-Padres, the old guys open on Friday -- Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer against the Padres' Greg Maddux -- in the most intriguing pitching matchup.

Likes: The stretch run coming into focus. ... Jacque Jones's great catch and key homer on Saturday. Good guy who doesn't deserve 95 percent of the grief Chicago fans have thrown his way over the past few years. ... Fernando Vina using the word "linear" on Baseball Tonight the other night. I Tivo'd that one and watched it again. This side of Orel Hershiser, Vina is the strongest ex-player they're using on a show that too often features ex-players who are difficult to watch. ... Nick Lowe's latest disc, At My Age. The cover alone makes it worth purchasing and, happily, the music inside matches it.... New album from Bruce Springsteen due Oct. 2. ... James Lee Burke's The Tin Roof Blowdown. Burke's Dave Robicheaux crime novels are exceptionally well-written page-turners, and the images this one evokes of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans are at once spellbinding and horrifying.

Dislikes: Damion Easley's sprained ankle. If you saw a replay of it, you saw how horrible it looked. Easley is a class guy and was helping the New York Mets quite a bit this year. Here's to a speedy recovery. ... Michael Vick is one sick guy. ... Preseason football. Bring on the college game -- the sooner, the better.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

By reader request, dedicated to Barry Bonds:

"Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand
"And rivers that ran through ev'ry day
"I must have been mad
"I never knew what I had
"Until I threw it all away"

-- Bob Dylan, I Threw It All Away

Losing a double-play partner is never easy, and so it was that San Diego's Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Jerry Coleman was sitting in the booth before Tuesday night's game with Colorado, misty-eyed and staring out into the still mostly empty stadium.

Coleman, you see, was double-play partners with Phil Rizzuto in New York from 1949-1956, winning six World Series rings with the Scooter, and then the two went on to broadcast Yankees games for nearly another decade. News of Rizzuto's death at 89 hit Coleman hard, even though he hadn't seen his friend in several years.

"He was something, I'll tell you that," Coleman said. "One of a kind. People forget, because of his broadcasting they think of him as a character. But he wasn't a character, he was a great guy who had a lot of fun in life."

Coleman said that to this day, he has not seen a better shortstop.

"His throws were letter perfect, he had great hands ... as a shortstop, nobody was better," Coleman said. "I'll tell you what, we won nine pennants in a row and you don't do that with turkeys at shortstop. (Ted) Williams said, 'If we'd have had him (in Boston), we'd have won five pennants that we didn't win.'

"He wasn't kidding, either."

Among Rizzuto's myriad other skills in the field, Coleman, who played second base, said no shortstop he's ever seen has gone back on balls with the skill that Rizzuto did. It was 461 feet to dead center of old Yankee Stadium and 457 feet to left-center which, as Coleman pointed out, left Rizzuto acres of ground behind him to cover as well.

Coleman is 6-3, Rizzuto was only 5-6, yet, Coleman said, Rizzuto's arms were exceptionally long, and he used them to his advantage when he was in the field.

"From the standpoint of skill, no one today matched him," said Coleman, who turns 84 next month. "He could bunt, hit-and-run ... we used to do all of our own hit-and-runs, Phil and I. Today, the manager calls them. But back then, as long as we'd do it right, Casey (Stengel, Yankees manager) would let us go.

"He was a classic, a wonderful person. And I don't say that just because he's dead, or because he's my friend.

"He was great in everything he did."

And in the things maybe ol' Scooter wasn't great in, he at least was entertaining. Coleman told of all the fun the two of them had in the broadcast booth, including one afternoon doubleheader that just about mortified the legendary broadcaster Mel Allen.

The Yankees were playing the Indians and, as the junior member of the broadcasting team, Coleman was told to go down before the game and double-check on the Cleveland starters. Manager Birdie Tebbetts confirmed that Sam McDowell was starting one game and Jack Kralick would start the other.

So back upstairs during Game 1, Coleman and Rizzuto spent the first four innings of the first game dissecting McDowell in highly complimentary terms. McDowell wasn't known for his pinpoint control, but he sure was sharp on this day.

"He was doing a great job," Coleman recalled. "Then in the fourth inning we got a call from WPIX (the Yanks' flagship radio station) and the guy said, 'Hey, we think that's Jack Kralick pitching.'"

Oops. Coleman leaned out and over toward the next booth, where Bob Neal was working for the Indians, and asked, "Hey Bob, who's pitching?" The reply quickly came: Kralick.

"Oh, we started laughing about that," Coleman said of he and Rizzuto. "Somebody had to tell Mel Allen, who was a professional, and he didn't come up (for air) for a minute-and-a-half.

"(Rizzuto) and I had the same sense of humor."

They also had the same magical sense of timing on a baseball field many years ago, back when some of the early pages of the Yankees legend was still being written, and when legends were taking root all over the Bronx.

Likes: Old baseball stories directly from the guys who were there. ... Holy Cow. ... Bobby Cox, now baseball's all-time ejections leader. ... The White Sox's Bobby Jenks in the late innings. ... Eric Gagne coming through for the Red Sox in the ninth inning on Tuesday, finally. Look, I'm not cheerleading for the Red Sox here, but it's pretty tough to watch a stand-up guy go through the week Gagne just did in his debut in Boston. ... Rented Music and Lyrics the other night. Not great, but a fine rental. ... The Pacific Ocean in August. ... Rizzuto's play-by-play in the middle of the Meatloaf hit Paradise by the Dashboard Light, the complete transcript of which is provided below. What else did you think would be the Lyric of the Day today?

Dislikes: So long, Scooter.

Rock and Roll lyric of the day:

"OK here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here
"Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth
"There's the windup and there it is, a line shot up the middle
"Look at him go, this boy can really fly!
"He's rounding first and really turning it on now
"He's not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second
"The ball is bobbled out in center and here comes the throw
"And what a throw! He's gonna slide in head first, here he comes, he's out!
"No, wait, safe -- safe at second base
"This kid really makes things happen out there
"Batter steps up to the plate, here's the pitch
"He's going! And what a jump he's got
"He's trying for third, here's the throw, it's
"In the dirt! Safe at third! Holy cow, stolen base!
"He's taking a pretty big lead out there
"Almost daring him to try and pick him off
"The pitcher glances over, winds up, and it's bunted
"Bunted down the third-base line
"The suicide squeeze is on! Here he comes, squeeze play
"It's gonna be close, here's the throw
"Here's the play at the plate
"Holy Cow, I think he's gonna make it!"

-- Meatloaf, Paradise by the Dashboard Light

What you'll be talking about this week: The Yankees threatening to go all Bucky Dent on the Red Sox. Boston's May lead of 14½ games has shrunk to four games entering the week. Tampa Bay, which arrives for three games in Boston on Monday, never looked so good (but alas, the first-place Angels are in Fenway Park for three this weekend). The Yankees get a cupcake in the Orioles early this week and then host the Jekyll-and-Hyde Detroit Tigers for four beginning on Thursday.

What you should be talking about: Albert Pujols' new swinging middle-of-the-lineup buddy in St. Louis, Rick Ankiel. After thumping three homers in his first 16 big league at-bats, the Traveling Ankiel Road Show stops in Milwaukee to visit Chris Capuano on Tuesday night.

What I'll be talking about: The Toledo Mud Hens. Hey, the first-place Hens are a dynasty. But what especially will be worth watching at Fifth Third Field is Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya's injury-rehab assignment. He's scheduled to go Monday, Wednesday and Saturday this week and, if all goes well, re-join the limping Tigers next week. The pennant races are getting as hot as Emmanuelle Chriqui, and every move from here on out is important.

What the coffee lovers will be discussing: Don't look now, but Seattle's best could strike a blow for Sumatra drinkers everywhere by grinding their AL wild-card rivals (or even the first-place Angels) between now and September.