July 14

Feedbag
Jack McDowell and his band Stickfigure played a concert the night before the All-Star Game, with Jack's old friend Eddie Vedder joining the band onstage. Randy Johnson showed up for the gig, which included Mudhoney, Supersuckers and Marcy Playground.

Stickfigure's next CD is due out in the next month, and McDowell has made the transformation to full-time musician. "I love this," he said, "but I miss the competition."

McDowell was reminded that Gene Lamont called him "probably the most competive player and best guy I ever managed -- anyone who managed Jack knows why Buck Showalter had him on the mound at the end of the '95 playoffs."

Of course, a few Mariners fans recognized McDowell underneath his beard, and shouted, "thanks for the ballpark."

Smoking gun
Winningest AL pitchers since June 8, 1999, when Tim Hudson was first called up by Oakland:

Hudson, 41-13
Aaron Sele, 39-10
Pedro Martinez, 37-9

Get right with God
One of thousands of media outlets which recently requested an interview with Cal Ripken was Playboy. "They were very nice and respectful," says one of Ripken's spokesmen, "but somehow I don't think it jives with Cal's image."

Can't believe
As of Friday morning, there were 55 Toe Nash items for sale on eBay, including 20 rookie cards for $101.63. There were 2,078 Ichiro items, including a signed game bat for $6,000, 99 for fellow rookie C.C. Sabathia, 22 for Josh Towers and 19 for David Eckstein.

Life in a glasshouse
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz notes that since Tony La Russa became the Cardinals' manager in 1996, 39 men have managed at least 200 games in the majors. Of those 39, LaRussa ranked 16th in winning percentage, as of the break. Of the 15 men with better winning percentages, seven were fired.

Broken butterflies
The left side of the Yankees infield had 30 errors through Saturday's game.

Mudshovel
The Texas Rangers led the majors in home runs (137) and worst ERA (5.80) at the break.

Sailing to Philadelphia
The Braves had their fewest wins at the break (49-38) since '92, and their worst winning percentage since '93.

Out of time
The Phillies were 26th in the majors in attendance at the break (21,130 fans per game).