Last week in baseball

(The Internet is cool and all, but don't you miss Mel Allen on weekend lunchtime TV?)

A week ago, I sat mired in fourth place in the Irrational League with little hope of coming within smelling distance of Frank in first.

Then my team went on a tear. In one week, it amassed 21 home runs, which contributed to a .343 average overall, and 72 RBIs. (Compare those numbers to the season totals, below - it's about 10% of the total in about 5% of the playing time so far.) The pitchers kicked in with an ERA of 2.01, WHIP of 1.07, and four wins.

My team is now in second place, 1.5 points out of first. With two more home runs, I would be in first. My team is hurting a bit, with hurler Chris Young and Russ Branyan newly injured - and a huge list of players who fell by the wayside earlier in the year (Smoltz, Furcal, Hatteberg, El Duque, and Wily Mo...).

Nevertheless, things are looking up in the volatile world of baseball stats.

.283 batting average (1st by .040 over first-place Frank)
217 HR (2nd, down by two to Frank, up by two on third)
791 RBI (1st, up by four on Frank)
110 SB (4th, up by two)
3.93 ERA (2nd, up by 0.01)
1.26 WHIP (2nd, down by 0.03)
54 wins (tied for 10th, down two from eighth)
21 saves (8th)

Bonus interview on American anti-intellectualism:

Go read this.