May 11

The authority song
The rookie bats (through games of 5/10):

Player	BA	HR	RBI	OPS
Burroughs, SD	.258	1	5	.624
Blalock, Tex.	.200	1	6	.608
Hinske, Tor.	.311	4	17	.900
Johnson, N.Y.	.204	4	11	.655
Kearns, Cin.	.414	3	10	1.190
Mohr, Min.	.311	2	6	.845
Pena, Oak.	.229	7	16	.784

Hitting is more difficult than some realize. But Eric Hinske and Justin Mohr are better than many realize, as well.

Ridin' with the king
"Pitching in Camden Yards is like pitching in a Volkswagon." -- Chuck Finley

Volunteer jam
Todd Helton and Rockies hitting coach Alan Cockrell share two things in common: each was a No. 1 pick, and each played quarterback at the University of Tennessee.

Stop ... and look around: Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown
Some pitchers are totally different when pitching out of the windup and out of the stretch. The biggest differences in terms of batting average against (through games of 5/8):

Pitcher	Windup	Stretch
Derek Lowe, Bos.	.111	.238
A.J. Burnett, Fla.	.135	.300
Robert Person, Phi.	.176	.311
Eric Milton, Min.	.177	.396
Mark Redman, Det.	.179	.339
Roy Halladay, Tor.	.195	.333
Jimmy Haynes, Cin.	.208	.354
Brian Anderson, Ari.	.254	.415

Sacrificial lambs
Wes Helms and Julio Franco had two homers and four RBI combined going into the weekend. No wonder the Braves called the Red Sox inquiring about Brian Daubach.

The same people you misused on your way up you might meet on your way down
Mark Prior has three homers between Double-A West Tenn and Triple-A Iowa. He has allowed none.

His combined line between West Tenn and Iowa (through 5/10):
5-1, 2.78, 42 1/3 IP, 29 H, 12 BB, 65 K.

Jose Canseco's numbers playing for the White Sox's Triple-A team in Charlotte (through 5/10):
.200 BA, 5 HR, 9 RBI.

Walk out the front door
Not that Kazuhisa Ishii should be a rookie because he's already played in a major league in Japan, but if he wins 20 games, he will be the first rookie to do so since the Yankees' Bob Grim in 1954.

My ride's here
Does anyone appreciate how difficult it is to have a .352 OPS (through 5/10), like Greg Vaughn? That means every pitcher he faces is considerably tougher than Randy Johnson, against whom opponents had an OPS of .584 last season. Of course, since the OPS against Aaron Sele is .976 (through 5/10) this season, every batter he faces is the equivalent of either Magglio Ordonez or Lance Berkman.

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

Player	BA	HR	RBI	OPS
Mo Vaughn	.260	2	10	.743
Todd Zeile (overall)	.327	7	27	.987
Todd Zeile (at home)	.340	4	9	1.021
Todd Zeile (on the road)	.315	3	12	.927

A praise chorus
Three picks for the week: