The Hot Corner

No one is more surprised at the Giants' waltz to the National League West title than the San Francisco players themselves, most of whom were on the roster when the Giants missed the postseason in 1998 and '99. "It's shocking, overwhelming," says leftfielder Barry Bonds. "I didn't think anybody would catch the Diamondbacks. I thought they would run away with it."

...It's hard to feel sorry for righty aces Greg Maddux (19-8, 2.91 ERA through Sunday) and Pedro Martinez (17-6, 1.78), but imagine what their numbers might be if they'd had a little help. In Maddux's eight losses, the Braves scored a total of 13 runs. Martinez had it worse: In his six defeats the Red Sox had seven runs. In three of those they failed to score while Martinez was in the game....

Has the novelty worn off in Denver? Through Sunday the Rockies were averaging crowds of 40,898, a drop of 2,078 from 1999. Colorado will fail to lead the majors in total attendance for the first time in its eight-year existence....

Searching for a way to create playing time for their many outfielders, the Royals are planning to give rightfielder Jermaine Dye, a Gold Glove candidate, occasional work at first base next season. "I'm a big and tall guy who doesn't have that much speed," says the 6'5" Dye. "I get pretty good jumps [in the outfield], but down the road I won't have the same quick reaction. Hopefully first base will be a good spot for me."

...Until last Saturday, when the Devil Rays lost to the Blue Jays 7-6, Tampa Bay had failed to score more than five runs in 29 straight games. That tied the 1980 Padres for the longest such streak since a 40-game run by the '71 Phillies....

Who needs the Olympics? In the Red Sox' 7-4 win over the Indians on Sept. 19, pitchers from seven nations took the mound. Besides six from the U.S., Boston used pitchers from Canada ( Rheal Cormier), the Dominican Republic (Hipolito Pichardo), Japan ( Tomo Ohka) and Venezuela ( Rich Garces), while Cleveland brought in relievers from Australia (Cameron Cairncross) and Mexico (Ricardo Rincon).