Who's Hot / Who's Not

WHO'S Hot

Jimmy Rollins
Phillies outspoken shortstop (remember, he said Philly was the "team to beat" in the NL East) is doing his usual hit collecting (126 through Sunday) and getting homer-happy, with 19. Warned Rollins after going 3 for 4 in a 9--0 win over the Padres, "We are capable of doing this on a consistent basis."

LeCharles Bentley
He's healthy! Browns center whose torn knee tendon and subsequent staph infection cost him all of last season says he's been O.K.'d to get out there and start pushing people around—just in time for year two of his six-year, $36 million deal.

Yankees
What an offense, what a surge! The Yanks' anticipated second-half awakening may have begun: They'd won eight of 10, scoring 79 runs along the way. And it ain't just A-Rod (page 66). Hideki Matsui (above) was hitting .349 in July; Robinson Cano was at .377.

Lleyton Hewitt
Ranked No. 21 but ready to rise with new coach Tony Roche (he's guided Roger Federer and Ivan Lendl) and havin' a blast: Hewitt drew gossip-page ink in Oz when he mingled backstage with comedian Kevin Bloody Wilson.

WHO'S Not

David Wells
Padres outspoken lefty (see Perfect I'm Not, his book) has a fat 4.95 ERA in his last four starts, and is nearing home run history: Two more dingers allowed, and he'll be the 10th to surrender 400. Explained Wells after yielding three Philly long balls last Saturday, "I wasn't hitting my locations very well."

Daunte Culpepper
He's gone. That right knee (torn up in Minnesota in 2005) never served him well in Miami, which let him go just 10 days before he was to come to camp this week. At best, Culpepper, who has a few suitors, will have to learn a whole new O on the fly.

A's
No offense, no surge. Oakland (.634 post-All-Star Game winning percentage from 1999 to '06) had scored 27 runs in 10 postbreak games, losing eight thanks to the punchless likes of Mark Kotsay (right, hitting .148 since the break) and Dan Johnson (.125).

Anastasia Rodionova
Ranked only 79th but making history. Radionova became the second player ever disqualified from a WTA match, after swatting a ball in the direction of hecklers at the Cincinnati Open. Radionova, who cried afterward, advised fans, "If you're afraid of the ball, don't sit in the front row."