Hey, everyone! Man, having this weekend off was very therapeutic. I got some family time in, which was nice — have you seen “Avatar, the Last Airbender” on Nickelodeon? Now THAT is the way anime is supposed to be DONE! — and I had the time to watch the show without me, which is rare, and good.

It’s interesting, but I’ve noticed that one of the stats that we don’t talk about very much is runs scored. I’m beginning to realize that this is a very important statistic! For example, during the Milwaukee Brewers’ recent seven-game winning streak, they outscored their opponents 41 to 23. That is an average of 5.85 runs a games, to only 3.29 for their opponents. But in the eighth game, against the New York Mets on Friday, the Brewers scored only four — well below the 5.85 number during their streak — to the seven runs by the Mets, which is well above the 3.29 average! That’s not the way to get it done, Brew Crew! Sometimes, it’s these kind of hidden statistics that really tell the story of baseball. I love this crazy game!

I also noticed that Mark Simon, our BBTN research maven, recently pointed out (on BBTN Extra) the hilarious story behind why I always yell “Careful!” whenever Scott Rolen is shown in a replay. I’d link to it, but they take BBTN Extra down every day and replace it. Not sure why. But it occurred to me that you guys and women out there in our audience might not know the stories behind most of the other inside nicknames we have for other players in the league. I’m going to give you a few here, “on the down low,” so you can play along at home, or win bar bets, or whatever you guys and women out there do with your spare time.

For example, we always call New York Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez “A-Rod.” As you probably know, that is a contraction of his name: the “A” is for Alex, and the “Rod” is short for Rodriguez. So why, then, do we call Los Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles relief pitcher Francisco Rodriguez “K-Rod”? Well, the “statheads” out there know that in old-tyme baseball scoring, the letter K is used to indicate a strikeout. That’s as close as I can figure out, because the name Francisco starts with the letter F, and doesn’t have the letter K in it at all. Maybe “F-Rod” sounded weird to people. I’m kind of glad we don’t do this with everyone: can you imagine if we called Mark Grudzielanek “M-Grud”? Or Jorge Cantu “J-Can”? Hahaha, LOL!

You might also wonder why we always yell out “Roll to me!” whenever Dmitri Young hits a donger. Actually, I started this one, so I happen to know for sure. Do you remember the Scottish pop band Del Amitri? Their infectious hit single “Roll To Me,” where the band was in that baby carriage? Anyone? Well, I guess I’m the only one who remembers that. That’s probably why no one ever yells it out with me in the booth. Kind of a shame, too — great song, no matter what that musical highbrow Gammons says.

I have one more for you, on the insider tip. The other night, off camera, we were discussing the Cubs, and we threw out the idea that they might call up top prospect Felix Pie. Before I knew it, Kruk and Bowa and Reynolds and Gammons are all yelling out “Hair Pie!” Weird, huh? I was completely confused myself until Pete pointed me in the direction of a novel called The Great American Novel by Philip Roth, where the catcher yells that phrase out. Apparently, it’s quite the insider thing among real baseball guys. You can bet that when he finally hits the majors, I’ll be calling him “Hair Pie” as often as possible!

Okay, enough of my yakking. Hollaback at me in the rough and tumble comments section!

— K-Rav