Hotness

ESPN reports what turns out to be an extremely misleading stat - records since June 3rd. The Cubs top the list at 31-15, which happens to be meaningful since they've moved very much within striking distance of the Brewers; the numbers for the Yankees are equally telling, as a 31-16 run has returned them to contention. But the Tigers, Mariners, and Rangers, who own the next three best records, have not similarly advanced. Indeed, the Mariners have simply collapsed in the last week, losing seven straight and experiencing their worst nightmare - a blown save by Putz. His inning was totally uncharacteristic considering his performance to date, but expect more of it. First, he's a rookie and second, he's not god. Or Rollie Fingers. Or even Jose Mesa, probably. The Ms record over the last two months is of two halves, a good one and a bad one, in that order, and with the prophesied rise of the Yanks it looks like they're cooked. The success of the Rangers is perfectly meaningless, for obvious reasons, while the Tigers have been running in place (albeit on a pretty high plateau) for much of the year. Apparently there's such a thing as a sample size that's too large.