The numbers are all courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau via the USA Today and ESPNet Sportszone websites. The two sites don't necessarily compile numbers the same way, but I filled in the blanks as best I could. (For instance, most of the situational data doesn't provide data for runs scored, but breakdowns such as day/night and grass/turf do.)

Some quick observations:

• In late-inning pressure situations (LIPS), the Giants' OPS was .772 -- compared to .692 for opponents. With runners on base it was .825 vs. .739. Sure didn't feel like that, did it? First glance tells me that the guys to thank are Barry Bonds, Ellis Burks, Charlie Hayes, and Brent Mayne, all of whom had significantly better OPS numbers in these situations than overall.

  (By the way, in case I need to explain this: OPS is on-base percentage (OBP) plus slugging percentage (SP). I realize you can't "technically" add these two together -- it's not exactly apples and oranges, but it's sort of like apples and pears. OPS is the overall offensive "statistic" most commonly used among analysts these days, and though it apparently undervalues OBP, it still provides probably the best and most accurate assessment of a player's offensive contribution.

  The problem with OPS, which I don't intend to go into in any great detail here, is that it's not widely accepted among fans, the great majority of which only "understand" batting average, home runs, and RBIs. I put "understand" in quotes, because so often these folks demonstrate that they don't understand these stats. OPS combines the two elements that produce runs -- reaching base and moving runners along -- and runs are the fundamental building blocks of wins. That's a convincing enough argument for me.)

• Guess how many balks the Giants committed this year. Go on. Guess. (Do you need Jeopardy music?) See, with Balkin' Bob Davidson in the league, and the Giants being (a) the Giants, and (b) my favorite team, I expected them to average, reasonably (i.e., while attempting to filter out my perception that everybody but Giants fans hates the Giants), about a balk a week -- let's say 25, just to be conservative. Know how many there really were? Three. One each by Shawn Estes, Mark Gardner, and Julian Tavarez. I know -- I couldn't believe it either.

• The Giants played only 19 games on Astroturf. It just doesn't seem possible. I mean, you've got the Expos, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Reds, Mariners -- it just doesn't seem as though the Giants could've averaged roughly three games per park. And yet my Giants schedule tells me they played five in Houston, three in Pittsburgh, three in Cincinnati, three in Montreal, and four in Philadelphia (and none this year in Seattle) -- which adds up to 18, actually, so I don't know where the 19 comes from. The Giants were (according to my figures) 10-9 on turf, which is pretty discouraging, given the quality of the non-Astros teams.

• The Giants' ERA was a run better at home than on the road (3.66 vs. 4.69). This isn't exactly surprising, as they play in what is traditionally a pitcher's park. The surprising part, though, is that Bonds, Hayes, Joe Carter, Stan Javier, J.T. Snow, and Brian Johnson, all key players, hit significantly better at home.

Anyway, that said, let's root around further. I'll start with team numbers.

The Giants' overall OPS was .774 -- roughly the same as their LIPS OPS. With runners on, that rose to .825, dipping to .731 with the bases empty. Opponents had a .738 OPS -- and here you run into a bit of trouble, because that undoubtedly accounts for sacrifice flies (i.e., the OBP does), but I don't have sacrifice flies for opponents, which means that their bases empty/runners-on OPS numbers can't be right: .739 and .743, respectively. But the point is, opponents were a little worse with runners on than with the bases empty, although their bases-empty number was about the same as the Giants'. However, with runners on, the Giants smoked their opponents. Probably this was largely determined by slugging percentage. The Giants' opponents' SPs with the bases empty and with runners on: .420 and .401, respectively; the Giants' SPs: .397 and .449. I guess the opponents were somewhat better at getting things started with a bang, while the Giants came up with big hits more often.

In fact, the Giants' OPS with runners on was far higher than that with any other breakdown (that I have, anyway), and their worst, by far, was bases empty. For opponents, their best was against lefthanders (.766), and their worst was in LIPS (.692). I don't know how other teams did in these regards, but it looks like the Giants had certainly a pretty good offensive year.

Still, they gave up more home runs than they hit, 161 to 171. Triples, too: 26 to 33. Opponents stole bases at a better clip (71% to 67%). However, the Giants drew way more walks than opponents (678 to 562 -- thanks, Barry) and struck out 49 fewer times (1,040 to 1,089). In LIPS, they struck out 165 times in 871 at-bats (.189) compared to their opponents' 228 in 906 at-bats (.252 -- thanks, Robb). Also in LIPS, the Giants' slugging percentage (.413) is lower than their overall SP (.421), but still way better than their opponents' (.357, compared to .412 overall). Again, Robb Nen (and Steve Reed) has a lot to do with that.

(If you want to make more detailed "studies," I'll provide a nice little stats page for the hitters and another for the pitchers. Probably best to download these, as they're too wide for your browser. Bear in mind, too, that they're only as complete (and accurate) as the statistics I obtained, if that much.)

Let's look at the individual players:

• Rich Aurilia: He should've done this easily anyway, but as far as I'm concerned, he pretty much made people forget about... geez... what's his... Dodger shortstop now... oh, yeah: Jose Vizcaino. I thought he played good defense most of the year, though he was prone to slumps in the field, especially when he was slumping at the plate. A lot of us in the Giants newsgroup, me included, moaned periodically about Dusty Baker not giving Richie the chance to be The Guy at shortstop, but with the way he broke down in September, I have to think Dusty got all he could get out of Aurilia by giving him 453 turns at the plate. His overall slugging percentage was what I think is an admirable .407, accounted for in large part by 27 doubles, 2 triples, and 9 home runs (and he seemed to have the most home-run balls knocked down by the wind). His batting average ended up at .266, but it was up around .300 for most of the year. He only drew 31 walks, though, and was 3-for-6 in steal attempts.

  Richie's best breakdown (and when I say "best" and "worst" in this context, generally I'm talking about OPS) was against lefthanders, with an .808 OPS and four of his home runs in about a quarter of his at-bats. His best batting average was with runners on (.306), though his SP only went up two points, and the difference between his overall OBP (.319) and his OBP in LIPS (.358) is mostly accounted for by the 40-point increase in batting average. Aurilia's worst OPS came with the bases empty, when he hit .232 -- albeit with 7 of his 9 homers, which is why his SP only dropped two points from his overall number. His most obvious split showed up in slugging percentage: .447 vs. lefties, .382 vs. righties.

• Jeff Ball: The poor guy. They called him up, then sent him down after four days without his appearing in a game. Later they brought him up briefly twice more, and he only batted four times, with a single and nothing else. The gross part is that my data has his OPS in various situations as .666, when in fact it's .667 -- and that drives me nuts. I mean, everybody knows that 2-for-3 is .667, not .666, and that 1-for-6 is .167, not .166, and that 2-for-7 is .286, not .285, etc. I also get annoyed by announcers telling you that a pitcher has an ERA of "three-fifty-two" rather than "three-point-five-two." Just preference, I guess, except that my preferences are better.

• Marvin Benard: How easy is it to complain about him this year? He did more than could've been asked of him. Of course, I have no expectation that he'll maintain the level of production he gave the Giants in August and September, after Darryl Hamilton was traded, but damn, he sure was good. He batted leadoff and gave us an .830 OPS, which comes from a .396 OBP and a .434 SP, both surprising figures. In his 327 plate appearances, he walked 34 times, struck out only 39, and hit 21 doubles, scoring 41 runs and driving in 36. These numbers aren't earth-shattering, especially for a leadoff hitter, but until August he hardly batted leadoff at all, and he wasn't on base that often. He did, however, steal 11 bases in 15 attempts (.733).

  With runners on, Marv hit .362 with an .871 OPS. The jump in power (23 points of SP), though, pretty much comes from his batting average, though he hit almost half of his doubles in 37% of his at-bats. No home runs. Since only three of his RBIs came with the bases empty, and he hit only three home runs all year, all with the bases empty, we can safely assume they were all solo shots. His best OPS breakdown, if you don't count his performance on turf, was .882 at night -- very encouraging, as his slugging percentage jumped to .469 and his batting average to .340. He was at his worst against lefthanders (.611, with a .237 batting average); of course, Dusty only gave him 38 at-bats against lefties. As for turf, well -- in only 30 at-bats, admittedly -- Benard hit .567 with a .733 SP, a .618 OBP, and thus a 1.351 OPS.

• Barry Bonds: Once again he had a spectacular year while being ripped in the press and on the Giants newsgroup by folks who wouldn't know a spectacular year if it wore a T-shirt saying, "I'm a spectacular year, you freakin' moron!" In only two of his provided breakdowns did Bonds have an OPS lower than 1.000. Admittedly, the particular breakdowns are reasonably significant, but still: Marvin Benard had a great year with that .882 OPS at night and .871 with runners on, and Bonds had a bad year by going .912 against lefties and only .971 on the road?

  His overall OPS was 1.047, as he augmented his .303 batting average with a .609 slugging percentage -- meaning that he average more than two bases per hit -- and a .438 OBP, thanks to 130 walks. He scored 120 runs and drove in 122. He hit 37 home runs -- yes, hardly a gaudy number in 1998, when the league leader hit almost twice as many -- and 44 doubles and 7 triples, which had to have somewhat silenced critics like Pittsburgh writer Bob Smizik, who ripped him for not hitting enough triples, thus proving he's not a team player. Seven is a damn fine figure for a 34-year-old with a bad back and a bad knee. So's two.

  Bonds' OPS was 30 points higher with runners on than with the bases empty (1.060 to 1.030), but most of that is in OBP (.464), which makes sense, since no one wants to pitch to him with runners on. For the same reason, his slugging percentage dipped a bit: .596, as opposed to .622 with no one on. In LIPS he hit .321 with a .469 OBP, though his slugging percentage -- again, for the same reason -- went down to .568, which is still pretty awesome. His OPS was 1.059.

  And if he had a .912 OPS vs. lefties (including 9 home runs in 168 at-bats), his OPS against righthanders had to be fairly spectacular -- and it was: 1.106; he slugged .659. His best breakdown was at home, interestingly enough: an OPS of 1.140, with a .325 batting average, .667 slugging percentage, and .473 OBP, as well as 21 of his home runs. Where the 'Stick killed him, though, was in his doubles: 15 at home, 29 on the road.

  Of his 130 walks, 29 were intentional, and he was hit eight times. He stole 28 bases in 40 attempts (70%), but he also hit into 15 double plays, which seems high for him. (I'd have to check, but won't.)

  Though LIPS numbers will refute this, Bonds is still viewed by his detractors as someone who can't get the job done when it counts. (His at-bats in the one-game playoff against the Cubs did nothing to dispel this notion, sadly.) The problem here is, what does "when it counts" mean? I guess it means "late-inning pressure situations," doesn't it? The other part of this is the rather typical view that runs scored before the seventh inning sort of don't count, meaning that if, in an 11-10 victory, Bonds drives in five runs by the fifth inning and none thereafter, he's a choker who wusses out and leaves the big moments to other players. Criminy, where are the Giants without those five runs? Also, of course, if he hits a two-run homer in the eighth to make a 2-1 game a 4-1 game, he's just padding his stats.

  This team is nowhere without Barry Bonds. I've just shown as much in these stats, though I know full well that plenty of folks will dispute that -- to which I say, "Fine. Believe what you want, and don't learn. Now leave me alone."

• Ellis Burks: Of course, his numbers as a Rockie were better than his Giants numbers, but that's to be expected. His batting average was 20 points higher as a Giant (.306 to .286, for .292 overall), but his slugging percentage dropped a lot (.463, compared to .510 with Colorado), though his OBP went up (.387, as opposed to .358). His OPS with the Rocks was .865 -- hey, even better than Marvin Benard! -- and .850 with the Giants, but if you park-adjusted these figures, I suspect Burks would come out looking as though he'd done considerably better for the Giants than the Rockies.

  (I don't know the specific numbers, but park adjustment is basically a means of "normalizing" the data -- in other words, it's a way to show how a player would've done in a park that neither increases nor decreases offense. For instance, you have to park-adjust the hell out of Coors numbers, usually.)

  Unfortunately, the numbers I have combine his stats for both teams when providing his breakdowns (or those of any player acquired during the season), so all you'll get with Burks are his overall breakdowns. For instance, he hit .324 in LIPS, with a .535 SP and .400 OBP (.935 OPS). His numbers were similar, though a bit better, against lefties: .324, .547, .415, and .962. In fact, that's his best breakdown. His worst is at home (not that "home" means much when you're traded in midseason), where his OBP was only .799, thanks to a pretty big drop in, well, everything. He did, however, steal 8 bases in 9 attempts with the Giants, after a 3-for-10 start with the Rockies.

• Joe Carter: I'm glad I didn't really tear my hair out after the Giants acquired him. He had a terrible start, for sure, but I have no complaints about him now, especially since he's retiring. He was pretty weak in Baltimore, but when the dust cleared at the end of September, he'd improved his season numbers drastically: his OPS as an Oriole: .721. As a Giant: .884 -- better than Burks. And given that Carter almost never walks (he drew six in 115 plate appearances as a Giant), you now that most of that OPS was slugging percentage: .562, in this case, due to a .295 batting average, seven doubles, and seven homers (and mostly big homers at that).

  Again, as with Burks, his breakdowns include numbers from an irrelevant team, but his best OPS was .901 against righthanders, and his worst was .667 on turf, though the sample size is certainly very small.

• Wilson Delgado: Well, he's never really shown that he can hit, but on the other hand, he only batted 12 times as a Giant, with two hits (including a double), a walk, and three strikeouts. Still, he could well be our backup shortstop next year... or trade fodder.

• Alex Diaz: At least he's funny -- though I'm not sure he means to be. His .129 batting average was augmented by two doubles, bringing his slugging percentage up to .161. He didn't walk, so his OBP is also .129. His OPS, therefore, is .290, which is, to paraphrase Holly, the shipboard computer on Red Dwarf, a poor OPS for a glass of water. But he's gone now. The bad man goed away.

• Shawon Dunston: I still don't know what made the Giants feel they needed to reacquire him. He was terrible in Cleveland, and even worse with the Giants. To start with: no walks in 55 plate appearances (though he was hit with three pitches and bunted once -- but I think that was an attempt to bunt for a hit, and the official scorer decided to be nice about it). He did hit two pinch-homers, including a big three-run shot at home. Overall, though, we don't need the guy.

• Darryl Hamilton: Another quirk of these stats is that they don't provide breakdowns of guys who've left the team via trade, because they figure you can get their breakdowns -- which would encompass both teams -- with their new teams. So all I have on Bone are his overall numbers, which in themselves were pretty impressive and encouraging, really. He had a .758 OPS, which in itself is no great shakes, but his OBP was .393 -- way up from last year, after 59 walks (and only 53 strikeouts) in 436 plate appearances. So, terrific, just as he learns how to draw walks, the Giants dust him. Oh, well.

• Charlie Hayes: I'm surprised at how low his OPS is: .770. He hit .286, but his slugging percentage was only .419 -- not bad, but seemed higher (and was higher than Bill Mueller's (.395), and seemed like it should've been higher than J.T. Snow's, which was .423). He didn't walk much, but his OBP was .351. Hayes, though, was pretty much a monster with runners on base: a .927 OPS (.512 slugging, .415 OBP) and a .341 average, with 8 of his 12 home runs in 164 at-bats and 22 walks. This was his best breakdown. With the bases empty -- which was his worst breakdown -- his OPS was .609 and he batted .230. Slugging percentage: .327; OBP: .282. And bear in mind that this was in 165 at-bats. In other words, Giants, don't let him bat unless you've got runners on....

  Hayes only had 52 at-bats in LIPS, but he hit .346 with an .878 OPS and two of his home runs. Against lefties he hit .338 (.899 OPS), but only .251 (.686 OPS) against righties. He also hit much better at home (.839 OPS) than on the road (.702), and better on grass (.780) than on turf (.689).

• Stan Javier: His overall OPS was .759, thanks mostly to a .385 OBP -- higher than his slugging percentage of .374, which is embarrassing. He batted 290 and stole 21 bases in 26 attempts (80.8%). His best breakdown was at home (.826 OPS, .330 batting average), and his worst was against lefties (.653 OPS despite a .290 average), if you don't count turf (.561 OPS in 52 at-bats). He gave us very little in late-inning pressure situations (which seemed to be prime opportunities to hit into one of his 13 double plays), with a .240 batting average and .320 SP.

• Brian Johnson: Poor guy. Couldn't stay healthy. Two broken bones, I believe. That's why he hit .237 with a .706 OPS. He did have one amazing hot streak in midseason in which he hit something like 9 home runs in about 11 days, but he only hit 13 overall. His best breakdown was an .836 OPS during the day -- .481 slugging, .355 OBP despite a .256 average -- because that's when he hit 8 of his home runs. His worst breakdown -- I know this will come as a shock -- was at night: .604 OPS. In LIPS his OPS was .738 despite only 2 walks in 49 at-bats, not to mention 2 homers and only 1 double and 1 triple. Seems to me that if you want to get him out, keep pitching him low and away.

• Chris Jones: Too bad he's so weak and old, because now the Trade Chain will crumble unto dust. A .550 OPS as a Giant, despite a robust .194 batting average, .300 slugging percentage, and .250 OBP. He struck out 28 times in 90 at-bats as a Giant (.311), while walking only eight times. There really is nothing good to say about him except that (a) he seems to have a sense of humor, and (b) it looks as though he was even worse with the Diamondbacks.

• Jeff Kent: Really can't fault this guy. Mostly he was hyped for leading the team with 128 RBIs despite missing over three weeks due to a knee with a near-fatal case of Alex Rodriguez, but this year he had some guys to drive in: Bonds (.438 OBP), Mueller (.383), Hamilton (.393), Benard (.396), and sometimes Burks (.387). Now, this isn't my way of discrediting the guy; he also hit 31 home runs, with 37 doubles and 3 triples, for a .555 slugging percentage. Plus, he hit .297 and scored 94 runs. And once he came back from his injury, his home-run bat didn't cool down. He really had an impressive year.

  His best breakdown was during the day, when he hit .332 with a .623 SP and .388 OBP (1.011 OPS) and hit 17 of his home runs (55%) in 244 at-bats (46%). Weirdly, he was at his worst against lefthanded pitchers, with a .794 OPS, due mostly to a .452 SP (and .254 batting average -- and only 4 homers). His LIPS OPS, .930, was better than his overall number (.914), but it seemed as though he was always winning games with his bat. He did hit 7 of his home runs in LIPS (23% of his homers, 16% of his at-bats).

• Ramon Martinez: Well, he only had 24 plate appearances and batted .316 -- though he'd have been 3-for-13 without his 3-for-3 debut. I doubt he can really hit.

• Brent Mayne: He drove me crazy all year. He seemed streaky as hell on both sides of the ball, but it's not as though he hit with any power or anything. His overall OPS was .719; his OBP was a not-terrible .359 -- just a shade of a shade lower than his slugging percentage of .360, which is ludicrous. He poured it on a bit with runners on base, though, batting .304 with an .819 OBP (.416 SP, .403 OBP) and all three of his home runs (but only 5 of his 15 doubles). His OPS in LIPS was .806, as his batting average rose to .313; his one LIPS home run was his grand slam that tied a game in Miami -- one in which the Giants had been down 9-3 late, then drew walk after walk before Mayne did his number. I think I'll always like him for that.

  His worst OPS was .632 with the bases empty, but aside from that and the others mentioned, his OPS numbers were between .695 and .742 for the other breakdowns (except turf: .785). He had 317 plate appearances, which seems like too many.

• Jose Mesa: I only mention him because in his lone plate appearance with the Giants, he walked and scored a run. OPS: 1.000. The dude's a force.

• Doug Mirabelli: He only had 19 plate appearances and hit .235, though with some power: two doubles and a home run (which I called -- I'm so proud -- during the 18-4 pasting of the Dodgers on my birthday in September). His OPS was .845, which is probably about 150 points higher than we could normally expect.

• Bill Mueller: I wish he'd hit .300. He got close, .294, but I really wish he'd made it. His OPS was a disappointing .778, as his slugging percentage was only .395 (.383 OBP), but he hit 9 home runs, which was sort of encouraging. He did his best on turf: .915 OPS, with a .471 SP, .444 OBP, and .368 batting average; of course, this was in only 68 at-bats, so make of that what you will. He hit only .244 in LIPS with three homers, but his worst breakdown was at home, where his OPS was a rather putrid .679 (.331 SP, .348 OBP), partly because only one of his home runs was hit there. On the road -- his best breakdown if you don't count turf -- his OPS was .870 and his slugging percentage was .455. He hit .329 on the road as opposed to .257 at home. Naturally you can see why Dusty Baker chose to sit him in Game 163 at Wrigley. (You can? Wow! Explain it to me, please!)

  Billy struck out more than I'd hoped: 83 times, compared to a decent 79 walks. I still think he should bat second all the time, and I think it's possible for him to improve.

• Dante Powell: Well, he only had seven plate appearances, but he mad the most of them: 2-for-4 with a home run and three walks. Still, that's as good as he'll get. (Well, you can say that about anyone except John Paciorek, I guess; nobody's gonna hit .500....)

• Armando Rios: He opened some eyes with pinch-homers on successive days. Overall, he was 4-for-7 with three runs scored, three RBIs, three walks, and two strikeouts. I don't know if he can play center, but I wouldn't mind seeing him and Powell both get a good long look in spring training next year.

• Rey Sanchez: In case you don't get this strong sense from other articles and installments, Richard Booroojian hates Rey Sanchez. "Turd," I believe, is one of the many terms Richard has used. I don't hate the guy, but he sure pissed me off a lot during the year by hitting (or bunting into key double plays, or getting thrown out on the bases. He has no power -- we knew that going in -- and doesn't draw walks, but for what we got, he wasn't bad. He hit .285 with a .361 slugging percentage (preposterous) and .325 OBP (unthinkable) for a .686 OPS (rancid) -- wait: maybe he was bad. In fact, if this guy isn't the poster boy for "Batting Average Isn't Everything," I don't know who is -- because as near as I can tell, his batting average did account for everything: almost his entire offensive effort. And he got 339 plate appearances to do it in. Amazingly, though, he had a .965 OPS against lefties (in 69 at-bats).

  Maybe we'd better see Wilson Delgado in Sanchez' role next year.

• J.T. Snow: It's hard to be completely clinical and blow off the personal and very awful stuff that went on in his life during the year. I do kind of feel as though, under the circumstances, he did just fine. It may well have been his worst year, statistically, however. Snow's OPS was .755, consisting of a .423 SP and .332 OBP, both horrific, especially for a regular first baseman. He didn't draw as many walks as last year, even per plate appearance. (He had 500 appearances on the nose. Had he had 650, he would've been "on pace" to walk 75 times; as it was, he walked 58 times.) That's kind of a disturbing trend. He did hit 29 doubles, which isn't bad, but only 15 home runs, which is about half of last year's total -- though he did miss 24 games for various reasons, including the personal stuff, injury, and the fact that he can't hit lefthanders.

  Jate had the most pronounced splits of any Giants regular. With the bases empty, his OPS was .647; with runners on, .888. At home, .885; on the road, .646. During the day, .655; at night, .817. Oh, and let's not forget a .540 OPS in LIPS (.141 batting average). Clearly (if the Giants could only work it out this way) he needs to bat only at home with runners on at night, when it doesn't count -- unless you bring lefties into the picture.

  His difficulties against lefthanded pitchers have been well documented, but they're even more ridiculous than you think. He wasn't exactly a monster against righthanders this year: .265 batting average and .806 OPS; a .459 SP and .347 OBP. Against lefties, though: .164 average, .506 OPS, with a .259 OBP and an absurd .247 slugging percentage. Now, I really don't think he's quite this bad, but I do think there's a good chance that this "weak against lefties" stuff really got inside his head -- if the fact that he stopped batting righthanded altogether in the last week of the season or so is any indication.

• Corey Bailey: Well, he only pitched 3-1/3 innings, but amazingly, he wasn't horrifically jacked around. The only run he gave up, though, was on a home run to the first batter he faced in the major leagues this season, when he was called in to stop the bleeding. Either way, I don't trust him with a burnt-out match

• Chris Brock: It sure seemed as though he pitched more than 27-2/3 innings. He had a 3.90 ERA, which isn't awful, but batters had a .468 SP against him (.791 OOPS -- opposition OPS). He was far better at home (2.84 ERA, .738 OOPS) than on the road (4.80, .829). He also got lit up during the day (5.06, .873) and was pretty good at night (3.18, .734). He had no appearances in late-inning pressure situations.

• Danny Darwin: Will you miss him? I won't. Bleah. Opposing batters' OPS against him was .802, and he was remarkably consistent across all breakdowns in that his OOPS numbers were between .785 and .883. His ERA was 5.51. Bleah. Bye.

• Shawn Estes: Well... bleah here, too. A 5.06 ERA overall, though his .715 OOPS wasn't bad. Still, he walked 80 in 149-1/3 innings, and that has to stop. He was far worse with runners on (.837 OOPS) than with the bases empty (.698). He was, however, fairly outstanding at home: 6-3, 2.66 ERA; opposition batting average, .198; SP, .298; OBP, .303; and OOPS, .599; On the road, however: 1-9, 7.44 ERA, .330, .483, .415, and .898. Yeesh.

• Mark Gardner: Strange reversal of form from the past two years. This time he was terrific in the second half, awful in the first. Overall his ERA was 4.33, which is hardly Cy Young territory, but hey, he won 13 games for the first time in his career, against only 6 losses. Looks like the Giants want to bring him back. His overall OOPS was .714 -- just a gnat-hair better than Estes' -- but he did it differently, walking few but giving up bigger hits. (Estes: .354 SP, .361 OBP; Gardner: .405 SP, .309 OBP.) I'm starting to wonder, though, if the numbers just aren't right, because his breakdowns suggest that his overall OOPS had to be higher. Pretending that problem doesn't exist, I see that he was at his best at night (.706) and much worse in the sun (.814). He also pretty much slurped in LIPS (maybe I should find another way to put that) but that's not unusual for a starter.

• Dean Hartgraves: This is the guy they called up after they waived Jim Poole. Granted, it's not like Hartgraves got much of a chance, but it took him 32 batters to pitch 5-2/3 innings -- in other words, he retired 17 guys and let 15 reach base (unless there were double plays). OOPS was 1.044.

• Orel Hershiser: A 4.41 ERA -- not great -- and a .703 OPS -- not bad. He seemed to walk a ton of guys -- indeed, he walked 85 -- but he gave up 200 hits in 202 innings, which is pretty amazing, given his age. OBP against him was .333, and SP was only .370 -- but he seemed to give up a hell of a lot of home runs (22). Pitched much better against lefties than righties, but other than that, his OOPS breakdowns were very consistent. I can't figure him out.

• John Johnstone: Had a 3.07 ERA and .681 OOPS. At times, he seemed unhittable. Best OOPS was in LIPS: .655. Worst opposition batting average was with runners on: .208. (Nighttime, too.) Hard to complain about this guy.

• Jose Mesa (again): Breakdowns are given for his entire season, which is a drag. However, he had a 3.52 ERA for the Giants after a 5.17 showing for the Indians. Hell of a lot of decisions, though: a 5-3 record. He appeared in 32 games, but only threw 30-2/3 innings. The surprising stat: only one home run surrendered as a Giant; 18 walks, though, some of which will live in infamy.

• Alvin Morman: Same problem as Mesa -- in terms of his stats availability, that is; he has very different problems that stem from being Al Morman in a Giants uniform. Amazing Stat of the Year: his 5.14 ERA in orange and black was better than his showing at Cleveland (5.32). Of course, he only pitched in 9 games -- 7 innings -- here. And in those 7 innings he gave up 8 hits, including 4 home runs. The astounding thing is, those home runs were the only runs he himself surrendered. God knows how many inherited runners skipped merrily across the plate when he pitched. (Now, the stats say he actually only gave up one home run with runners on -- but that was the Darryl Hamilton blow.) I won't miss him -- but then, he'll be here next year, so I won't have the opportunity to miss him. Which I wouldn't. 'Cause he makes me crazy.

• Robb Nen: What a year he had. His ERA had to take a beating just to get up to 1.52. He struck out 110 in 88-2/3 innings and walked only 25 -- I'd have expected more like 45. Opposing hitters batted .180 against him, with a .263 slugging percentage and .239 OBP (.502 OOPS overall). His OOPS with the bases empty was .473 -- .513 with runners on (worse, but still great); LIPS, .508 -- slightly worse than in non-pressure situations, but that's to be expected; .578 vs. lefthanded batters, .399 vs. righthanded batters; .387 at home, .572 on the road; .537 during the day, .443 at night; .485 on grass, .530 on turf. Can Trevor Hoffman really have been better than this? The one problem is that Nen appeared in 78 games, which is a hell of a lot.

• Russ Ortiz: His 4.99 ERA was worse than it had to be. He walked 46 in 88-1/3 innings and gave up 11 home runs. OOPS was .766 -- .889 with the bases empty (and .702 with runners on). He really showed no particular tendencies in terms of splits, though.

• Jim Poole: Well, if you take out that four-inning stint in the 17-inning win over the Cards, he was horrific. If you don't, he was just bad. His ERA was 5.29 in 32-1/3 innings -- unfortunately I don't have many other numbers for him (except that 5 of his 9 walks were intentional).
• Steve Reed: Should've been the jewel in John Hart's crown, but a blood circulation problem hosed his season for the Indians, which is a shame. Looks like he's returning, though, so we can forget about getting him back. Shame, that, because he had a 1.48 ERA in 54-2/3 innings, surrendering only 30 hits.

• Rich Rodriguez: Had a 3.70 ERA and .703 OOPS, but some pretty interesting splits along the way: .636 OOPS with the bases empty, .809 otherwise -- in other words, bring him in to start an inning, not to clean up a mess; .505 against lefthanded hitters, .873 against righthanded hitters (and a .336 batting average and .493 SP); .643 at home, .776 on the road.

• Kirk Rueter: Won 16 games, which is nice, but did it with a 4.36 ERA. His overall OOPS was .699 (.318 OBP, .381 SP). Got lefties out pretty good (.637 OOPS), righties not so much (.781). Otherwise, no amazing splits, though on turf he had a .635 OOPS and a .220 opposition batting average, despite a 4.15 ERA.

• Julian Tavarez: When all is said and done (or even done and said), his 3.80 ERA and .760 OOPS won't look that bad. However, he was pretty streaky, as he was last year, and his splits were kind of all over the place, with OOPS numbers ranging from .738 (vs. righthanded batters) and .874 (in, I'm sad to say, LIPS). Still can't finish guys off with a two-strike count. A very irritating pitcher.