WEEKLINGS

Quote of the week

Royals outfielder Jose Guillen, with expletives deleted, on the team's 10-game losing streak going into last night that included being no-hit, giving up two grand slams in the same game and scoring two runs in one three-game stretch: "Too many babies in here. They don't know how to play the game and how to win the game. That's the problem here. Now I know why this organization has been losing for a while. Now I know . . . It's not the manager. Things are going to change here, I can tell you that. I promise you that. Soon."

Conundrum of the week

The Indians have a .234 team batting average. The lowest full-season batting average for an American League team in the DH era is .235 by the Angels in 1976. So how come five players on that team - Bobby Bonds, Tommy Davis, Mike Easler, Adrian Garrett and Ron Jackson - went on to become big-league hitting coaches?

Stat of the week

The Diamondbacks had lost 12 of their last 20 games going into last night . . . and increased their lead in the NL West by a half-game in the process.

Philosophers of the week

John McLaren, manager of the free-falling Mariners, said he had little reaction to getting a vote of confidence from management. "At this stage, the fans could care less about that, about my security or anything," he noted. "All they want is wins and that's all I want. [If] they pull the plug, they pull the plug."

And Astros reliever Dave Borowski took it in stride when he was designated for assignment Tuesday. "The moral of this story is: Pitch better," he said. *

- Paul Hagen