Random Jottings. The Red Sox made a play for 1B Mark Sweeney, but he decided to sign with Colorado. ... Steve Bechler and ephedra ... Newsday's Jon Heyman on the departed David Wells: "On the postseason stage, almost no one was more dependable." Games 1 and 5 of the 2003 World Series say Hi. ... The Baseball Crank looks at the Hall of Fame balloting and Paul Molitor.

BlogWatch: Most blogs are quiet this time of year, but I did find four new Red Sox sites: Buckner Was Framed; Fenway Hotdogs in October; TN Red Sox Fan; and Top of the Ninth. If any readers know of any others that are not linked at the left, let me know. ... Looking at the baseball blogs listed here, Boston and the Cubs have the most (22), followed by Seattle (12) and the Yankees (11). Every team is represented by at least 2 blogs and there are some unaffiliated blogs as well.

This is from late October, but I found it today. Diamond Mind posted a list of who got into scoring position most often in 2003 (By the way, I hate the term "scoring position." I know that the general meaning is the base(s) from which a runner can score on any kind of base hit, but it is a rather weak definition. A runner generally will not score from second on an infield single or even a shallow hit to the outfield. Sometimes runners have to hold at third on an infield hit. And you would think that in this era of power hitting, first base would be considered scoring position, too. Literally all bases and the man at the plate are "in a position to score." And as Allen Barra pointed out several years ago in a similar rant, that in addition to being more precise, "runners at second and third" uses one fewer syllable (and thus takes less time to say) than "runners in scoring postions.") (SB2 is steals of second):

Name                   2B  3B  HR  SB2  Tot

Alfonso Soriano        36   5  38   30  109

Alex Rodriguez         30   6  47   17  100

Nomar Garciaparra      37  13  28   19   97

Albert Pujols          51   1  43    2   97

Gary Sheffield         37   2  39   15   93

Bret Boone             35   5  35   16   91

Preston Wilson         43   1  36   11   91

Juan Pierre            28   7   1   54   90

Vernon Wells           49   5  33    2   89

Edgar Renteria         47   1  13   26   87

A much longer list is here (Oct. 30). Diamond Mind also looked at the times in scoring position per plate appearance. Here are the top 16 with some random players thrown in afterwards):

Name                   2B  3B  HR  SB2  Tot   PA  PerPA

Javy Lopez             29   3  43    0   75  495   .152

Corey Patterson        17   7  13   15   52  347   .150

Alfonso Soriano        36   5  38   30  109  734   .149

Richard Hidalgo        43   4  28    9   84  585   .144

Albert Pujols          51   1  43    2   97  685   .142

David Ortiz            39   2  31    0   72  509   .141

Carlos Beltran         14  10  26   35   85  602   .141

Alex Rodriguez         30   6  47   17  100  715   .140

Jim Edmonds            32   2  39    1   74  531   .139

Reggie Sanders         27   4  31    7   69  498   .139

Preston Wilson         43   1  36   11   91  661   .138

Gary Sheffield         37   2  39   15   93  678   .137

Barry Bonds            22   1  45    7   75  550   .136

Eric Hinske            45   3  12   10   70  514   .136

Milton Bradley         34   2  10   15   61  451   .135

Nomar Garciaparra      37  13  28   19   97  719   .135

...

Raul Mondesi           31   4  24   17   76  586   .130

Magglio Ordonez        46   3  29    8   86  674   .128

Vladimir Guerrero      20   3  25    9   57  467   .122

Trot Nixon             24   6  28    4   62  513   .121

Aaron Boone            32   3  24   20   79  656   .120

Bill Mueller           45   5  19    1   70  600   .117

Johnny Damon           32   6  12   30   80  690   .116

Jason Varitek          31   1  25    3   60  521   .115

Carlos Delgado         38   1  42    0   81  705   .115

Manny Ramirez          36   1  37    1   75  679   .110

A much longer list of these guys is here (Oct. 31).

Box of Soap. So who were the suspected terrorists on last week's cancelled Paris-US flights? Because the US used surnames only (and assumed any evil doers would be using their real names), three were a Welsh insurance agent, a child and an elderly Chinese woman who once ran a restaurant in Paris. ... Some reports said the 3-hour delay of British Airways 223 was "not terrorist-related." ... And more proof that the Keystone Kops are in charge or these alerts are nothing more than diversionary scare tactics: the cancellations were due to "very hard intelligence" from a source "whose credibility US officials have been unable to confirm." Whaa? ... By cashing in stock options before the market crashed, presidential brother Neil "Silverado" Bush made at least $171,370 in a single day. "My timing on this transaction was very fortunate," Bush said, adding that because his name was not Hillary, the liberal media would likely never mention it again. ... The investigation into the criminal leak of a CIA agent's identity is heating up. ... Pat Robertson is hearing voices again. ... And finally, a cartoon.