IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?
On May 31, Padres catcher Josh Bard drove a ball in Pittsburgh for an apparent home run, only to have the call reversed when the umpires decided it struck a railing and did not leave the park. His subsequent tirade got him ejected and suspended. On June 23, with his suspension still on appeal, he cranked one towards the left field pole in San Diego that the home plate arbiter Brian Knight ruled foul. Bard was tuning up for a repeat performance when manager Bud Black demanded an ump summit. This time, the reversal went Bard’s way, and it was Boston skipper Terry Francona who erupted and got the thumb, making this one of five games on this day in which there was an ejection. The big loser here was Knight, a fill-in recalled from the minors to replace ailing Kerwin Danley. Just one inning earlier, the young ump ruled that Manny Ramirez made a shoestring catch, only to have that call overturned as well when his compadres convened. (Replays confirmed that both final decisions were correct.)

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED...STEAL SECOND
Julio Lugo is hot on the trail of the modern major league record for most stolen bases by a player who hit below the Mendoza Line. Through the Fourth of July, the Red Sox shortstop was batting .192 with 20 swipes. The current proprietor of the mark is Fritz Maisel, a 1917 Yankees smurf who thieved 29 bags while hitting .198. But we need to qualify something here: The technical record-holder is Larry Lintz who, in 1976, had one of the quirkiest years ever. The A’s “second baseman” played in 68 games (64 of which he entered as a pinch-runner), had only four plate appearances (grounding out in his lone official at-bat) and stole 31 bases.

WILD — LIKE A FOX
Folks have been asking “How does Jamie Moyer do it?” for two decades. We found one clue. Using Baseball-Reference.com data that goes back to 2000, we found that Moyer throws only 62 percent of his pitches for strikes. That’s the lowest rate among active pitchers who issue fewer than 2 1/2 walks per nine innings. The stat paints this ultimate “crafty lefty” as the ultimate nibbler — a guy who’s on, off or around the plate precisely when he wants to be.

SWINGS — LIKE A RUSTY GATE
Now we know why 21 years into his career, Moyer had never been used as a pinch-hitter. He got his big chance in the 13th inning against Houston recently, and struck out with the bases loaded.

PYROS IN PINSTRIPES
Scott Proctor wasn’t the first Yankees player to burn his equipment, though maybe the first to burn his Yankees equipment. Back in 1935, a 16-year-old Phil Rizzuto was sent home from a New York Giants tryout because he was barely 5 feet tall and weighed 130 pounds. Frustrated, the future Bronx Bomber Hall of Famer went home and set his uniform ablaze. Proctor, after gassing-up a rally for the fourth straight outing (two of which cost the club games), made a bonfire of his stuff in front of his dugout last weekend. Manager Joe Torre, asked if anything his set-up man torched was property of the club, replied, “It’s HIS glove. I don’t know where he got the matches. That may be ours, I don’t know.”

HIT AND RUN
Short Hops’ recurring installment of slapdash observation and imprudent opinion:

A new Harris Interactive poll lists Derek Jeter as America’s second-most popular sports star behind Tiger Woods. No other baseballers are on the list, as Barry Bonds (No. 9 in 2006) dropped out of the top 10.

The White Sox struck out 49 times in their recent four-game sweep of Tampa Bay. Many Rays fans didn’t care; they get free pizza when their pitchers hit double-digits whiffs, which they did in each game.

Whaddya want Indians Fans? The Tribe is leading the AL Central with the second-best record in baseball, and is an entertaining club that only the Tigers have outscored. Yet only the piteous Devil Rays and Royals have drawn fewer fans per game.

By June 26, Curtis Granderson had already reached double figures in doubles, triples and home runs — on pace for 46, 30 and 22. It may not surprise to learn that parlay has been achieved. In fact, only five players have gone even 20-20-20.

After not walking unintentionally his first 163 plate appearances of the season, Kevin Mench drew three in two days.

The Rockies lost eight in a row, four on blown saves by Brian Fuentes, including walk-off homers on back-to-back nights by the Astros. Immediately after, they swept the Mets to become the first team ever to take the broom to the Mets and Yanks in the same season.

Curt Schilling’s streak of 152 straight starts of at least five innings — baseball’s longest of the past half-century — ended.

It took Willy Taveras only until June 28 to set the Rockies franchise record with 26 bunt singles. A .312 hitter at the time, his batting average would have been .227 with the bunts removed.

A recent column in the collectors magazine Tuff Stuff included a review on which Detroit Tigers are the most- and least-willing autograph signers. The opinion was surprising. Perceived curmudgeons Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriguez were cited among “the good guys.” Voted most likely to blow you off were Justin Verlander and manager Jim Leyland.

On the same day Craig Biggio was thrown out trying to stretch the 3,000th hit of his career into a double, Frank Thomas was ejected from the game in which he hit his 500th homer. Can’t say they’ve lost their competitive edge.

QUOTABLES
“I’m trying to give up home runs, what do you think?” — Bobby Howry, in response to a fan who charged onto the field and screamed, “What are you doing?” after the Cubs reliever blew a lead.

“This isn’t the first team I’ve broken out of a slump. I’ve done it throughout my career.” — Nationals pitcher Micah Bowie after surrendering six runs in 3 1/3 innings to a Braves team that scored 11 in its previous seven games.

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