First number, last word

49: Consecutive games, entering Saturday, with at least one extra-base hit by the Pirates, their longest such streak of the season; the Bucs had an extra-base knock in all but three of the first 109 games.

"When he took the job I called him up and said, 'I never knew you were after the manager's job.' Because I'd offered him every job possible -- first-base coach, third-base coach, bench coach, hitting coach -- and he kept turning me down."
-- Hurdle, on how he had tried to lure one of his former players, Walt Weiss, back into the dugout while he managed the Rockies.