Earlier this year, Jim Carrey starred in a movie called, "The Number 23." It's an eerie tale of a man that is obsessed with the number 23, finding it in every facet of his life. From what I gather, the Utah Jazz were similarly haunted by this number in the late '90s.

Numbers basically make up the game of Fantasy Baseball we play, so we are often "haunted" or blessed by numbers daily. Here are a handful of numbers that should entertain you and hopefully, help you win in the home stretch.

0 -- The number of AL starters that have a lower ERA in the month of August than Jake Westbrook's 1.50 (five starts, 36 innings, 6 ER). And in the NL, only Brandon Webb and his amazing scoreless inning streak is better than Shawn Hill's 1.35 ERA in his three starts since coming off the 15-day disabled list. He's 0-0 in that span, but his ERA and WHIP (0.750) are impressive.

.387 -- Jose Vidro's batting average after the All-Star break, bested only by Chone Figgins (.388) among players with at least 150 plate appearances. He's still available in 52 percent of leagues on CBSSports.com.

Loney and
Dodgers' schedule
Week Dates Opponent
23 Sept. 3-9 @CHC, @SF
24 Sept. 10-16 SD, ARI
25 Sept. 17-23 @COL, @ARI
26 Sept. 24-30 COL, SF

.391 -- The difference in James Loney's slugging home/away splits. At Chavez Ravine, the sweet-swinging first baseman has only three extra-base hits (one HR), with an Alex Cora-like .279 slugging percentage in 37 games. But away from Los Angeles, the 23-year-old has 16 extra-base hits (five HR) with a .670 slugging percentage in only 28 games. Those numbers will balance out in time obviously, but by just looking at his past two road trips (two homers, six RBI in 12 games), compared to his past two homestands (no homers, one RBI, 12 games), it forces you to look ahead at the schedule. He has a home/away split during the current scoring period, against Washington, then at San Diego. But in Week 23 (Sept. 3-9), he's at the Cubs and Giants, before coming back home for two series (SD, ARI), then away again in Week 25 (Sept. 17-23) at Colorado and Arizona. He'll finish the year at home for just five games against Colorado and the Giants. Considering he's available in 58 percent of the leagues on CBSSports.com, he could be a nice player to pick up and use as a mixed league corner infielder on his road weeks.

.414 -- Raul Ibanez's batting average (36-for-87) since Aug. 3, when outfield prospect Adam Jones was called up. In that span of 22 games, Ibanez has nine homers, 21 RBI and 14 runs scored. It does not appear that he is ready to let the youngster take at-bats from him.

6 -- Kason Gabbard has six wins in seven home starts between his time at Boston or Texas. He is 6-0 in with a 1.98 ERA. He starts at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington against the White Sox Tuesday, so that could change immediately.

7 -- Home runs hit by Miguel Tejada in 73 games before the break. He also has that same amount of homers in 28 games after the break. He has recently reverted back to his slugging days, with a lower batting average but more run production, which is needed in Baltimore. He faced AL East pitchers in 18 of those 28 games too, including nine games against Boston and Toronto -- the strongest pitching staffs in the majors after the break.

10 -- Scoreless innings that Joba Chamberlain has thrown in middle relief since Aug. 26. Meanwhile, closer Mariano Rivera has allowed six earned runs, 15 hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings (7.37 ERA) over his past seven outings. When Rivera retires, he will arguably be called the greatest reliever in major league history -- and Chamberlain is obviously not going to cut into his stats. But ... if the Yankees get some separation down the playoff stretch, whether it's ahead or behind the Red Sox in the divisional race, or ahead in the wild card race, don't be surprised to see them give Chamberlain a couple of save chances. This would rest Rivera, who is on pace for 71 innings in his 13th season, and test their youngster under fire. Either way, he's an excellent Rotisserie reliever right now for help in ERA and WHIP.

15.56 -- The difference in ERA between Mike Mussina's (18.61 ERA) last three starts and those of prospect Ian Kennedy (2.08). Granted, Kennedy was pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, but he could be the pitcher tabbed to replace the struggling Mussina in the Yankees' rotation. Kennedy has been on the fast track since being drafted out of USC in 2006. That's dangerous for Fantasy owners, since you don't know how he'll do against teams after they've made adjustments. But for a short sprint (say, a playoff race in September for a team with an All-Star lineup), he could prove to be a huge asset.

23 -- Runs batted in by Brian Giles while batting in the leadoff spot for the Padres. Since the former slugger has moved into the first spot in the order, he has re-emerged into a Fantasy force. In 46 games atop the order, Giles is batting .317 with six home runs, 23 RBI, 26 runs scored and three steals. At other spots in the lineup, Giles is hitting .276 with one homer, 13 RBI, 23 runs scored and one steal in 42 games. Speaking of Padres outfielders, Milton Bradley has been one of the few sources of offense in this lineup. When the controversial left fielder starts, the Padres score almost one full run more than when he doesn't, and the team batting average is 35 points higher with him than without him. Bradley is only owned in 41 percent of leagues on CBSSports.com, and he has four homers and 12 RBI in his past seven games.

27 -- The number of home runs Hall-of-Fame 2B Joe Morgan hit in 1976. Brandon Phillips is just two away from matching that number for the first time by any Reds second baseman. No wonder the Indians wanted him as the keystone to the Bartolo Colon deal back in 2002 (Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore were the other players acquired in that trade).

30 -- Home runs that David Ortiz is on pace to hit this season, his lowest number since he played for Minnesota. But he's not hurting his Fantasy owners all around -- he's still batting .324, which is 24 points higher than any other full season he has played, and he's on pace to tie his personal record of 119 runs scored. Granted, those are numbers you'd rather see from the middle infielder you draft in the eighth round, not the DH you take in the first. With 23 RBI in August, he's having his best month this year, so a strong finish is still a possibility. Strangely, it's coinciding with one of Manny Ramirez's worst months.

36 -- The number of saves recorded by Bobby Jenks this season. The White Sox have the third-worst record in the majors, yet Jenks is able to be in the top five in the majors in saves. Don't put too much water in the theory that good closers on bad teams are not Fantasy worthy.

37 -- The age of Al Reyes, who recorded his first 20-save season on Sunday. Only Hoyt Wilhelm (41) and Ellis Kinder (39) were older when they had theirs. Do we need to tell you not to invest too highly in Reyes as a keeper?

37 -- The number of points Ramon Hernandez's batting average has dropped in his past 14 games. He has reached base just once in his past 11 games. This is likely a player many Fantasy owners were starting as a No. 1 catcher. For the month of August, 42 other catchers have better Head-to-Head points than the Orioles backstop

41 -- Home runs hit by the Pirates this month, which leads the majors. Outfielder Nate McLouth has enjoyed a breakout recently, with nine homers in his previous 34 games. He's hitting .284 with 20 runs scored and six steals this month. Chris Duffy's shoulder injury and the trade of Rajai Davis to San Francisco has opened up a huge opportunity for McLouth. He's a scrappy player with speed that has shown some surprising power lately -- like a poor man's Dan Uggla without 2B-eligibility.

41 -- The percentage of leagues on CBSSports.com that still have a 10-7 starter, with a 3.28 ERA, available as a free agent. Can you name him? His ERA ranks seventh in the AL and he leads all rookie pitchers. In his past seven starts, he is 5-1 with a 2.23 ERA. I'm going to let you stew on this one until the end of this column.

55 -- Strikeouts thrown by Gio Gonzalez in his past seven starts, although he has 16 walks in the same span. With Jose Contreras, John Danks and Jon Garland struggling and the White Sox out of contention, don't be surprised to see Double-G get more than a few starts in September. He currently leads the Southern League in strikeouts (177) and is fourth in ERA at 3.27.

73 -- Total number of saves converted by Cleveland's Joe Borowski over the past two seasons. Only three other pitchers (Francisco Rodriguez, Trevor Hoffman and Bobby Jenks) have more in that span. Joe-Bo also has 12 blown saves with a 4.45 ERA over the past two years -- not good.

75 -- Number of starts Emil Brown has made in the Royals' outfield this year. He led the team in RBI for the past two years, but fell out of favor at the start of this season, hitting .200 with one homer and 15 RBI in April and May combined. But despite starting in about two-thirds of the team's games this year, he leads the team again with 53 RBI. Don't get too excited about him though, it's not like he has gone off in the past few weeks. It's just that he has been the steady hitter, knocking in more than nine and less than 16 RBI in each of the past four months.

300 -- The seconds that I was late in setting my lineup in the Fantasy Magazine league, which meant I was unable to get red-hot Nate McLouth active. I have a tenuous lead that has me losing hair in clumps.

328 -- How many games Rocco Baldelli has missed over the past two seasons due to various injuries. He was recently shut down during his rehab stint in the minors with more hamstring trouble and there's a possibility that he won't return this year, since there's nothing to play for. Meanwhile, B.J. Upton has looked like a natural in center field -- a position many scouts had argued he was best suited -- and the Devil Rays will have to decide in the offseason what the best route for both players is. One interesting note is that Upton has played almost the same amount of games at both second base (48) and center field (52), but his splits are wide. As a second baseman, he is hitting .345 with eight homers, 35 RBI, 31 runs scored and 12 stolen bases. But in center field, he is batting just .286 with 12 homers, 35 RBI, 35 runs scored and just one stolen base. I attribute those splits more to the fact that Upton was hitting at the bottom and then the top of the batting order early on this year, when he was at second base, compared to hitting third and fourth in the Rays' lineup more recently, as a center fielder. He has only one error in center field also, compared to 12 as a second baseman. Enjoy Upton's eligibility at second base while you can.

361 -- It was that many days ago that Jonathan Papelbon suffered a strained shoulder against Toronto. That shoulder injury, combined with the fact that it was his rookie season, convinced the Red Sox that they should try Papelbon as a starter for '07. As we know, that plan was scrapped quickly when they were in dire need of bullpen help this spring. Despite missing a September of opportunities a year ago, he ranks ninth in total saves over the past two seasons with 65. He also leads the majors with 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings, with 71 Ks in 46 2/3 innings so far this year.

3,003 -- The number of pitches thrown by Oakland's Dan Haren, which leads the majors this season. The A's aren't letting his pitch counts get too crazy, as he has not gone beyond seven innings since June 4. He has nine quality starts in his past 10 outings and has emerged into a Fantasy ace. Second on the "total pitches" list is Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir with 3,001. He's the youngest pitcher (23 years old) among the top 15 and a red flag has to pop up in some owners' minds, considering the Rays shut Kazmir down a year ago this week because they didn't want to overwork his shoulder. He has to start pitching more efficiently and deeper into games if he hopes to keep that arm attached. From a Fantasy perspective, he has a winning record (10-8) on the second-worst team in the majors, and he ranks fourth in the majors in strikeouts (with 189) behind Erik Bedard, Johan Santana and Jake Peavy. Needless to say, he is developing into the top-20 Fantasy pitcher you had hoped.

Answer: Brian Bannister is 6-1 with a 2.23 ERA in his past eight starts and he's only owned in 59 percent of leagues on CBSSports.com. Meanwhile, Ambiorix Burgos, the player the Mets traded Bannister for, might need Tommy John surgery. Do you think Scott Kazmir and Bannister have become pen pals?

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