Quiz: Rickey Henderson began the weekend with 1,327 steals, an astounding 389 more than the man whose record he eclipsed, Lou Brock. Only five other active players even have 389 steals. Name them (answer below).

Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn both reached 3,000 hits this season, but the long-term thanks they will get from their teams look to be very different. Tampa Bay has said it will not discuss its future plans with Boggs until after the season. But, let’s face it, now is when there would be goodwill to be had for announcing the Tampa native would be back for the 2000 season. The Devil Rays already feel they have stunted Bobby Smith’s development at third to get Boggs to his 3000th hit this season, and do not appear likely to do that any more.

The affinity for the greatest Padre ever is different. “Tony will be a Padre as long as he wants to play,” San Diego GM Kevin Towers said. “I think a lot of it will depend on Tony’s health. We open our new park in 2002 and we’d like Tony to be the first batter in it.” …

Whatever the Devil Rays choose to do with Boggs, it cannot go down as the worst decision in their very young existence. Not even close. Tampa picked Bobby Abreu with the sixth pick of the expansion draft two years ago and promptly traded him to the Phillies for underwhelming shortstop Kevin Stocker. Abreu is blossoming into one of the NL’s best overall players. …This is the time of year in which also-rans are trying to gauge exactly what they have for the next season. Four clubs look as if they will experiment with potential front-line starters down the stretch. Anaheim has put Ramon Ortiz into its rotation, as has St. Louis with Rick Ankiel, considered the top pitching prospect in the sport. You might want to catch Ankiel’s act on national TV tonight against the Braves. The Marlins, with A.J. Burnett, and the Expos, with Tony Armas Jr., spot-started their top pitching prospects before returning them to Double-A. Burnett was recalled late in the week and scheduled to start yesterday and for the rest of the season. Armas is due back when rosters expand in September.

Burnett and Armas have local angles. Burnett was the key part of the Met trade to Florida for Mike Piazza. The Mets worried about Burnett’s flighty side – he is tattooed and sports a pair of nipple rings -but no one has doubted his arm. Armas could come back to haunt the Yankees. Late in 1997, with Cecil Fielder underachieving, the Yanks gave up Armas to Boston for Mike Stanley, who left as a free agent after the season. …

Andy Pettitte is not the only veteran lefty who has helped the Yankees by improving after the July 31 trade deadline. Chuck Finley went 3-1 with a 1.69 ERA in his first five August starts. Fortunately for the Yankees, he waited until now to pitch his best. Had he been throwing like this before the deadline, the Indians would have tried a lot harder to obtain the renowned Yankee killer. Instead, Finley remained an Angel. Now, the people who run the dumbest baseball place on earth for Disney have to figure out what to do with the free-agent-to-be. …

On the subject of the Indian rotation, Bartolo Colon has gone 7-1 with a 1.98 ERA and .202 batting average against in the second half as he has grown comfortable as the team’s ace. Perhaps Cleveland will end its streak of losing playoff series openers at eight. However, the club has a big question about who follows Colon in a postseason rotation. Steve Karsay came out of the pen to make two strong starts followed by a dud against Oakland. And Karsay strained his right forearm, which could do damage to even returning him to the role at which he was thriving – setting up closer Mike Jackson. Charles Nagy almost certainly will start, but one or two other spots come down to Dave Burba, Dwight Gooden and Jaret Wright. Gooden and Wright are on the DL at present, and were impressing nobody before they landed there.

Earlier this month, Todd Hundley followed the lead of San Francisco first baseman J.T. Snow and gave up batting from the right side and become strictly a lefty hitter. Hundley had been 4-for-41 (.098) batting righty, with no homers. In his third at-bat lefty vs. lefty, he doubled in three runs off Scott Aldred. Hundley has indicated he will not make a final decision about giving up switch-hitting until next spring training. …

It’s 10 p.m., and by the end of this week we find out if the umpires strike back. …

Quiz Answer – Tim Raines, Otis Nixon, Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton and Delino DeShields.