THE ANSWER GUY.(Sports)

Q: Why is the .200 batting average referred to as ``the Mendoza line?''

AG: The term pays homage to Mario Mendoza, a weak-hitting shortstop for the Mariners, Pirates and Rangers. Mendoza's lifetime batting average of .215 was orginally referred to as the Mendoza line, but the more common usage currently is to refer to .200 as the Mendoza line. The orginator of the term, according to ``Rotisserie League Baseball,'' was heavy-hitting George Brett, who is said to have remarked, ``The first thing I look for in the Sunday papers is who is below the Mendoza line.''

Q: If a batter is walked, it is not counted as an at-bat. So if a batter is walked with the bases loaded, how can the batter be credited with an RBI if his at-bat did not count?

AG: For the same reason that a batter who sacrifices a runner home receives an RBI, even though a sacrifice does not count as an at-bat either. The rationale is that the batter's action at the plate - whether a walk or a sacrifice - is what caused the run to score. So he receives an RBI. Baseball, despite its sometimes-confusing idiosyncracies, usually makes sense.

Q: The Mariners have a large banner in the Kingdome advertising the internet address of their web page (www.mariners.org). But there must be a mistake - ``.org'' is supposed to be used by non-profit organizations. Shouldn't the Mariners' web address be www.mariners.com, since ``.com'' is used by businesses, including all other major league teams? Or are the M's a non-profit?

AG: To the M's ownership, the team probably seems like a non-profit, what with all its oozing red ink. The M's aren't a non-profit, but their web page does indeed belong at ``.org.'' The reason is: The M's were the first pro sports team to go online, back in November 1994 when web addresses were not quite as defined as they are now; they were assigned ``.org'' at that time. No tears should be shed over the M's being lost in cyberspace. Their web site, according to team officials, averages 7 million hits a month.

And the Mariners could not switch now to www.mariners.com, even if they wanted to. That web site is owned by Cardiac Mariners Inc. of Los Gatos, Calif. That firm, which sounds as if it rents sailboats to people with heart problems, is actually a high tech medical start-up company.

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