First, I'm not talking about the temptation to leave Tampa Bay to play for a competitive ball club in Southern California. I'm not even talking about him leaving the Dodgers for a payday from the perennial powerhouse in Boston.

Let me apologize in advance to Julio Lugo. Hopefully the following few paragraphs don't cause too much trouble, but the data seems to indicate that he may have a problem avoiding temptation. Without revealing too much about my own private life, I had some "research" on the number of gentleman's clubs per city. In cities where the club per capita is higher than average, Lugo is hitting 194 points below his season average? As of 5/16 that was 0-19 in 2007.

During three full seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Lugo batted 21 points lower at home than on the road. But should we be surprised of his lackluster home performances? Tampa Bay is home to more strip clubs per capita than any other Major League Baseball city.

I am no expert on Julio Lugo's private life and I don't want to cast dispersions on the man. I'm just an analyst making a hopefully interesting observation. The closest I have come to meeting him was from Section 125, Row O of Dodger Stadium. I really don't know and don't care if Julio Lugo frequents Foxy's Showbar while in Tampa and maybe he's never even been to a club. However, Lugo's hitting tendencies suggest a possible inverse correlation between his batting average and the supply of local nightlife.

The question is, are there other players who also exhibit a decline in performance in big cities, cities with a high "SCI" (Strip Club Index), or both?

Could it be true that Major League baseball players perform worse in cities which are considered more exciting? Does having a lot of temptation around negatively affect players' on-field performance? Why not? Regular season baseball lasts half of a year. Don't baseball players get rambunctious and want to party too? What happens when a twenty-two year old hotshot shortstop from the Kansas City Royals visits New York City for the first time? Will he explore the New York City nightlife? Will his batting performance be worse the next day?

We looked at Road Games and categorized MLB Cities as either Large or Medium Sized Cities. We also categorized them as having a high number of Strip Clubs per capita vs a medium number. Although the 2007 season is still early, some marquee players seem to be distracted when playing in exciting cities.

The table below shows the players who have the largest % drop in batting average playing on the road in large cities. In some cases there are very few At Bats so you shouldn't think too much about these players. However, why has Miguel Tejada hit over .300 this year in road cities with small populations and could only squeeze one hit from twenty-four at bats in cities with large populations? Does Luis Gonzalez have an affinity for nightlife and did it influence his decision to go to LA?

Now for the "fun" part. Who has the biggest % drops vs the dreaded SCI? We already mentioned Julio Lugo who is batting .192 in 78 ABs on the road but is 0-19 vs the SCI. You have some big time names on this list including Pudge Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Albert Pujols.

While we usually focus on far more "professional / geeky" sports statistics we've now introduced two new features -- The Strip Club Index (SCI) and the Population Index (PI).

While these features may not be the most statistically relevant factors nor is the methodology exactly tried and true, we think they can still help you make vital decisions when it comes to fantasy MLB and gambling. Should I bench red-hot Mike Lowell from my fantasy team when the Red Sox play the Devil Rays? What about when Torii Hunter plays the Yankees? Throughout the year, we'll provide statistical analysis investigating the effects of Krystal, Destiny, and Jasmine on Major League Baseball players' bating average.

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