Swings and Misses

The Red Sox blew a 10-1 lead in the 7th inninng to the Baltimore Orioles, losing 10-11. The Orioles returned the favor the next day, flowing a 5-1 lead in the 9th inning, losing 6-5 in 11 innings. We haven't seen such high fail-to-baseball game ratios since the Mets tried to play an intrasquad game.

Suspended slugger Manny Ramirez has completed his rehab assignment and is expected to rejoin the Dodgers on Friday. This seems reasonable based on Ramirez's well-known history of appearing in a timely fashion following long vacations.

The Seattle Mariners are said to be sellers at the upcoming trade deadline, despite injuries to Erik Bedard and Adrian Beltre. If they expect to get much in return for their other "tradeable" pieces, then these sellers have been using a bit too much of their own product.

I forget the 4th news tidbit, but the punchline was probably the Washington Nationals.

Ian Kinsler is Jewish. How did I not know this?

In the last year, the Pirates have traded Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth and Nyjer Morgan, 4 more quality players than anybody believed that Pittsburgh had.

Milton Bradley has succeeded again in revealing that racism is still present in baseball, as his recent dispute with his own manager shows that the white man is keeping the black, problematic .734 OPS-ing corner outfielders down.

The Yankees have expressed their worries about rising homerun numbers in New Yankee Stadium and are searching for solutions. The leading idea seems to be hiring Barry Bonds to sit behind home plate where the gravitational pull from his giant head will be enough to keep any balls from passing the fence.