Well, he certainly did it in style. After a first inning single, Derek Jeter homered off David Price in the third inning this afternoon to become just the 28th player to accumulate 3,000 hits in the major leagues. Then he added three more before the day was over, moving past Roberto Clemente into 27th place all time (Al Kaline is next, at 3.007.) His fifth hit of the day broke a 4-4 tie and plated the winning run in the Yankees 5-4 win over Tampa Bay.

Per Sportsnet's post-game show. Thanks to Dan Gordon for the heads-up.
 
Snider has "solidified the adjustments that we hoped he would," in John Farrell's words, and hit well against LH pitchers at Las Vegas. Farrell also went out of his way to praise Juan Rivera for the professionalism with which he handled the awkward role of playing several positions for a new organization after a long tenure in Anaheim.

The roster does seem to be taking shape.

Jose Bautista, who destroyed American League pitching in April and May, winning the AL Player of the Month award twice (tying an MLB-record five times in a row), has been announced as the leading vote recipient in Major League Baseball. It’s the first time in club history a Blue Jay has led the majors in All-Star Voting. He’ll the only Blue Jay to participate in the 2011 contest.

Brett Cecil is back! Accordingly, Zach Stewart has been optioned back to New Hampshire.

Yahoo!  Sports encapsulates it this way:

The good news: A Marine lieutenant colonel finally figured out a way for the St. Louis Cardinals to defeat Roy Halladay.

The bad: It involves actually shooting and killing the Philadelphia Phillies ace pitcher with a 68-ton battle tank.

Seriously, go read the story linked above, then come back here and share your thoughts. Bonus points to the Bauxite respondent who can find the most creative way to say "disgusting" and "idiotic."

 

Per Shi Davidi. Details after the jump.

Sportsnet's Shi Davidi reports the Blue Jays have demoted Kyle Drabek to AAA Las Vegas.  Getting the call to the bigs is fellow righty Zach Stewart from AA New Hampshire.  A tip of the cap to Bauxite smcs for the heads up.  The linked story from above also features audio from general manager Alex Anthopoulos about Drabek's demotion.



Zach Stewart and Kyle Drabek.  Photos courtesy of Zimbio.

A nine-game losing streak for a last-place team will do that to a guy.

Replacing former catcher Bob Geren, at least in the interim, is former catcher Bob Melvin.

Who's next?

Brett Lawrie's timetable to reach the bigs has been pushed back again.  After initial reports that he suffered only a bruise when he was hit in the hand by a pitch from Tucson's Anthony Bass last week, The National Post reports the pride of Langley, B.C. is expected to miss at least two to three weeks with a broken bone in his hand.  Hat tip to Bauxite dan gordon for the heads up.



Brett Lawrie was hitting .354/.415/.677 with Triple-A Las Vegas at the time of his injury to go along with 15 home runs, 49 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases.

Update @ 8:40pm - Sportsnet.ca has video of Jays skipper John Farrell talking about Lawrie's injury.

ESPN New York has reported that the greatest catcher in the history of MLB in Canada, former Montreal Expo Gary  "The Kid" Carter, was diagnosed today with four small brain tumors.