The Chiefs banged out 21 hits in a 14-1 rout of Indianapolis as the affiliates went 2-4 yesterday.

Jays win 3-1.

The trade deadline is a couple days away and there doesn't seem to be much cooking, not even a reliever's or excess middle reliever's name popping up.

Ricciardi:  "We're trying to keep this thing together, so we can have a good run here and be good the next few years, too."

Does this count as hot jazz or cool jazz?

Who among current active players will end up in the Hall of Fame? Let’s take a quick look-see and dive into the conversation of worthiness. We started with the American League; now let’s move on to the senior circuit …

Well, I give up. It grieves me to say this, but I'm pretty sure the Tampa Bay Rays are not going to lose 90 games this season. I suppose a little respect would not be out of line.

After Roy Halladay's thoroughly satisfying whitewash of the Yankees last week, I got to wondering where that game stood on the All-Time Pantheon of Doc's Masterpieces.

Pretty close to the top, you might well expect.

We've done this before, but with Hall of Fame inductions taking place today (yay Goose!) let's take a look at players today who could someday earn Cooperstown induction.

We'll start with the American League ...

Syracuse was the only club with a victory yesterday, as Jesse Litsch made his minor league debut for 2008. Lansing lost by one run and New Hampshire by two, while Dunedin lost both ends of a doubleheader by a combined four runs. The GCL Blue Jays had the worst showing on the day with a 3-run loss. The Jays affiliates suffered the loss in two walkoff victories for opponents as several reliable bullpen arms had poor outings. At least the usual suspects in Double-A continued to swing a hot bat.

The Blue Jays just announced that Dustin McGowan will have arthroscopic surgery to repair fraying of his labrum, next Thursday in Cincinnati.

Only Auburn and the GCL Jays won, the GCL Jays won both ends of a doubleheader.  The baby Jays won the first end 2-1, Shannon Stewart was 2-2, scoring the first run and driving in the second.  Robert Sobolewski, the Jays fourth rouns pick in this years draft, had been scuffling at Auburn but a 5-5 night does wonders for the batting average.

My friends tell me to leave you, that you're bad news, bad news, bad news. That you're bad news, baby, you're bad news, and you're bad news, baby, you're bad news. And you're bad news. I don't care. I like you, and you're bad news. I don't care. I like you.

To nobody's surprise, the Yankees fired the first real salvo in the deadline-driven dealings, acquiring Xavier Nady AND Damaso Marte from the Pirates for four minor leaguers, none of whom is named Hughes or Kennedy.

Whatchathink, Bauxites? And are you hearing anything else? (As always, provide verified links with your reports, please!)

The Jays won both games of an unusual double header - it was the first time the Jays had completed an postponed game since 1996. The two wins, combined with a Rays loss, brought the Jays 1.5 games closer to the playoff race, though they are still 8.5 out.

Mother nature forced the early end to one game and canceled another one altogether... The full-season affiliates went 2-for-2, while the Gulf Coast League scores (a double-header) were unavailable for the original posting of the nightly wrap.

Two wins as the hitting was in short supply.  Lansing led the affiliates in hits with eight, and that took eleven innings.  The six teams combined to get 33 hits.  The poor hitting disguised good starting pitching from Davis Romero (2 hits in six innings), Ricky Romero (five hits in eight innings), and Castillo Perez (two hits in six innings).  Three of the four losses were recorded by the bullpen.