Frank Thomas hit his 499th home run of his career in the 4th inning.

Time for a contest! Home run number 500 will come against:

1.  What pitcher
2.  What Day
3.  What Inning

Buster Olney is reporting that the St. Louis Cardinals have acquired LHSP Mike Maroth from the Detroit Tigers, for an as-yet-unspecified return.

Maroth is 50-62 in his seven-year career, all with Detroit, including a 5-2 mark this season and MLB's most recent 20-loss season (9-21) in 2003.

The St. Louis rotation has been riddled by injuries this year, to the point that earlier this week they signed ex-Jay Tomo Ohka. Is Maroth the (or at least an) answer?

Hard-throwing Justin Verlander threw the first no-hitter in Comerica Park history tonight in blanking the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0.

It was the first Tiger no-hitter since Jack Morris threw one in 1984 and the first no-hitter in Detroit since Nolan Ryan of the Angels fired one of his two 1973 no-no's at Tiger Stadium.

It was the second no-hitter of 2007, following Mark Buehrle's gem against Texas in April. Batter's Box extends its congratulations to Verlander!

Now, then ... who's next?

Congratulations to Trevor Hoffman, who nailed down his 500th career save yesterday, the first player to ever reach that milestone. (Is it a "milestone" if nobody has ever been there before?)

We recognized Hoffman here on Da Box when he set the all-time record of 479 last season; now the question is, who else will get to 500? And when? Mo Rivera has 419, but seems to have stepped off a cliff this year and may not have 81 more left in him ... is he "next"? If not, who is?

Curtis Thigpen was called up to replace Lyle Overbay today, with John Thomson moving to the 60 day DL to clear space on the 40 man roster. Thigpen will likely see work initially against left-handed pitching. He has hit well against lefties each of the last 3 years, posting .283/.352/.523, .394/.491/.659 and .320/.394/.459 lines in 2007, 2006 and 2005 respectively.

Thigpen was the Jays' 2nd round draft choice in 2004.  Welcome to the Show.

I'm here in the press box, and they just made the following announcement:

Toronto Blue Jays have placed Roy Halladay on the 15 day Disabled List. He is having surgery for acute appendicitis. It is estimated he will be out for 4-6 weeks.

Might as well give this nugget a thread of its own ...

B.J. Ryan Has Tommy John Surgery

So ... erm, uhm, let's change the subject ... what's up in your life?

 

Rotation got problems? Easy solution: sign a Hall of Famer!

Roger Clemens, owner of 348 career wins, has decided to return to the American League and to Bronx pinstripes, after three years (and a 38-18 record) with his "hometown" Houston Astros.

Clemens announced he has agreed to a minor league contract with the Yankees and most likely will join the Bombers after several minor league starts help him get into game shape.

Your thoughts, Bauxites?

I just flipped on the TV to catch the start of the Mavericks' final game of the NBA season and noticed that the scoreline next to the Rangers in their ninth inning read 0 0 2 ... hmmm.

So I watched. And about 14 seconds later, master surgeon Mark Buehrle had the first no-hitter of the 2007 season in his dossier. Congratulations to the big White Sox lefty who recently told Sports Illustrated he was searching to regain his confidence.

Think that might be "mission accomplished"?

• Ryan out 4-6 weeks
• Glaus to the DL
• Johnson to have surgery tomorrow and out until at least July