Trades consummated before the deadline of August 13th:

Alomar Division: The division-leading Edmonton Decepticons traded Brian McCann to Billie’s Bashers for Ivan Rodriguez and Roger Clemens. The Decepticons also traded Roy Halladay to Reykjavik Fish Candy for Robinson Cano, Reed Johnson, Torii Hunter and Mike Mussina. Third-ranked Mebion Glyndwr traded Lance Berkman to Fish Candy for Bill Hall, Johnny Damon and Jim Edmonds. And Slippery Pete sent Joe Nathan and Adam Eaton to the Chatsworth Halos for Chone Figgins and Aubrey Huff.

Barfield Division: Jicks Rays swapped Chad Cordero for MulReduxMonkeymen’s Hank Blalock. The Middleclass Elistists traded Vernon Wells and Elizardo Ramirez to Moscow Rats for Prince Fielder and B.J. Ryan. Pohnpei Papayas traded Sean Casey to the Angry Gnomes for Jorge Julio. The Cooney Islanders sent Francisco Liriano to the Lubumbashi Posse in exchange for Garrett Atkins. Finally the top-ranked Magic 9 surrendered Carl Crawford for Vancouver Cyphers’ Johan Santana.

Carter Division: The Trembling Wilburys gave up Ryan Freel and Bobby Howry to the BSL Blue Sox for Jay Gibbons and Mariano Rivera. The Sox also traded Michael Cuddyer to Sexy Underpants for Anibal Sanchez.

Faithful Box reader Jared Adams sent me a couple of nice photographs of Josh Towers pitching for the SkyChiefs, and so I'm sharing them with you as a pinch hit double shot of Josh Towers-y goodness:

You know you do it already in your head ... even as you groan at the nicknames ESPN's Chris Berman slaps on players from Cy Young to Michael Young, you think you could do better. Maybe even at a Hall of Fame level.

Okay, then, here's a complete list of Cooperstown inductees. Can you do better than a pedestrian Eddie "Walk the" Plank? Or an erudite Hank Aaron "on the side of caution"? Eddie "Tom" Collins is too easy, Bill "I'm feeling kind of ver" Klem"ft" is too much of a reach. Tris Speaker "of the House"? Joe Tinker "Bell" or Mel "There" Ott "to be a Law"?

You get the idea. Who's up next?

In the seventh inning, with runners on second and third, Ottawa intentionally walked Adam Lind.  In the ninth, with the bases empty, they pitched to him and Lind hit a walk-off home run.  Josh Towers was one out away from a complete game win, having allowed one run, but bad luck intervened.  Ben Zeskind also hit a game winning home run, for Auburn, but his was in the top of the tenth.

After an off-day, the Jays continue the road trip with three games in Tampa Bay and three in Baltimore. Meanwhile, things are tightening up in the other league.

Think about who you think is the worst (or least valuable) member of the Blue Jays bullpen. If you have trouble with recent promotions and demotions, just think back a few weeks and see who you would have thought then. We’re not looking for a Matt Whiteside here. Which relatively consistent member do you think? Get that name in mind.

Here are A.J. Burnett and Gregg Zaun strolling out of the bullpen towards the mound.  Add your own musical accompaniment:

Here is yet another look at your Toronto Blue Jays, plus maybe a random thought or two. Enjoy and/or scroll past!

Attempting to prick their Wild Card bubble
Making a Twin hit into a double
Words that, to Twins fans, are nothing but trouble
McDonald to Hill to Overbay

No, not a dyslexic Chicago tune. It's your score for the night in the minor leagues, as the farm affiliates win 5 of 6.

Tough night for the farm, as it looks like a career minor leaguer might end up with the first star. Only one win on the night; a good effort from the starter in Lansing prevents a SkyChief Star Sweep. And can you guess what Travis Snider did last night? Without looking, I'm going with two hits, one of which was for extra bases.

The beat goes on.

Jays win 5-0.

Despite a relatively successful start, Ricky Romero fell to 0-5 on the season at Double-A New Hampshire. Meanwhile, fellow 2005 first-rounder Matt Garza will make his big league debut today against the Blue Jays. It’s way too early to even speculate as to which of the two pitchers will have the more successful major league career. At this point, the odds have to favour Garza, but so much could happen in the next year, let alone five or ten, that I doubt they’re significantly in his favour to any degree.

Here's Frank Catalanotto, looking over into foul territory (or perhaps the dugout) with a pained expression on his face -- what's going through his mind?