Trades:

- The Tigers lost their third in a row to the Rays on Wednesday, but they addressed one of their lineup vacancies by trading for Jhonny Peralta. He'll probably play third base for the next month and a half, and then maybe will be able to slide over to short for the rest of the season. It's questionable how much of an upgrade Peralta really is over who the Tigers are using right now, instead of a "name we've heard of" type of guy. Peralta has a .308 on-base and is on pace to hit close to the same 11 homers he hit last year. If Giovanni Soto pans out to do anything, the Tigers will regret this deal. They're five games out now, and I don't think this moves the needle much in terms of catching the White Sox or Twins. Meanwhile, will this open the door for Jared Goedert? Not yet - the Tribe called up Luis Valbuena - but it could happen soon. For now, we'll see Andy Marte and Valbuena, I think.
- The Dodgers won the Scott Podsednik sweepstakes over the Giants, trading catcher Lucas May and pitcher Elisaul Pimentel. With Manny Ramirez on the DL, Podsednik will play, but what happens when Manny returns? This is a downgrade for Podsednik because of that reason. Meanwhile, the Royals finally have been able to open up a couple of slots with this trade and the injury to David DeJesus. All that's remaining is to trade Jose Guillen. |STAR|Maybe|STAR| then we'll finally see Kila Ka'aihue play every day. Alex Gordon will play every day in left field, and Mitchell Maier will get more playing time too.
- Roy Oswalt is close to becoming a Phillie, if he decides to waive his no-trade clause to allow the trade to happen, if recent reports are true.

Broken Halos:

- The Angels have had better days, better weeks. The day started off with the news that Derrek Lee exercised his 10-and-5 rights to block a trade to the Angels, even though he's from Southern California. Then they lost Joel Pineiro right before their day game against the Red Sox due to an oblique strain that's going to keep him out 6-to-8 weeks. Finally, they blew a lead against the Red Sox that they improbably got in the first place after having to make Wednesday a "bullpen day," thanks to Fernando Rodney's aggressive regression to the mean, taken in the form of a grand slam hit by Marco Scutaro of all people. They've lost four in a row and are all the way down to .500, 8.5 games behind the Rangers and even a game behind the A's for second place in the AL West.

Debuts:

- Domonic Brown batted sixth in his major league debut, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. He doubled off the right field wall in his first at-bat. The only negative was a misplay on Miguel Montero's RBI double, costing Roy Halladay a shutout.

Notables:

- Bud Norris took advantage of the Cubs' whittled-down lineup to allow just one unearned run over six innings, striking out seven in the process.
- Brandon Phillips hit one off of Bernie Brewer's slide in left-center to finish off the Brewers, perhaps for the season. The homer was estimated to go roughly 450 feet.
- Travis Wood finally got some run support and picked up the first win of his career. He held the Brewers to two runs over five innings and came out after the Reds' five-run rally in the sixth inning.
- The Royals had an archtype performance - 12 hits, but all were singles, with just two walks, to score only 4 runs.
- A.J. Burnett threw 6.1 shutout innings, striking out seven while allowing seven hits and three walks.
- Dan Uggla homered for the sixth time in his last six games, nearly carrying the Marlins to the comeback after trailing 9-2. The Marlins appear more inclined to try to sign him to an extension than to trade him at this point.
- Brad Mills was the latest great debut for a one-off starter to have a fantastic outing, throwing seven shutout innings against the hapless Orioles.
- The Cardinals batted around against Johan Santana in the first, scoring six runs on eight hits, yet Albert Pujols went 0-for-2 in the inning. Pujols made up for it with the game-winning hit, while playing through a tight calf muscle.
- Trevor Cahill was a stud once again, shutting out the Rangers over eight innings, allowing just two hits while inducing 13 ground ball outs.

Save Chances:

- Jon Rauch, converted (21). He gave up one single while striking out one in a scoreless inning.
- Brian Wilson, blown (3). Wilson gave up two runs to tie the game, the second of which came on Dan Uggla's ground-rule double.
- Billy Wagner, converted (23). Perfect inning, one strikeout.
- Ryan Franklin, converted (19). Managing by the save rule worked out for the Cards.
- Craig Breslow, converted (1). Breslow came on to get two strikeouts after Michael Wuertz couldn't close the door. Andrew Bailey had a positive throwing session on Wednesday but wasn't yet available.
- Bobby Jenks, converted (21). This was the first save situation for the White Sox ever since Ozzie Guillen said that their options were open for the closer's role. The more things change, the more they stayed the same.

Other Closer Outings:

- Francisco Cordero struck out two in a clean "get work" inning.
- Joakim Soria gave up a run to extend the Royals' deficit to two runs in the ninth.
- Francisco Rodriguez threw two scoreless innings of relief in the Mets' 13-inning loss to the Cards.

Non-Closer Reliever Outings:

- Sergio Romo threw a shutout inning in the eighth and has allowed just two run over the last two months, spanning 20.2 innings. He's had a 24:5 K:BB over that time.
- Tyler Clippard was brought into the game in the fifth inning, with the Nats already behind. His role is changing for the worse.
- Sergio Santos, Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz combined to throw three scoreless innings to turn a deficit into a lead.

Lineup-o-logy:

- Torii Hunter was given a day off from the starting lineup. He's in a 4-for-23 slump. Reggie Willits started in CF in his place.
- The Cubs had their "day game after a night game" lineup, with Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd, Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee all getting the day off. Soto is hurt and Lee was dealing with rejecting a trade, but the other two were simply given the day off.
- Scott Rolen was given a routine day off on Wednesday, though the fact that he had just come back from a hamstring injury further encouraged the Reds to rest him.

Injuries:

- Jimmy Rollins is out until the weekend with his bruised left foot.
- Justin Upton (hip) didn't start but was able to pinch-hit.
- Kerry Wood (blister) is expected to throw an inning on a rehab assignment on Thursday before returning from the DL over the weekend. He will be "eased back into the closer's role."
- Stephen Strasburg was placed on the 15-day DL on Thursday and won't throw for 3-to-4 days.
- Scott Olsen (shoulder) will come off the DL to start Thursday's game against the Braves.
- Jose Lopez was held out with his hamstring injury.
- Ross Ohlendorf took a line drive off the head and left in the second inning of his start against the Rockies. Sean Gallagher threw three scoreless innings of relief to get the win.

Stolen Bases:

- Starlin Castro (5); Brandon Phillips (12); Miguel Cairo (3); Brett Gardner (28); Jason Heyward (8) (home); Brian McCann (4); Nick Markakis (4); Coco Crisp (13); Kurt Suzuki (3); Rajai Davis (30); Nelson Cruz (13); Chone Figgins (27); Russell Branyan (1); Juan Pierre (38); Tony Gwynn Jr. (16).

Caught Stealing:

- Jay Bruce (3); Orlando Cabrera (3); Jason Repko (1); Stephen Drew (3); Trevor Crowe (3); Jose Reyes (5); Alexis Rios (11); Andrew McCutchen (7).

Home Runs:

- Marco Scutaro (6); Kevin Youkilis (19); Adrian Beltre (17); Bill Hall (11); Carlos Lee 2 (13, 14); Brandon Phillips (14); Joey Votto (26); Delmon Young (14); Jason Repko (2); Robinson Cano (19); Dan Uggla (22); Ronny Paulino (4); Donnie Murphy (2); Andres Torres (10); Lyle Overbay (12); Matt Holliday (19); Angel Pagan (9); Carlos Beltran (1); Kurt Suzuki (12); Chone Figgins (1); Alexi Ramirez (11); Paul Konerko (24); Gordon Beckham (5); Garrett Jones 2 (13,14); Carlos Gonzalez (18).

Tough Days:

- David Ortiz went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
- Carlos Villanueva served up Brandon Phillips' moon shot and then Joey Votto's opposite field homer, and then was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.
- If Fausto Carmona was auditioning for scouts, he failed, giving up seven runs on 10 hits and a walk over 2.2 innings.
- Aaron Cook got pounded for the second consecutive start, giving up five runs on six hits over 2.1 innings.

Transactions:

- The Tigers optioned Scott Sizemore to Triple-A to make room for Jhonny Peralta. Isn't it possible that Sizemore is better than Peralta even right now?
- The Jays sent down Brad Mills immediately after Wednesday's start to make room for Travis Snider coming back on Friday.
- The Cardinals called up Mike MacDougal and threw him into the fire right away in the 12th inning. He threw a clean inning and got the win.