Note: This was a collaborative effort with Kevin Payne - get well soon, Kev!

Trades:

- More players changed zip codes the first being Roy Oswalt. Oswalt will enter the Phillies rotation and is lined up to start Friday night. The 'Stros will get back Jonathan Villar and Anthony Gose, neither of which are anything to get overly excited about. I liked what Houston did next, flipping Gose to Toronto for the player no team seems to want, Brett Wallace.
- Miguel Tejada went to SD for minor league pitcher Wynn Pelzer. This move was financially good for the Orioles and let's face it - Tejada is a shadow of the player he once was. Josh Bell replaces Tejada at third starting on Friday.
- Jorge Cantu was dealt to Texas after their quest for other first basemen like Derrek Lee was unsuccessful. He'll mostly play first base, though he could see some time at second base with Ian Kinsler out. Wes Helms will probably get most of the playing time at third base for the Marlins.
- The Twins closed out the night by trading for Matt Capps, giving up a top catching prospect in Wilson Ramos and pitcher Joe Testa. In somewhat of a surprise, the Twins named Capps the closer ahead of Jon Rauch. For the Nats, they intend to use a committee consisting of Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Sean Burnett. This could be a bit of a smokescreen to avoid putting too much pressure on Storen - he's the one you want to own.

Welcome to the New Reality:

- For the third time in three days, Rays manager had Miguel Cabrera walked intentionally even though a runner occupied first base, choosing instead to pitch to a slumping Brennan Boesch. Boesch was retired in all three occasions. Something tells me that Jhonny Peralta's addition isn't going to dissuade other managers from trying the same approach.

Major Injuries:

- Ian Kinsler's groin injury should keep him out longer than the 15-day minimum - it's more likely going to be closer to four weeks. Joaquin Arias could get a lot of time at second base if Jorge Cantu doesn't move over from first.
- Andrew Bailey's back/rib injury will probably land him on the DL on Friday. Michael Wuertz will get the first shot at closing, though as Wednesday demonstrated, the A's are willing to turn to others like Craig Breslow if he struggles or if the situation calls for a lefty.

Notables:

- Ubaldo Jimenez finally looked like early-season Ubaldo, holding the Pirates to one run over seven innings. He struck out six and walked three.
- R.A. Dickey put his injury "behind" him, throwing 8.1 shutout innings. He led the Mets to their league-best 14th shutout this year.
- Rick Porcello's outing came within an eyelash of being a whole lot better. Three of the four runs against him came on two singles that went off of first baseman Miguel Cabrera's glove. Neither was an especially easy play, but with a little luck, both could have been outs. All four runs against Porcello came courtesy of Carlos Pena (the fourth was on a homer). He allowed two hits to the remainder of the Rays lineup over 7.1 innings, and he had a 8:2 K:BB.
- Scott Olsen held the Braves to three runs (two earned) over six innings in his first start off the DL.
- Anibal Sanchez allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out eight in a complete game shutout over the previously white-hot Giants. His ERA dropped to 3.33 and he's improved his K:BB to 2:1 over more innings than last year.
- Dustin Moseley held the Indians to one run over six innings in his first start replacing Sergio Mitre.
- Joe Saunders gave up two runs against the Phillies over seven innings in his first start with the Diamondbacks.

Save Chances:

- Francisco Rodriguez, converted (22). Got Albert Pujols to fly out and Matt Holliday to look at strike three.
- Dan Wheeler converted (2) a two-inning save against the Tigers because Rafael Soriano had pitched the previous two days.
- Matt Capps (26) went out in style, throwing a perfect ninth with a strikeout.
- J.C. Romero blew the save (1) in relief of Ryan Madson, who gave up Justin Upton's leadoff double to start the ninth. Romero gave up a single and then an RBI ground out.
- Alfredo Simon converted his 15th despite giving up two singles in his inning of work.

Other Closer Outings:

- Huston Street got some work in, protecting a five-run lead.
- Heath Bell got the win after pitching in a tie game in the ninth, only to see the Padres score in the bottom of the inning.
- Brad Lidge pitched the 10th, striking out two, after not getting the save chance in the ninth.
- David Aardsma threw a shutout inning with the Mariners trailing by four runs in the eighth.
- Joakim Soria pitched a scoreless 9th in a tie game.

Non-Closer Outings:

- Andy Marte pitched a perfect ninth in a blowout loss, striking out Nick Swisher in the process.

Tough Days:

- Paul Maholm was lit up for eight runs over 5.1 innings. He actually hasn't been terrible this year but on a hot day in Colorado there was no way he should have been active in a fantasy lineup.
- Justin Smoak went 0-for-4 and is hitting .159 with a 1:23 B:KK in 63 at-bats since the trade to the Mariners.

Injuries/Lineup-ology:

- From Kevin: "Stephen Strasburg landed on the 15-day DL. Maybe it's my never-ending optimism but this doesn't sound too major." (There was more to this from Kevin, but he didn't have time to finish his thought.) From Jeff: White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper expressed some concern about Strasburg's delivery and how it would hold up in the long run, but the short-term injury doesn't sound bad. However, keep in mind that the Nats were already planning on shutting Strasburg down early. This might hasten that decision if he has to miss anything more than the minimum 15 days.
- Colby Rasmus sat in favor of John Jay in center field. The return of Ryan Ludwick and the play of Jay has really cut into Rasmus' time, plus he's been playing hurt for a while now. He's started just one of the last five Cardinals games.
- Jason Bay sat out for the third game in a row due to concussion symptoms and could go on the DL on Friday if he's still displaying more symptoms. David Wright got a routine day off at third base, with Mike Hessman getting the start.
- Ben Zobrist (back) and B.J. Upton (sprained left ankle) remained out of the lineup. Gabe Kapler started in center field - if that's not a cry to call up Desmond Jennings, I don't know what is.
- Andrew McCutchen (shoulder) sat out after running into the wall the day before.
- Chad Billingsley will start Saturday on three days' rest rather than have the Dodgers call up John Ely for a spot start.
- Jayson Nix appears to be taking over the third base duties for the Indians in the wake of the Jhonny Peralta trade.
- Mitch Talbot left with a mid-back injury and is scheduled for an MRI on Friday. Carlos Santana took a pitch squarely on his left knee and left in the eighth, with the game well out of hand.
- Justin Upton (hip) returned to action, going 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Domonic Brown didn't start with the Phillies facing lefty Joe Saunders, with Ben Francisco getting the nod instead.
- Russell Branyan (back), Jose Lopez (hamstring), Milton Bradley (knee) and Mike Sweeney all were out on Thursday but should play this weekend.

Stolen Bases:

- Dexter Fowler (10), Clint Barmes (3), Nyjer Morgan (28, running well as of late without the CS's), Hanley Ramirez (21), Scott Podsednik (1) - NL total obviously, Carlos Santana (3), Brett Gardner (29), Ben Francisco (4), Cody Ransom (1), Rajai Davis 2 (31,32), Ichiro Suzuki (24), Michael Saunders (3), Jack Wilson (4), Corey Patterson (18).
 
Caught Stealing:

- Mark Ellis (3), Chone Figgins (7).

Home Runs:

- Carlos Gonzalez (19), Brad Hawpe (starting to warm up – 7), Neil Walker (5), Matt Diaz (5), Adam Dunn (24), Ian Desmond (7), Ike Davis (15), Carlos Pena (23), James Loney (8), Robinson Cano (20), Raul Ibanez (9), Miguel Montero (3), David Murphy (5), Taylor Teagarden (1), Paul Konerko (25), Carlos Quentin (20), Ramon Castro 2 (4,5), Nick Markakis (7), Corey Patterson (6).

Transaction of Note:

- The Rangers called up Mitch Moreland when Ian Kinsler went on the DL, and they sent down Chris Davis after acquiring Jorge Cantu.