DEMEANING A YANKEE FAN

I'm only going to do this once but I'm going to do it properly. Some guy has been posting comments on Red Sox blogs like this one and Away Team (which is actually a pretty good looking Sox site despite the political leanings of its writer).

Anyway, Here is this guy's blog. It really isn't about the Yankees very much. It is more about him saying "F the Red Sox" over and over and over again. I guess it says alot that there are Yankee fans so obsessed with their once pathetic rivals up here in Massachusetts. We've come a long way from where we were in 1997 and the Yankees haven't won since 2000 despite spending over half a billion dollars since that year.

Let's just look at a singular post.
"Hey fucker sit down it's a pop up!" Why does every red sux fans freak out whenever the ball is hit during a game, god I love how little these fans know about baseball.
I was near fenway the other day as a matter of fact, just getting a view of the enemies' home base up close. I decided to bring up the biggest lugey I had in my throat with so much mucas, and then proceeded to spit it at the green monster, while giving it the finger and the evil eye all at the same time, there season is over now!!

The thing this guy might not comprehend is that sitting in Section 41 of the RF bleachers about 500 feet from the plate, it isn't exactly easy to read that a 400 foot fly ball isn't going to be a 430 foot Homerun. Fans at Yankee Stadium do the same thing, go crazy whenever the Yankees make hard contact on the ball. It happens. Oh, and Fenway has been around for 93 years, it has had multiple fires, been rebuilt twice, and had millions of fans come and go. Your spit, whatever ghastly fluids it might contain, is probably not going to have an impact on the structure, or on the fate of the team which plays inside.

A lot of people say why do you live in boston if you complain about it so much? I love the city of Boston itself, it's her inhabitants that cast a bad light on a wonderfully crafted city. The positives of the city, wipe out the negatives of the fans.
Just try listening to at least five minutes of talk radio in Boston. You will laugh your ass off, with how these un-educated whorebags chop up the english language! And again how they all have forgotten about Manny, I laugh, ha!
And what about Manny? "Manny being Manny" even he's wearing shirts that say that, does he realize it's really saying, "Manny being a Retard"

I may be an uneducated whorebag, but I think I could come up with a better insult than that. Oh, and I've never heard a New Yorker, or Ney Jerseyan mangle words like call or Mark Clark.

FUCK YOU ROYAL ROOTERS FROM THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY!
FUCK YOU DOUCHE BAGS FROM DORCHESTER
FUCK YOU GABE KAPLER
FUCK YOU TROT NIXON, I HOPE YOU NEVER STEP FOOT ON THE FIELD AGAIN
FUCK YOU SCHILLING YOU LOUD MOUTH, GUN TOATING, STERIOD TAKING, JESUS LOVING, REPUBLICAN BASTARD!
FUCK YOU MANNY, YOU CRACK SMOKING MORON!
FUCK YOU THEO EPSTEIN
FUCK YOU JERRY REMY
FUCK YOU JOHNNY PESKY, THE PESKY POLE... STUPID!
FUCK YOU BALL GIRLS, YOU FUCKING UGLY WHORES!
FUCK YOU JASON VARITEK, STICK THAT FUCKING "C"ON YOUR UNIFORM UP DAMON'S ASS, MAYBE IT WILL TEACH HIM HOW TO TALK LIKE A HUMAN!
FUCK YOU BOSTON CAB DRIVERS
FUCK YOU MITT ROMNEY, YOU REPUBLICAN
FUCK YOU YAZ!
FUCK YOU JIM RICE
FUCK YOU DEWEY EVANS - WHAT ARE YOU LIKE 5? DEWEY??
FUCK YOU DAVE HENDERSON- WITH THAT SMILE THAT TOOK UP ALL THE ROOM ON THE TV BACK IN 1986 WHILE TRYING TO WATCH THE PLAYOFFS
Finally,
FUCK YOU FENWAY PARK - your seats are too small, you give ketchup with your hotdogs, you are falling apart, you have no parking, and you are too small, it's intimate, yeah fuck that!

You tell those Royal Rooters. Go down to the cemetary, and yell your ass off at those guys. Just don't expect a response. I hate douchebags from Dorchester too. The rest of the people from there are OK I guess. If I were a Yankee fan, I wouldn't want Trot to take the field again either. I don't think Curt will be too insulted to be called a Jesus loving Republican because I think that is kind of what he is. I guess Johnny Damon doesn't talk like a human. My questions is, what animal does Johnny talk like? A giraffe? Perhaps a hippopotamus. Wait, I've got it, a lemur. I think Dwight Evans is significantly older than 5. It'd be pretty amazing to play so well if he were only five! And the thing about Dave Henderson, I don't even comprehend what that could possibly mean. Was his mouth wicked big or something? Big teeth maybe? I like ketchup with my hot dogs, BTW.

I posted a comment on this guy's blog because at the top he says "Viva La Yankees." I mentioned that it should be Viva Los Yankees because Yankees is plural and masculine and Los is the Spanish article for plural/masculine words. Apparently I offended this guy and he deleted my comment.

Weirdly enough, on Abe's Away Team blog, he decided to post 10 links to hardcore gay porn sites (I'm assuming this from the URL) which he was able to type up in the span of 4 minutes. Although his knowledge of such websites is impressive, it just seemd to be a bit awkward to me that he would post such things on a Red Sox blog's comments.

Anyways, I expect a barrage of poorly written, profanity ridden, gay porn linking comments from this guy but I just wanted to get a few thoughts off my chest.

FENWAY DEFINATELY NOT MR. ROGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD

The photo is such a cliche. Its on ESPN.com and Yahoo every time for nearly every game. The pitcher walking back to the mound with his head down while an out of focus figure trots around the bases. It's so great though.

What the hell was Rogers doing on the mound? Why did some "impartial" arbitrator force MLB to reinstate him? How come the Rangers, who are already out of the race, didn't impose their own suspension for the remaining 7 games? It wound out that it was a good thing as Rogers started strong but wore down.

The Red Sox scored 35 runs in the series, which is the good news. The bad news is that they allowed 18. You can give up 6 runs a game if you're scoring more than 11, but I doubt that we will be able to put up such impressive numbers when Chicago comes to town.

The Man of the Game is Manny Ramirez who went 2 for 3 with a homer, a pair of walks, 3 RBI, and 3 Runs scored. No-one's noticed, but he's gotten his average up to .288. Could he possibly the American League MVP?

The Yankees, meanwhile, are back into a struggling phase. They have been a very streaky team this year. We're now 5.5 up on them with 49 games to go. They also found out that Pavano is out for at least 6 more weeks. This picture pretty much sums up their series with Chicago and will also silence anyone on any other blog saying that Yankee fans are smarter than Red Sox fans:


Should John Kerry be embrassed that Barbara Bush threw just as far as he did?

She probably knows a few of the player's names too.

THE STRETCH RUN

Fifty games are all that remain in the oh so long baseball season. The stretch run. The mediocrity of the league has fallen to the wayside. It is time for the cream to rise to the top. The trade deadline has passed. September callups are on their way. So who will come out on top and earn a spot in the playoffs?

The AL East has become a two team race with the Red Sox 4.5 up over New York going into today's action. The AL Central is all but won by the White Sox. The AL West is a great race with the LA Angels only 1 up on the surging Oakland Athletics. The AL Wild Card is basically a 3 team race between Oakland, the leaders, the Yankees (down 3.5) and Indians (down 3.5).

The NL East is Atlanta's to lose but anyone can win it. The Mets are in last, but are only 7.5 back. The Cardinals are running away with the NL Central. The NL West will unfortunately receive a playoff berth even though all 5 teams suck. San Diego is 2 games above .500 but is 4 ahead of LA for 1st place. The NL Wild Card race is pretty open with 6 teams within 5 games. Here is the top 6 for the NL Wild Card:

1. HOU 0 GB
2. WAS 1 GB
3. PHI 1.5 GB
4. FLA 2 GB
5. NYM 3 GB
6. MIL 5 GB

If it wasn't for the Wild Card, the National League wouldn't have much of a race for any playoff spot. Nor would Cleveland fans have anything to root for, now Washington, Houston, Philly, Florida, the Mets, and even the Brewers. Bud Selig has taken alot of crap over his tenure as commisioner, but introducing the Wild Card to baseball was one of the best things to ever happen. Just imagine if we still had 2 divisions per league, no wild card, no LDS, and only 4 out of the 30 teams making the playoffs. It'd be boring for alot of good teams that knew they had no chance.

Now its time to focus on the Red Sox coming down the stretch for their last 50 games. The greatest X-factor for the Red Sox is two pronged. The return of Keith Foulke could make this team or break it. If Foulke comes back and pitches well, all us Johnny Burger Kings will be happily eating up another World Series. When/If Foulke comes back, what will happen with Curt Schilling? He's improved out of the pen, has been stretched to an extra inning a few times, and looks more trim. I think he could enter the rotation and help us out.

The Red Sox also have Bellhorn and Olerud on the DL. Bellhorn will come back soon and although he won't play as much as he was in April or May, I think he can contribute to this team. After all, he still has more HRs than Kevin Millar. Olerud may have been playing too much. He's definately not an everyday player but with Manny out, he was forced into the lineup. He excelled until he got hurt. Francona needs to use Pettegini and Youk at first base more often.

For once in my lifetime, the Red Sox have young kids down in Pawtucket that could help this club in September and October. Youkilis, Pedroia, H-Ramirez, Delcarmen, Palpebon could all help this team out down the stretch run. Petegini, not a young guy by any means, looks to be a pretty good addition to the team. He has 6 RBI in 14 AB. That's 2.33 ABs per RBI (Manny has 3.62 ABs per RBI).

The Sox have 28 games remaining at Fenway and 22 on the road. Here are their remaining opponents, how many games they have against them, and the opponents winning percentage:
TEX - 1 - .500
CWS - 3 - .652
DET - 6 - .473
LAA - 7 - .580
KC - 3 - .339
TB - 7 - .381
BAL - 6 - .482
TOR - 7 - .509
NYY - 6 - .541
OAK - 4 - .571

I'll save you from doing the math, weighting the winning eprcentages based on how many times we face them, the Red Sox have a remaining strength of schedule of .500. That's right. It's actually .50046 but its basically even. The Red Sox CAN, I stress CAN, win as many as 40 of these games in my opinion. That's the aboslute high end of what they can do. They can also lose 35 of them. This is the high and low extreme. I think we WILL win 32-35 of these games which would force the Yankees to win 36-39 of their remaining games in order to win the division. The key games are the 6 against New York, the 7 against Tampa, the 7 against Toronto, and the 6 against Baltimore. We need to take 4 from New York, at least 5 from Tampa, figure out how to beat Toronto, and beat up on the struggling O's. If we can win 18 or 19 of these games, that will put us in good shape to win the division.

MEN OF THE GAMES/BITCH-GOATS:

I haven't done Man of the Game or Bitch-Goat since the Tampa series, so here is just a summary and why they were selected.

Man of the Game:
7/29 - MIN - W 8-5 - David Ortiz: 2 for 3, 2B, BB, R
7/30 - MIN - W 6-2 - John Olerud: 2 for 5, 3 RBI
7/31 - MIN - W 4-3 - John Olerud: 2 for 3, 2 R, RBI
8/2 - KC - W 6-4 - Manny Ramirez: 2 for 4, 4 RBI, R
8/3 - KC - W 8-5 - Emil Brown: 2 for 4, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
8/4 - KC - W 11-9 - Jason Varitek: 2 for 4, BB, 2B, HR, 5 RBI
8/5 - @ MIN - L 0-12 - Brad Radke: 7 IP, 0 ER, 8 K
8/6 - @ MIN - L 3-4 - Joe Mauer: 1 for 4, 2 RBI
8/7 - @ MIN - W 11-7 - Manny Ramirez: 4 for 4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R
8/8 - TEX - W 11-6 - Tony Graffanino: 3 for 3, BB, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, SB
8/9 - TEX - W 8-7 - Bill Mueller: 2 for 4, 2B, BB, RBI, 2 R

Bitch-Goats:
8/5 - @ MIN - L 0-12
Arroyo: 0.6 - 3.2 IP, 7 R, Error
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 3 LOB
Millar: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Graffanino: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Gonzalez: 0.1 - 1.1 IP, 5 ER

8/6 - @ MIN - L 3-4
Wells: 0.2 - 6 IP, 3 ER
Timlin: 0.2 - 0.2 IP, R, Error
Mueller: 0.2 - 1 for 4, 2 LOB, Error
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 5
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 4 LOB
Millar: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 4 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 3, K, 2 LOB

RED SOX BEATING UP ON THE CRAP OF THE AL

Apologies for the lack of updates. I've been moving into a new apartment at school and the internet is come and go. The majority of my time is spent asleep or at the casino trying to make some $$$ playing poker.

I've been in my own little world out there in central New York with occasional internet acces, no cable, and no papers. I didn't even know that we got Remlinger and Youkilis was called up.

Looking at the schedule back in April, this part of the schedule looked pretty juicy. Our pitching has been less than perfect, considerably less. But the bats have been able to win the game for the most part. The Sox have won 12 of their last 14. They can sweep Texas tonight and go into the White Sox series over the weekend with some momentum. This series will be a big test for Chicago. They split with us a few weeks ago in Chicago and I think they are ripe to fall in Fenway.

After the White Sox, we go to Detroit for 3 then a big series with the Angles in Anaheim. Then its a nice stretch with 3 more against the Tigers, 3 with the Royals, 4 with Tampa, and then 3 with the struggling Orioles.

The AL East has become what many fans said it would eventually be despite the near dominance of Baltimore and the lackluster starts of Boston and New York. It will come down to the Yankees and Red Sox. At the moment, the Red Sox have a 4.5 game lead over the Yanks but there are 6 games (3 in each ballpark) remaining between the teams. These games may very well determine the division, particularly the 3 games to end the season for both teams in Fenway. You know Major League Baseball didn't randomly create the schedule when the Red Sox and Yankees start the season AND end the season. It is very important that we go into those series with a lead of about 5 games. It would be very good if we can win 4 of those games. Right now we look like we can beat anyone, but we haven't won a series against a really good team since we swept Philly back in June. The lack of good pitching is somewhat frightening.

IN OTHER NEWS...

Big news for the three other big teams in the Boston area. The Patriots opened training camp last week. Tedy Bruschi did not report due to his medical problems, Ted Johnson decided to retire, which I kind of saw coming. Well, I at least thought he wouldn't be a full time player anymore. Rodney Harrison got a contract extension. Richard Seymour lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $24,000 in fines for missing a few days of camp, but made up for it with a contract worth $1.1 million more this season. The day I went down to Foxborough for camp, Doug Flutie stood right next to Rohan Davey. I had to laugh. I think Vince Wilfork will accidently eat Doug if he isn't careful.

The Pats have a few questions to answer. Who will start at inside linebacker? How will Belichick do as an offensive coordinator? How will Eric Mangini do as defensive coordinator? Will the secondary be as stifling and game changing without Ty Law?

I think the inside linebacker situation isn't a huge deal. They do play an important role, particularly against the run with the nose tackle only able to stop one of the middle three offensive linemen. The outside linebacking spot seems to have the most depth. McGinist, Colvin, and Vrabel all could start and see alot of time. I think the Pats might put Vrabel in at ILB. He's athletic and has already demonstrated a willingness to play multiple positions and an ability to adapt very well to new challenges. Apart from Vrabel, the Pats have ana bundance of linebackers. Overrall, there are 16 linebackers at camp. Guys like Larry Izzo and Matt Chatham, each of whom have made big plays in the past for us, will probably see alot of time at ILB. Then there's a "defensive tackle" like Dan Klecko who, like Vrabel, has been willing to take snaps at any position. Guys like Banta-Cain and Davis should also fit in decently and play special teams alot.

The coordinator shakeup is indicative of how good the Patriots have been. The fact that Croenell and Weiss went to two of the most historic football teams in the country says alot. The Bears have been around forever and Notre Dame is the most storied college football team in the land. I think the veteran leadership on both sides of the ball will help out quite a bit in the transition. Guys like Brady, Branch, Brown, Dillon, Fauria, and the fellas on the O-Line know what to do and can help out younger players like Ben Watson. On the other side of the ball we still have McGinist, Harrison, Seymour, and Poole combined with younger studs and potential studs like Ty Warren, Eugene Wilson, Randall Gay, Asante Samuel, and Vince Wilfork. Mangini knows his stuff when it comes to the secondary. Despite all the injuries to the defensive backfield last season, he was able to give the Pats a chance at a 14-2 season and another Super Bowl victory. The secondary will not be a problem.

The Celtics just made a big move to get some cap room and draft picks for Antoine Walker. Although Walker seemed to energize this team when he returned last season, the prospect of losing him for nothing to free agency was somewhat ominous. The deal itself appears to be incredibly complicated involving 7 teams and as many as 12 players. In the deal, the Cs seem to be getting a pair of 2nd round picks from the Heat, the rights to Albert Morales who is currently playing in Europe, Curtis Borchadt from the Jazz, Qyntel Woods from the Heat, and some cash from Miami that should cover Borchadt and Wodds' contracts. The Celtics will also be getting a trade exception of $5.4 million from the cap which will give them some breathing room in the free agency market. Losing Antoine sucks, but this team is not going to win as it is currently assembled. The Celtics have been drafting very well the past years so the more picks they get, the better.

The Bruins re-signed RW Glen Murray today to a 4 year deal. They also signed Shawn McEachern and Dave Scatchard. The Bs also traded for Brad Isbister from Edmonton for a late pick in the 2006 draft. The Bruins drafted D Matt Lashoff of the Ontario hockey League with their 1st round pick in the entry draft a few days ago. They got Czech C Petr Kalus in the 2nd, Finnish LW Mikko Lehtonen in the 3rd, a defenseman and forward in the 4th, and three more forwards in the late rounds.

The Bruins have yet to re-sign free agents Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov. There are rumors the Bruins are trying to deal Thornton, which wouldn't be a terrible idea but would still hurt the team unless they found a suitable replacement. That replacement might be free agent Center Mike Modano who has apparently been an interest of the Bruins lately.

The Bruins are still trying to re-sign Defenseman Sergei Gonchar and if that falls through, they may reacquire Bryan Berard.

The NHL has entered a new era and I think the Bruins will be poised to succeed in it. They know how to get value from players for little money, they know VERY WELL how to develop players (See: Thornton, Murray, Samsonov, Bergeron), and they've got alot of wiggling room in terms of players because so many are free agents in one way shape or form. It should be a good time up on Causeway Street this winter.

The Bruins begin their preseason schedule with an itnrasquad game at BU's new Agganis Arena on September 16. The Bruins will play in 8 different venues across the northeastern US and Canada.

The NHL will have a more unbalanced schedule this season with 8 games against each divisional opponent, and 32 of the 82 games within the division. This means 8 games with Montreal instead of 4 which should be good for the rivalry because familiartiy breeds discontent. The Bruins will start the 2005-06 regular season on October 5th at the Garden against Montreal. I can't wait for NHL hockey to come back.

THE COLLAPSE OF BALTIMORE

Way back in April and May, when the Orioles were dominating the AL East, the morons on ESPN and Fox Sports were proclaiming that Baltimore was "the real thing." Meanwhile, fans in Boston and New York, who know what the real thing is, looked at Baltimore and anticipated a collapse. This moment has come. Baltimore has lost 6 straight, has fallen 3 games below .500 and is 8.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. They're 7th for the AL Wild Card, 8 games behind Oakland.

So what went wrong in Baltimore? This isn't the right question. The right question is, what stopped going right in Baltimore? Their lack of pitching was exposed. Their best player in April returned to his mediocre ways. Their lack of bullpen depth was exposed. Sammy Sosa has sucked since steroid testing was introduced. Palmeiro hasn't sucked, but that's because he's juiced.

A few weeks ago, Palmeiro was on top of the baseball world for perhaps the first time in his career. He had been quietly amassing statistics in Texas then in Baltimore. He was a member of the exclusive 500 HR/3,000 Hit club. He looked to be on his way to 600 HRs before he retired. Instead, he's tested positive for steroids. I must say, I kind of saw it coming.

It was really a matter of time before one of the big sluggers tested positive. Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro. One of them has got to still be on it. It just happens to be the guy who lied to Congress about it. For as much crap as McGwire got for his BS, he was blatantly avoiding the truth. Palmeiro, on the other hand, flat out lied. In my opinion, he should be banned from baseball and is lucky to be getting only a 10 "Day" suspension, not even 10 games.

WHATTUP CUZ, WHATTUP SOX, WHATTUP GANGSTAAAA

"Forget about the trade, this is the place I want to be. They want to win. I want to win too. I'm back... I'm just here to play and win, I'm a gangster."

Manny does want to win, Manny is back, and Manny is a ganster.

While all this stuff with Manny and the trade deadline was going on, the Red Sox were able to put together a nice 5 game win streak including a sweep of the Minnesota Twins. Sunday's finale was by far the best game of the series and was perhaps the best game of the season so far.

Last night, the Red Sox were without a starter for today's game. Arroyo went Saturday, Miller's shoulder is bothering him so what would the Red Sox do? Call up a kid from AAA for a spot start. That sounds so good to say that instead of "put out Jeremi Gonzalez" or something along those lines. Jon Papelbon was 5-2 in AA Portland. He was 18-11 in his minor league career. His opponent was Brad Radke. Radke has 133 Major League wins. Papelbon (how many times can I mispell his name in one post?) had to come down to Fenway, pitch in front of 35,000 fans, while the team was in the middle of a veritable storm of BS.

Papelbon went 5.1 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, and striking out 7. He looked shaky late in the game as the Twins saw more of him. This is understandable as he is still developing his curveball. In my opinion, Francona should have taken him out after 5 innings, but it didn't change the outcome of the game. Papelbon, like Delcarmen before him, struck out his first Major League batter. Manny #2 came in and got an out, then Myers and Timlin got the Sox to Schilling who has looked much better in his last few outings. Curt got his 5th Save.

The position players did their share to win the game. Gabe "Ty Law" Kapler had an amazing catch that seemed to jump start the offense in the next inning. Johnny Damon reached base safely in his 43rd consecutive game, Edgar Renteria had a big double, David Ortiz hit a solo Homerun, as did John Olerud who has cleaned up in the cleanup spot, Varitek had a double that moved Olerud to 3rd, allowing him to score, Millar had an RBI SAC-Fly, and of course, Manny Ramirez knocked in the game winning run with an RBI single.

Perhaps the two biggest contributors to this game were Terry Francona and Kevin Millar. I've often criticised Francona's seemingly Little League attitude, and Kevin Millar rarely escapes my wrath when he screws up, but I think they did alot behind the scenes to keep Manny on the team and keep Manny WITH the team. I heard on WEEI that Manny's agent contacted Francona before Saturday's game saying that Manny didn't want to play. Francona scratched him from the lineup. Then he was contacted again with the message that Manny did want to play. Francona wasn't going to play that game so he didn't put him in the lineup. A seemingly small gesture, but one that might have had an impact. On Sunday, Manny was once again absent from the lineup, but this time he was in the dugout with a bat in his hands, talking to Francona while both looked over notes. Francona waited until the absolute perfect time to insert Manny into the lineup, and it paid off.

Kevin Millar will never win a batting title, or a Gold Glove. But if there were an award for clubhouse presence, he'd get alot of votes every season. Alot of times, at least in my personal experiences, the best way to resolve a dispute between two people is to have an intermediary. Someone that both people respect. This person can make both people realize things they wouldn't otherwise realize. This seems to be what Millar did. Before Sunday's game, Manny went to Francona and said he wanted to stay. Who went with him? Kevin Millar. Who lightened up the mood? Kevin Millar.

In the end, the Red Sox got Jose Cruz Jr, a defensively gifted and offensively challenged outfielder who will probably compliment Gabe Kapler. He does have some pop though with 12 homeruns this season. The Red Sox also re-signed Gabe Kapler, picked up Alex Cora and Tony Graffanino, and got Chad Bradford. The team isn't completely assembled though. Schilling still isn't starting, Foulke is progressing with his knees, and there are a number of guys in Pawtucket and Portland and maybe even one in Lowell that will probably show their faces around Fenway before the regular season is over.

There's good reason that any Manny deal never went through. The one that everybody was talking about was the threeway trade with the Mets and D-Rays. The Sox were going to send Manny to New York, some prospects to Tampa, and get Mike Cameron and Aubrey Huff. The deal was killed by the moronic Tampa Devil Rays who decided they can win with Huff and Danys Baez on their team. Tampa felt that they needed to bleed the Red Sox farm system dry. There's no way in hell that the Red Sox would give up the league leader in RBIs, AND some of their top prospects for two slightly above average outfielders. What was Tampa thinking? That entire organisation needs to get its head out of its collective ass and take a look at the world around it. They're a joke of a franchise.

Its more than four hours after the deadline, and it appears as though there were no big trades. Here are all of today's transactions that are listed on ESPN.com:

The Yankees traded Buddy Groom to the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later

The Braves traded Roman Colon and Zach Miner to the Tigers for Kyle Farnsworth

The Red Sox purchased Jon Papelbon's contract from AAA Pawtucket, optioned Lenny DiNardo to Pawtucket, and designated Luis Mendoza for assignment

The Cubs traded Matt Lawton to the Pirates for Jody Gerut

The White Sox traded Ryan Meaux to the Padres for Geoff Blum, recalled Joe Adkins from AAA Charlotte, and optioned Willie Harris and Ross Gload to Charlotte

The Angels recalled Chris Bootcheck from AAA Salt Lake, and optioned Jake Woods to Salt Lake

The Dodgers placed Jayson Werth on the 15 Day DL, and activated Jose Valentin off the 60 Day DL

The Mariners traded Ron Villon to the Marlins for Yorman Bazardo and Mike Flannery, and recalled George Sherrill from AAA Tacoma

The Nationals optioned Marlon Byrd to AAA New Orleans, and recalled Matt Cepicky from New Orleans

Not exactly breaking news for any of these transactions. Granted, some deals might be unannounced, but it appears as though no big names will be traded, at least not without going through the waiver process. AJ Burnett is a Marlin, Manny Ramirez is still in Boston, Jason Schmidt remains a Giant, Alfonso Soriano is still in Texas. How the heck did this happen?

This lack of trades is a result of one thing, in my opinion. The parody that League has. The Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, Athletics, Rangers, Braves, Nationals, Marlins, Phillies, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Twins, Indians, Astros, Cubs, and Brewers all have a chance to earn a playoff berth. That's 23 teams with a shot, albeit a small shot in most cases, and 7 teams that are truly out of it. That means 23 buyers and 7 sellers. This means demand is about three times higher than supply. The result of this inbalance (which ironically comes from remarkable balance) is that the teams that have desirable players such as Aubrey Huff or AJ Burnett, is that they feel like they can ask for more. They feel like they can ask a team to give up its top pitching prospect along with their best position player prospect. They feel like they can throw in an overpaid, under hitting third baseman. The 23 competetive teams are desperate, but not stupid. They're not going to give up more than they should for a player, nor are they going to take on extra money just for the sake of making a deal. I think all of the competetive teams came to the same conclusion. No-one is going to overpay for these players, so we're going to be in the same situation as before. This means that we're still in the race with few teams having any big edge. About the only 2 teams that are essentially assured a playoff spot are the Cardinals and White Sox. These teams didn't have to improve any to get into the playoffs, so they didn't make big moves. The other 21 teams are really competing with each other so if no-one made a move, there would be no clear cut favorite in any of the 6 open races around baseball.