It's The Great Pumpkin!!!!

• Phillies 10-Braves 9:

Quote from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, courtesy of IMDB.com:

Linus: There he is! There he is! It's the Great Pumpkin! He's rising out of the pumpkin patch!
[Linus faints and the "Pumpkin" is really Snoopy, meanwhile Sally is seething]
Linus: What happened? Did I faint? What did he leave us? Did he leave us any toys?

The same reaction must have been exhibited by the fans who were stunned by the sight of Mike Hampton scheduled to pitch; making it out to the mound to pitch; actually pitching; pitching somewhat effectively. His line looks terrible with six earned runs and eight hits

allowed, two walks and only one strikeout, but for a guy who hasn't pitched in a big league game in three years and has had injuries to just about every single part of his body preventing him from managing to drag himself out to the mound long enough to throw a pitch, it could've been much worse and his stuff looked good enough to be able to win some games eventually. If Hampton can keep from getting hurt, he's bound to get better. Of course, he could get hurt again doing, well, doing anything considering the shaky nature of his musculature, but four innings is better than the zero innings he's given the Braves since 2005.

• Yankees 10-Red Sox 3:

Again we hear the speculation about Manny Ramirez and the possibility of him being sent out of Boston for his newest episode of pulling himself out of the lineup. Everyone conveniently forgets the negative side of "Manny being Manny" when he's hitting his clutch homers or making everyone chuckle with his bizarre behaviors, but a major part of "Manny being Manny"

is pulling himself out of the lineup with questionable injuries and doing things that angers the fans, teammates, coaching staff, manager and front office. I said recently that the Red Sox have the prospects and money to acquire Matt Holliday and play him in right field; move J.D. Drew to center field and deal with Manny for the rest of the year and decline his option----Teams That Should Hold; Teams That Should Raise, July 19.
If the Red Sox do decide to trade Manny, the only thing I can see happening is if they can formulate a three way deal with the Mets or Phillies and the Rockies to get Holliday to Boston, Manny to New York or Philadelphia and a load of stuff from the other two organizations to Colorado. Other than that, the Red Sox aren't going to trade Manny, and I still think they might end up exercising his option at the end of the year if he behaves himself helps them to another title. And it's likely to go back-and-forth several times before a final decision is made if they don't trade him in the coming days.

• Dodgers acquire Casey Blake:

Casey Blake was one of the unsung players for the Indians during their rebuilding process

and return to contention. A late bloomer, it took the Indians to give him a chance to play regularly after he bounced from the Blue Jays to the Twins, to the Orioles, back to the Twins and finally to the Indians where he became an everyday player at the age of 29. Able to play first base, third base and right field, Blake is one of those players that many don't notice until he does something that helps his team win a big game, but those that were paying attention know how good and useful Blake is to a team with playoff aspirations. The days of musical third baseman for the Dodgers of 2008 are over.
Indians GM Mark Shapiro knows what he's doing and in acquiring John Meloan he gets a

24-year-old righty with big strikeout numbers throughout his professional career. He's been terrible statistically this year, but the Indians are going to offer an opportunity to make it in the big leagues as they rebuild, so if he's going to make it, he's in the right place. 22-year-old Carlos Santana is a utility player who can catch and has come into his own at the plate in high A ball this year with a massive offensive year. His numbers----14 homers; 94 RBI; 83 runs scored; a .318 average; .424 OBP; and 52 of his 109 hits have been for extra bases----indicate that he's got a chance to be a solid big leaguer a few years down the road. Shapiro isn't stupid and knows how to mine other organizations for talent, so with a player like Blake who was in demand, it's safe to say Shapiro got what he wanted in the deal. This is a positive move for both sides.
The Indians also acquired Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals for minor league righty Luis Perdomo. Reyes was once considered one of the jewels of the Cardinals system, but it had

become increasingly clear that he wasn't going to make it in St. Louis; needed a change of scenery to a venue where he'd be put into a role and left there; and he needed to get away from Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan. For all of the success stories the famed duo has formulated, there are always a few pitchers for whom their methods don't sink in. It happened most recently with Jason Marquis and now Reyes is going to get another chance somewhere else. Perdomo is 24, has spent this season with the Indians high A and double A affiliates and put up big strikeout numbers as a reliever. It wouldn't be surprising to see him in St. Louis before the season's over for the Cardinals to see if they can strike some rookie lightning out of the bullpen.

This Injury Report Can Be Written In Ink And Other Stories

• Mark Mulder leaves his first start after 16 pitches with shoulder discomfort:

I flipped to the Phillies-Cardinals game to have a look at Mark Mulder in his first start and it

was delayed by rain; later I tried again; they were in the third inning and Brad Thompson was pitching for the Cardinals; my first thought was that since the game was delayed, the Cardinals didn't want to risk putting Mulder out there after a long delay, see the game stopped again and waste his start, so they pushed him back a day; it was only later that I learned that Mulder did start the game, lasted 16 pitches before shoulder discomfort forced him out and he'll be evaluated Thursday. I wouldn't expect a positive evaluation and even if it's somewhat ambiguous, I wouldn't expect to see Mulder contribute much of anything this season.
It's a shame because in the games he had pitched in relief since being activated, Mulder's velocity was around 90 and his motion appeared to be back to the smooth-as-silk delivery he displayed with the Athletics. It's almost to a similar point with Mulder as it was with Alex Fernandez after his repeated shoulder surgeries: how much aggravation, rehab, stops and starts and pain do you want to put up without results and the same pain over and over again?

• Oh, Enough Already! Part II:

Just like it was enough in early May when Mike Hampton reported more pain in another

part of his body as he tried unsuccessfully to come back for the Braves, it's the same situation with this player; here's the quote from today's New York Times:

The Mets said Moises Alou reinjured his left hamstring Wednesday in the seventh inning of his second game of a rehabilitation assignment with Class AA Binghamton. Alou, who was playing against the Connecticut Defenders, dove for a ball and was injured. He will come to New York on Thursday to have the injury re-evaluated.

The Mets have to move on. If Alou is able to come back and contribute something at some time this year, then fine; he and Orlando Hernandez may function as useful late season pickups disguised as players returning from injury. They're going to have to go and get an

outfielder who can hit. There are such players available: Raul Ibanez; Xavier Nady; Casey Blake (who's a perfect fit); or they could go for Matt Holliday (the Indians supposedly told Mets GM Omar Minaya that he had the organizational depth to get C.C. Sabathia; whether Dan O'Dowd with the Rockies feels the same way is a question and what that depth would entail is an even bigger question). Bottom line, the Mets can't sit around and wait any longer for Alou to return because it's not going to happen anytime soon and if and when it does he----like Rich Harden and Mulder----are only one small, wrong twist, turn or sprain away from being out for the season. They need an outfield bat that's reliable to not only hit, but to stay out on the field for an extended period without the organization having to hold it's breath every time he has to exert himself.

• Why was Jorge Posada out rehabbing his shoulder if he's not going to catch anyway?

When Jorge Posada went on the disabled list with shoulder problems earlier this season,

he was able to do everything but throw. The Yankees sent him for rehab so he'd be able to catch later in the season. The best thing for the team at the time was probably to keep Posada's bat in the lineup and use him at DH and first base, but they decided to make the player happy and allow him to get back into a modicum of shape to be able to catch. Now he's back and he's not catching and not happy about it----NY Times Story.
No one seems to be admitting the real reason behind the switch to Jose Molina catching regularly: that Molina is a far superior defensive catcher and his presence behind the plate mitigates the opponent's running game whereas Posada's presence behind the plate is a detriment because he can't throw very well. The Yankees are hiding behind Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon's injury to have Posada DH or play first base when everyone knows why they're doing it even if they refuse to admit it. If this was their intent, wasn't it silly to deprive themselves of Posada's bat for all that time when they could have convinced him that his value was actually at the plate rather than behind it?

• Dodgers 2-Braves 1; Derek Lowe perfect through six innings:

I was waiting to see if Gregor Blanco was going to try and bunt to break up another no-hitter (this one by Derek Lowe) as he led off the seventh inning for the Braves. As irritating as it would have been had he done it, it would have been appropriate in this instance because

the score was 1-0, Dodgers and his presence on the bases could have meant the difference between winning and losing. He lined a hard single up the middle to break up the perfect game anyway. Lowe's motion looks better from the last time I watched him in June when he was rushing his delivery among other things; whether the Dodgers coaching staff helped him fix it or Lowe did it himself is the question, but his sinker was sinking again and it showed in the results and near history-making performance.