Tuesday-7/31/07

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline is at 4pm est today, I will be on until 5 trying to keep things updated as fast as I can. Things we know right now....
-The Octavio Dotel to Atlanta deal is not done yet, and may not be. Looks like someone jumped the gun on that one. www.MLBtraderumors.com is reporting that the deal was Kyle Davies for Dotel. Kind of surprised Dayton Moore hasn't gone for that already...
-Eric Gagne will be the biggest name bandied about, and Gordon Edes of the Boston Herald thinks the Sox are in the lead. Two problems with that include the Sox unwillingness to trade any of their good prospects for him and that Gagne has a no trade veto in effect for Boston. I personally think they are longshots, but that is just me.
-Joe Blanton was nearly traded to the Dodgers last night, but although the package they offered was pretty good, it wasn't quite up to Billy Beane's standards, at least for now. This could be a deal like the Teixeira to Atlanta one, where Beane takes the Jon Daniels approach and makes sure this is the best offer out there.
-Thank god Peter Gammons was able to recover from brain surgery last year. Not only because he seems like a good man and is pretty knowledgeable, but if I had had to go through another trade deadline with Steve Phillips being the main guy I would have lost it. If Phillips actually thinks a trade is good or was good, would a GM have the right to change his mind? This is like that episode of Seinfeld when George does everything the opposite of how he would normally do it. If gm's around baseball did this, I don't think a single one of them would get fired.

Watched two great games last night in Blue Jays-D'Rays and Angels-Mariners. The early game was pretty good in a sense that it was fairly well pitched, the D'Rays came back in the late innings to tie it up at 4. Both teams had their chances late, with the Rays' Brendan Harris getting thrown out at home when John McDonald kept a ball form going to the outfield. Apparently the Rays gave Harris the green light because Carl Crawford, who had come into the game to pinch run, was due up next and was still battling a sore wrist. The Jays loaded them up in the top of the 11th but couldn't push one across, which is an amazing feat against the Rays pen. Crawford of course led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite field shot to win it, so apparently the wrist wasn't too bad.

Angels-Mariners was highlighted by the pitching duel between Kelvim Escobar, who went the distance for the Halos, and Miguel (Bernie Williams long lost twin brother) Batista. Batista was bailed out in the fourth when with the bases loaded and two out, Vlad Guerrero hit a screaming liner into left that Raul Ibanez was just able to keep from hitting the ground. The Angels never really mounted another threat. The interesting part of this game was watching fans making signs imploring M's broadcaster Mike Blowers to send them rally fries (have no idea what that's all about). Two 12 year-olds ended up getting them in the 8th inning, apparently paid for by FSN Northwest. They should do this for Sox games and Jerry Remy could send the winners down a pack of Marlboro Reds. (Rally Smokes anyone?)

Saw Roger Clemens At+T cell phone commercial last night, the dropped call one where he asks his wife if it's ok to come back and play. Freakin hilarious.

I wonder how many frequent flier miles Erin Andrews has racked up. She is everywhere. That's not a bad thing either.

A quick hit on the Kevin Garnett trade. It's expected to be finalized today or tomorrow and should include Ryan Gomes and two #1 picks on top of the base deal reported yesterday. Apparently the only thing holding it up is the extension talks between Boston and Garnett's agent Andy Miller. It's going to be nice to have the Celts relevant again.

RIP Bill Walsh, a man who changed the game of football as we know it and by all accounts was a great person as well. I watched the America's Game on the 88 49ers, and he came off very well in that, not only as a coach but as a person. Condolences to not only the Walsh family, but the Stanford and 49er families he left behind as well.