The Full Count: The first domino has fallen

Now a Ranger

1. Time to Deal: The first big-name trade before the deadline has occurred. Carlos Lee, the Brewers’ slugging, underrated All Star outfielder, is heading to one of the least likely places. The Texas Rangers, who already have hitters such as Michael Young, Hank Blalock, and Mark Teixeira, are trading for Lee as part of a multi-player deal. While the Rangers were rumored in many deals, none included an offensive improvement. They will send outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix along with former closer Francisco Cordero to Milwaukee. The Brewers will give up Lee, a minor-leaguer, and the all-important player-to-be-named-later.  Lee is hitting .286 with 28 homeruns and 81 RBIs on the year, and also has 12 steals. The Brewers will get some much-needed bullpen help in Cordero. They recently demoted closer Derrick Turnbow and are now using Dan Kolb in that role. Cordero, though he has had a bad season, has been an All Star in the past with 49 saves in 2004.
 

2. Ready to move: Alfonso Soriano just played in perhaps his final home game for the Nationals. With the trading deadline 3 days away, no player has had more rumors about him or is more valuable in the market than Soriano. He gave Nats fans one last look at how good he is yesterday. Soriano homered to lead off the game, his 32nd of the year. He walked twice and scored two runs to lead Washington to a 6-5 win over San Francisco. Soriano is on pace for the first ever 50/40 season, having narrowly missed 40/40 earlier in his career. Any team with interest will probably have to give up just prospects in order to get this slugger.

3. Passing the torch: The Houston Astros, who have won the Wild Card for the past two years, lost yesterday to the team most likely to win that title this year. The Cincinnati Reds, who lead the WC standings by 2.5 games, disposed of the Astros 8-4. Adam Dunn homered and drove in four runs, and for the second straight day was perfect. He followed up a 4-4 performance with a 3-3 one, and now is hitting .261. That doesn’t seem very impressive until you consider that Dunn was hitting .227 at the beginning of the month. In July he is hitting .356 with 5 homers and 19 RBIs, and he is now on pace for 49 and 113. He has 189 career homers, and is only 26. Houston is six games back of Cincy now.

4. Take that, Angels: The LA Angels and Oakland A’s, as reported yesterday, were tied for the AL West lead for three straight days. While the Angels were off yesterday, Oakland took a half-game lead with a win over Toronto. Joe Blanton, who defines the average pitcher, won the start with a decent performance. Blanton is 10-8 with a 4.78 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, all of which are, well, average. The losing Toronto squad, who have been on the heels of the Red Sox and Yankees all year, are finally dropping back in the standings. They are 6 back of Boston and 4.5 back of Wild Card-leading New York despite the hot bat of Troy Glaus. Glaus has hit .458 in the last week with 10 RBIs. For the A’s, Huston Street continued his scoreless streak with his 21st save.

5. Is Dusty safe?: Cubs manager Dusty Baker, who seems to be one of the most likely managers to be fired this season, apparently is still safe. Cubs GM Jim Hendry said that he told Baker that he will continue on as manager for the rest of the year. Baker’s underachieving team produced many rumors that he would be fired, but he apparently will carry out the season. This is the last year of his contract, and there is no question that the Cubs will have a new manager for next year. But now, the 39-61 team will have to live with what they’ve got.