New York Mets 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 5: For as well as the Mets are doing, they won’t do diddly in the postseason if that bullpen doesn’t get under control. Chalk up another loss for hte struggling ‘pen in this one.

SF Giants 5, Atlanta Braves 0: The Braves are rapidly approaching rock bottom. Remember when ESPN picked this team to be in the World Series at the beginning of the year? As a Braves fan, I said it was impossible then, and I’m proving that right, now.

Houston Astros 3, Milwaukee Brewers 9: I know it’s fun jacking up CC Sabathia’s stats, but in October when he has a tired arm, Ned Yost will probably wish he’d sat him down after the sixth when Milwaukee had a 7-2 lead. Just a thought.

Boston Red Sox 6, Baltimore Orioles 3: The Red Sox are 4 1/2 games back of the Rays, who can’t seem to lose no matter what injuries they face.

LA Angels 4, Tampa Bay Rays 6: Does Tampa Bay have the best pitching in baseball? They’re young, they can sling ‘em, and unlike most teams, they’re all healthy.

Detroit Tigers 8, Texas Rangers 7: Edgar Renteria, who hit over .330 last year, is hitting just .268 in the AL this year.

Oakland A’s 3, Minnesota Twins 2: The Twins rallied late, but couldn’t pull this one off.

Seattle Mariners 5, Chicago White Sox 13: Consider this: Carlos Quentin was traded from the D’Backs to the White Sox this off-season for a minor league prospect. Thirty-five home runs later, who do you think got the best of that deal?

St. Louis Cardinals 3, Cincinnati Reds 7: It’s always nice to see Cincinnati actually win a game. I know he’s on an awful team, but Edinson Volquez might well be your Cy Young. He’s the best pitcher, and he’s proving it by winning 15 games for one of the worst teams.

San Francisco Giants 3, Atlanta Braves 1: The Braves are reaching all time lows. They can’t hit, they can’t pitch, they can’t really do anything right now.

Chicago Cubs 9, Florida Marlins 2: The Marlins are sinking further and further back. They had a nice run, but it looks as if it’s ending.

Colorado Rockies 7, Washington Nationals 2: The Rockies have won four of their last five. Can they rattle off 22 straight and make the playoffs? They did last year.

New York Mets 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 0: It looked rash getting rid of Willie not even half way through the season. But whether it’s his management style or not, the move is paying off.

Arizona D’Backs 0, Houston Astros 3: Don’t look now, but here come the Astros.

Milwaukee Brewers 5, LA Dodgers 7: It took a walk off, but it put the Dodgers back in first place.

Philadelphia Phillies 2, San Diego Padres 1: The Phillies are still two back from the Mets.

LA Angels 3, Cleveland Indians 4: It’s rare, but the Angels actually lost a series, and to the Indians, no less.

Baltimore Orioles 16, Detroit Tigers 8: They were an early season favorite, but the Tigers just haven’t played well this season.

Kansas City Royals 6, New York Yankees 15: They’re only five back in the Wild Card, and this “The Yanks are dead” talk may have been a bit premature.

Toronto Blue Jays 15, Boston Red Sox 4: All that’s ever talked about is Manny-Manny-Manny, but Jason Bay, even going 0-3 in this one, is hitting .328 since coming over to Beantown.

Seattle Mariners 8, Minnesota Twins 11: This year Adrian Beltre makes $13.4 million. He’s been a rip off for a while, and though he’s still not worth $13M, he’s at least got 20 homers this year.

Chicago White Sox 13, Oakland A’s 1: Ouch.

Tampa Bay Rays 7, Texas Rangers 4: With Boston struggling, they’re starting to run off with the AL East. And given that their entire team is injured, it’s something to applaud.

Chicago Cubs 10, Atlanta Braves 2: It was the first of a double header, and things didn’t get better in the second game.

Cincinnati Reds 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 5: I’m too lazy to look it up, but have the Reds won a baseball game in the last month?

New York Mets 12, Washington Nationals 0: The Mets are tied with the Phillies for first place in the NL East.

St. Louis Cardinals 6, Florida Marlins 4: The Marlins are slipping away out East. The Cardinals are three back of Milwaukee in the Wild Card.

Cubs 8, Atlanta Braves 0: Say hello to a decent draft pick, Atlanta.

San Francisco Giants 2, Houston Astros 6: The Astros, who started the season hot and then sucked, are starting to get hot again. At 61-59, it’s a stretch, but it’s still possible.

Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Colorado Rockies 6: I think the D’Backs will be the most dangerous team in the playoffs, but they’ve got to get there first.

Milwaukee Brewers 7, San Diego Padres 1: Does anyone want to play Milwaukee right now? Sabathia improved to a perfect 7-0, and is now gunning for the Cy Young with only a half season under his belt in the NL.

Philadelphia Phillies 6, LA Dodgers 7: Say hello to a tight race in the NL West. Couple that with a very tight race in the NL East, and we’ve got some fun heading into clutch time.

NY Yankees 2, Minnesota Twins 4: The Twins took two of three from the Yanks, who look as if they’re done this year.

Texas Rangers 4, Boston Red Sox 8: No, 36 runs weren’t scored in this one.

Baltimore Orioles 6, Cleveland Indians 1: Whatever.

Toronto Blue Jays 4, Detroit Tigers 3: The door of opportunity is being shut on Detroit. My prediction for AL representative in the World Series isn’t even going to make the playoffs.

Kansas City Royals 0, Chicago White Sox 4: The ChiSox will be a very dangerous team in October.

Seattle Mariners 10, LA Angels 7: They’re about three and a half million games ahead of the second place Rangers out West, so this loss shouldn’t hurt too badly.

Tampa Bay Rays 3, Oakland A’s 2: With Crawford and Longoria out, the Rays need to continue winning these 3-2, 2-1 type of ball games.

Pittsburgh Pirates 7, New York Mets 5: The Mets bullpen blew a four run lead, and gave up three in the ninth to clinch the loss.

Washington Nationals 1, Milwaukee Brewers 7: Does anyone want to play the Brew Crew right now? Two weeks ago, it looked like this team was starting to fall apart. Now they’re white hot and hitting on all cylinders.

St. Louis Cardinals 4, Florida Marlins 2: No ground was lost in the East, given that Philly and New York both also lost.

San Francisco Giants 1, Houston Astos 3: Houston’s back to .500l, but don’t look for any type of playoff run.

Philadelphia Phillies 6, LA Dodgers 8: The Dodgers are closing in on the Diamondbacks, who just acquired Adam Dunn, a strikeout king but a guy who can launch the ball 500 feet.

Baltimore Orioles 8, Cleveland Indians 13: It’s a shame the Indians are just now starting to play ball, because had they made the playoffs with Sabathia and Lee, they would’ve been an awful hard team to beat.

Toronto Blue Jays 7, Detroit Tigers 2: After looking so solid two years ago, Justin Verlander is beginning to look the part of a one year wonder.

New York Yankees 0, Minnesota Twins 4: When the Twins play a good team, they win. When they play a bad one, they lose. I’m starting to feel the Yankees are somewhere in the middle of that.

Boston Red Sox 5, Chicago White Sox 1: Boston is trying to keep pace with the Rays, who don’t seem to be going away.

Florida Marlins 8, NY Mets 2: Don’t look now, but the Marlins are keeping pace. It’s kind of scary how this team always seems to have nothing but always seems to do well with it.

Houston Astros 13, Cincinnati Reds 4: The Reds are just pitiful right now. Pitiful.

Washington Nationals 4, Milwaukee Brewers 5: It took a walk off in the 13th, but the Brew-Crew will take it.

San Diego Padres 16, Colorado Rockies 7: I’m guessing the Rockies don’t have the magic in ‘em this year like they did last year.

Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Philadelphia Phillies 6: To quote Jimmy Rollins, this seems to be the class of the NL East for the second year in a row.

LA Dodgers 4, San Francisco Giants 5: When you’re chasing the D’Backs, you’ve gotta beat teams like SF.

Atlanta Braves 1, Arizona D’Backs 6: Brandon Webb is now 17-4 with a 2.88 ERA. If it wasn’t for him, this team wouldn’t be anywhere near being in the running. Can we just go ahead and hand him the Cy Young?

St. Louis Cardinals 2, Chicago Cubs 6: Ryan Dempster pitched at home, which means a win for the Cubs.

Oakland A’s 1, Detroit Tigers 6: With four hitters over .300, you’d think the Tigers would have a better record than this.

Cleveland Indians 4, Toronto Blue Jays 0: Cliff Lee pitched eight innings, lowering his ERA to a 2.45. He’s 13-2 on the year.

Texas Rangers 15, Baltimore Orioles 7: Josh Hamilton hit his 28th homer of the year. The kid can sure swing the bat.

Boston Red Sox 5, Chicago White Sox 6: Ken Griffey wasn’t playing, but the ChiSox still got the W.

Minnesota Twins 4, Kansas City Royals 5: You have to start wondering what kind of team the Twins really are. One second they’re looking dominant — the next they’re dropping two of three to the Mariners and losing to the Royals.

New York Yankees 3, LA Angels 4: Mariano Rivera blew this one, surprisingly.

Tampa Bay Rays 11, Seattle Mariners 3: The Rays are slowly walking away with the AL East.

San Diego Padres 3, New York Mets 5: The bullpen blew the win for Johan, but the Mets were still able to prevail with two runs scored in the ninth.

Florida Marlins 3, Philadelphia Phillies 0: Cole Hamels got the loss, going six innings while giving up seven hits and two earned. He’s 9-8 on the year now.

LA Dodgers 4, St. Louis Cardinals 1: Manny went 1-3, dropping his average to .565 in the NL, but he did have another home run, his fourth since coming to LA.

Washington Nationals 6, Colordo Rockies 3: This one might really mean something come playoff time. . .

Washington Nationals 6, Colorado Rockies 3: No, it’s not a typo. They played a double header, and yes, it was the same score as the first.

Houston Astros 7, Cincinnati Reds 4: Roy Oswalt got the win, and the Reds continue to slump.

Atlanta Braves 6, Arizona Diamondbacks 4: The D’Backs grip on the West is slipping pretty quickly.

Oakland A’s 4, Toronto Blue Jays 6: The A’s have now lost 10 straight. It’s getting sad in Oakland.

New York Yankees 3, Texas Rangers 0: Will The Boss have a fit if the Yanks miss the playoffs? My guess is yes, which is why I’m rooting against this team.

Detroit Tigers 8, Chicago White Sox 3: I’ve been holding on hope for the Tigers all year, and even with the win, I think the team is proably done when it comes to the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Rays 1, Seattle Mariners 2: Felix Hernandez is just sick.

Milwaukee Brewers 6, Cincinnati Reds 3: The Reds are slumping, and the Brewers seem to be getting out of theirs. Ricky Weeks had 4 hits to help the Brewers get the win.

Houston Astros 4, Chicago Cubs 11: Remember when A-Rod was traded for Alfonso Soriano? I’m not comparing the two — A-Rod’s clearly the better player — but did Texas get the best of that deal when it took place? He’s half the salary, and he’s well more than half the player. He hit his 21st dinger of the season in this one, and that’s considering he’s missed plenty of time with injuries.

Pittsburgh Pirates 2, Arizona Diamondbacks 0: Randy Johnson pitched a good game, but Jeff Karstens had a no-no with two outs in the 8th inning.

Atlanta Braves 2, San Francisco Giants 3: With Chipper and McCann out of the lineup, is there an easier group of hitters to navigate through in baseball?

Florida Marlins 0, Philadelphia Phillies 5: If there’s one thing Philadelphia’s been great at this season, it’s beating the teams in the East when they’re head to head.

San Diego Padres 4, New York Mets 2: Pedro gave up two solo homers in the first, settled down, but still go the loss.

LA Dodgers 6, St. Louis Cardinals 9: Manny hit his third homer in five games, but it wasn’t enough to power the Dodgers past the Cardinals, who also received a jack from Albert Pujols.

Cleveland Indians 7, Tampa Bay Rays 10: The Rays scored six runs in the ninth to win this one. They’re certainly a team for the dramatic recently.

Baltimore Orioles 4, LA Angels 9: Vlad went yard, and Tex had 2 hits, raising his average to .286.

Minnesota Twins 7, Seattle Mariners 3: Good thing they won this one, because getting swept by the Mariners isn’t a good thing to do.

Oakland A’s 1, Toronto Blue Jays 5: Oakland is fading, fading, fading. . .

New York Yankees 5, Texas Rangers 3: The Yanks gave up 9 hits, but only surrendered three runs.

Boston Red Sox 8, Kansas City Royals 2: The Wakefield Knuckler was looking good last night.

Detroit Tigers 1, Chicago White Sox 5: Griffey couldn’t get anything going, but it didn’t slow down the ChiSox at all. Detroit is letting Minnesota and Chicago run away with this division right now. Given that they were my World Series prediction at the beginning of the year, I’m not too happy about it.

Houston Astros 7, Chicago Cubs 11: The Cubs were up, blew a big lead, but Soriano’s three-run blast in the seventh made the score 10-7, and the Cubs didn’t look back after that.

Florida Marlins 8, Philadelphia Phillies 2: The Marlins are only 1.5 games back, the Mets 2. I”ve been waiting for someone in this division to break this thing open, but I’m starting to wonder if it’ll happen.

Milwaukee Brewers 8, Cincinnati Reds 1: And Prince Fielder didn’t push or hit anyone.

San Diego Padres 5, New York Mets 6: Has this team gotten this much better because Randolph is gone, or is just coincidence they seem to be hitting on all cylinders right now?

LA Dodgers 4, St. Louis Cardinals 6: People acted as if the Dodgers won the West when they got Manny. But with the D’Backs starting to hit stride, that won’t be the case.

Pittsburgh Pirates 1, Arizona Diamondbacks 3: With 16 wins and an ERA under 3.00, it’ll be hard to argue for anyone else in the NL for Cy YOung.

Washington Nationals 2, Colorado Rockies 8: At least last year’s NL representative can still beat the bad teams.

Atlanta Braves 11, SF Giants 4: Hampton got his first win since his return, and even with a whopping 6.75 ERA since he’s been back, we still need him. With the absence of Tex, whenever Hampton pitches, he’s now our second best hitter.

Oakland A’s 3, Toronto Blue Jays 4: It was the A’s 8th straight loss.

Cleveland Indians 4, Tampa Bay Rays 8: It was Tampa’s first win over the Indians all season long.

New York Yankees 6, Texas Rangers 8: The Yanks are slowly starting to disappear in the AL East standings.

Boston Red Sox 8, Kansas City Royals 2: Is there much doubt the Red Sox will win when Josh Beckett’s on the mound?

Detroit Tigers 8, Chicago White Sox 10: It was 14 innings, and the Tigers had a 2 run lead in that inning. Edgar Renteria bobbled a sure out, and next thing you know the White Sox have put on four runs.

Baltimore Orioles 3, LA Angels 0: Wasn’t Tex’s bat supposed to make the Angels better? I keep seeing these low scoring games from a once-potent offense.

Minnesota Twins 7, Seattle Mariners 8: The Twins are a team I can’t quite figure out. . .

Colorado Rockies 3, Florida Marlins 2: It’s rare you see a game where Florida actually pitches, but then can’t hit. There’s not many people really expecting this team to win the East, but with losses like this at home to Colorado (losing in the ninth, by the way), it’s certainly not helping them.

Milwaukee Brewers 0, Atlanta Braves 5: Ben Sheets has statistically been someone the Braves couldn’t hit. And while he only gave up three runs, rookie Jorge Campillo, who’s now 6-4 with a 2.58 ERA, pitched a little better.

Cincinnati Reds 2, Washington Nationals 4: Sadly, it shouldn’t be long before the Nats catch the Braves.

New York Mets 0, Houston Astros 4: Randy Wolf gave up six hits in five innings, but he couldn’t seem to give up a run. Ty Wiggington hit his 10th homer of the season.

Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Chicago Cubs 8: Carlos Zambrano gave up only one run in the no decision.

San Francisco Giants 1, San Diego Padres 4: This one will help determine who will have what pick in next year’s draft.

Arizona Diamondbacks 3, LA Dodgers 9: Manny had four hits in five tries. The Dodgers may be a tough team to beat in the NL with that pitching staff and the addition of Mr. Ramirez.

Philadelphia Phillies 5, St. Louis Cardinals 4: The Phillies will more than likely be representing the NL East come October.

LA Angels 9, New York Yankees 14: The Angels were up 5-0, and before you know it in four innings they manage to give up 14 runs. Stinger.

Oakland A’s 2, Boston Red Sox 5: Dice K helped complete the three game sweep of the A’s.

Detroit Tigers 5, Tampa Bay Rays 6: The Tigers gave up 3 runs in the eighth to let the Rays back in, then grabbed the lead back in the tenth, then lost it after giving up two runs in the bottom of the tenth.

Chicago White Sox 3, Kansas City Royals 14: What’s exciting about watching KC? Well, when they clear the bench, that’s about all.

Cleveland Indians 2, Minnesota Twins 6: Remember Francisco Liriano? The freak rookie who was pitching along side Johan Santanna a couple of years back? Well, he’s back and, judging by this game, he’s back.

Baltimore Orioles 4, Seattle Mariners 8: If the Mariners play at home and nobody’s around to see it, do they make a sound?

Toronto Blue Jays 4, Texas Rangers 8: The Rangers are 58-54, but they’re still six games back in the Wild Card.

I’m in Jamaica, on my honeymoon, but it’s rainy right now, and I figured, What the hell? May as well do some work while I’m here.

Anyway, though this is brief, here’s what’s going on in the MLB with the trade deadline pretty much over.

-Tex was sent to the Angels. This was a couple of days ago, and probably very old news to everyone else, but the wireless here in Jamaica isn’t great, and it’s pretty new to me.
-Pudge was sent to the Yankees in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth. I can’t tell if this is Detroit’s way of giving up on the season, or if they’re really looking to bolster a somewhat questionable pen.
-The Manny Ramirez trade is all but dead, according to ESPN, and based on past ESPN reports, I wonder if it was ever really alive, or if the Network was just trying to create a stir and buzz.
-Ken Griffey, Jr. is heading to the White Sox, something not many saw coming. He’s not the Griffey of old, but he’s still a threat to take one yard every time he steps up to the plate.

I’m going back to enjoying my honeymoon. Enjoy the day.