Tick Tock on Doc

The clock is ticking down towards the trade deadline and the rumors are starting to get fun. The Blue Jays are truly reaching for the stars when it comes to Roy Halladay deals. The Jays apparently told the Yankees it would take both Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain plus two prospects. Jon Heyman of SI "tweeted" that Bombers might consider dealing Chamberlain, but not both. According to the Foxsports.com team of Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi, the Blue Jays General Manager told the Angels it would take Joe Saunders, Brandon Wood, Eric Aybar, and at least one other prospect. Three of those players are on the current Angels major league roster.

It seems as though the Red Sox have remained pretty quiet thus far. You have to wonder if they will end up being the team to beat. As I have stated over and over again (sorry about that), Ricciardi has painted himself into a corner here. He has already rejected some good packages for Halladay (Are they good enough? I am not sure) and has countered with packages that would make what the Mets gave up for Santana look like a bunch of little leaguers. The next couple of days should be interesting as Ricciardi put a deadline of the 28th to deal Halladay out there. We shall see. I still believe he doesn't get dealt.

Look for some teams to pull off of Halladay and hope to pick up a back end of the rotation piece like Jarrod Washburn or Doug Davis.

Today Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice join the Hall of Fame. Rice had spent many years as Mr. Borderline... just missing out on making it to the hall before being elected this year. Henderson was a sure fire first ballot entry, but didn't retire until 2004. Amazing ain't it? Hank Aaron was asked about steroids and baseball immortality. Scott Miller of CBSSports.com has that story.

I am still not sure where I stand on the asterisk. Should the entire steroid era be penalized? Should only the individuals who failed a drug test have a note on their record? Or should they not even be let into the hall? Their are tons of good arguments on both sides of the story. When Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, and the rest of the early greats played, they didn't have to play against African Americans or Hispanics. They played all their games on the east coast and had to travel less. From the sixties on you here all the time of how players took amphetamines and kept their bodies going by using the uppers.

I have a distinct feeling this will be a harsh debate when Barry Bonds comes up for voting. He was a hall of famer befor hitting all those homers, but clearly tainted himself and the game with all that went on. But will all that fade with a new generation? In 1961, Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record and baseball fans at the time were up in arms about the extra games he played in. Now, fans my age could care less he had the extra game to play in. Will fans forty years from now look back and say "Who cares what drugs they did?" I think they just might.

Some games from last night...

The Tampa Bay Rays came back from down nine to one in the sixth to beat the Blue Jays ten to nine in the twelfth.

The Phillies got back at the Cardinals for the thumping they took on Friday. They won 14 to six in Philadelphia. Be sure to check out the video of two amazing Rick Ankiel losses. With the addition of Matt Holliday, it will be interesting to see what outfield Tony LaRussa trots out there on a nightly basis. LaRussa tends to be pretty loyal, so I suspect Ankiel will continue to get some time in center field. Remember... he was a PITCHER.

The Red Sox won their second straight, beating the Orioles seven to two in Boston. Jon Lester went seven and a third giving up two runs on eight hits while striking out nine. David Ortiz continued hitting well, connecting on a three run home run in the first inning.

The Yankees eight game winning streak came to a close yesterday afternoon, as a ninth inning rally fell short against the A's in the Bronx. Jorge Posada grounded into a double play with runners on first and second and no one out in the ninth to take any possible bite out of a come back attempt, final score was six to four. The Sox are now just a game and a half in back of the Bombers.

Casey Blake sent the Dodger faithful home happy yesterday with a bases loaded bloop single to win it four to three over the Marlins in LA.

And just because I rarely talk about a single decent thing they do, the Nationals and the Mets both won yesterday. The Nats beat the Paders thirteen to one. The Mets beat the Astros ten to three.