Vaguely Baseball-Related Madness:

- when it was announced that the Jays were moving this weekend's home series against the Phillies to Philadelphia, due to security concerns surrounding the G20 summit being held in Toronto, I scoffed. After last night's chaos, which included police cars set on fire, smashed windows along main drags Yonge Street and Queen Street, and even a cavalry charge by the cops' horse unit, I hereby formally retract my scoffing.

A Tiny Ray of Sanity:

- Cleveland trades Russell Branyan and calls up Matt LaPorta. Maybe in a few weeks, they'll actually give LaPorta regular playing time!

Yet Another Big-Name Debut:

- Madison Bumgarner's first major league start didn't go too badly, although he took the loss. He allowed four runs on five hits and a walk over seven innings, striking out five, but got victimized by two home runs. Again, Best. Rookie Class. Ever.

Notables:

- Josh Johnson continued his ace-like ways, giving up two run over eight innings with a 9:1 K:BB ratio. The outing bumped his ERA up (yes, up) to 1.83.
- Trevor Cahill dominated the Pirates (talk about your low bars to clear...), shutting them out for 7.2 innings and allowing just two hits while striking out 10.
- Daric Barton went 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBI. He's on pace for about a 40 double season, and he's still doesn't turn 25 for a couple of months. That power might show up yet.
- Rafael Furcal went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and a steal. His current .303 batting average would be a career high for a full season if he can keep it up.
- Matt Wieters went 3-for-4 with two RBI, and has a quiet little five game hitting streak going during which he has eight RBI. The slumbering beast may be about to awaken.
- Shaun Marcum, pitching a home game in Philadelphia thanks to the Jays' eviction from Toronto due to G20 security measures, gave up just one run on a solo shot by Ryan Howard with a 6:1 K:BB ratio over six innings to win his seventh game of the season.
- David Price won his 11th game of the year, striking out 11 over eight innings while giving up two runs.
- Brian Sweeney, making his first big league appearance since 2006, threw four shutout innings to pick up the win. He gave up just a lonely single and struck out four.
- Jason Bourgeios hit leadoff for the Astros and went 2-for-3 with a walk and two steals. Michael Bourn could join Roy Oswalt on the trading block at this rate.
- Max Scherzer struck out eight over 5.2 shutout innings, walking four and giving up three hits.
- Kenshin Kawakami won his first game of the year in his 10th decision, allowing just one run with a 6:3 K:BB ratio in seven innings.

Save Chances:

- Heath Bell, converted (21). Struck out two and gave up a hit in a shutout inning.
- Francisco Cordero, converted (20). It wasn't pretty, as he gave up a run on two hits and a walk in an inning of work, but he got the job done.
- Rafael Soriano, converted (18). Struck out one, but gave up a Chris Young solo shot.
- Jonathan Papelbon, converted (17). One inning with a lot of zeros.
- Ryan Franklin, converted (15). He needed four outs for this one rather than the traditional three, but he didn't blink. Good lad.
- Brian Fuentes, converted (13). One walk in a shutout inning.
- Alfredo Simon, converted (8). Struck out one in a perfect inning. His numbers aren't at all impressive, and his 3.50 ERA is aided by three unearned runs, but the O's seem inclined to leave him as their closer rather than seeing if David Hernandez is a fit in the job. It's like they have a bet with the Indians to see which franchise can mismanage their young talent the worst.
- Matt Thornton, converted (3). Bobby Jenks was away from the team, and in his absence JJ Putz worked the eighth and Thornon the ninth.
- Brandon League, converted (1). Struck out one in a perfect inning of work with David Aardsma back home due to the birth of his son. If (when?) Aardsma gets dealt, League will be the guy to step in.
- Peter Moylan, converted (1). It was a cheap one, as he struck out the only batter he faced after Takashi Saito and Eric O'Flaherty made a 4-1 game a 4-3 game.

Other Closer Outings:

- Octavio Dotel struck out one and walked one in a scoreless bottom of the eighth with the Pirates down by five. He hadn't pitched since June 20.
- Andrew Bailey pitched a perfect ninth with the A's up by five.
- Jonathan Broxton walked one and struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, protecting a five run lead of his own.

Non-Closer Outings:

- Fernando Rodney gave up a hit and struck out in a shutout inning to notch his 12th hold.
- JJ Putz worked a clean sheet setting up Matt Thornton to win his fourth game of the year. Putz hasn't been scored on since  May 7.
- Chris Perez struck out the side in a perfect eighth with the Indians down by three. Only the need to try and rehabilitate Kerry Wood's trade value is keeping Perez out of the closer job.
- Daniel Bard, aka "Next Year's Boston Closer", struck out two in a perfect eighth inning.
- Frank Francisco, aka "Make Neftali Feliz a Damn Starter Again", also struck out two in a perfect eighth inning.

Lineup-o-logy:

- Coco Crisp hit leadoff and went 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored and his first stolen base of the year. This probably qualifies as bad news for Rajai Davis owners.
- Josh Wilson got the start at first base and hit sixth for the Mariners, prompting them to immediately go out and trade for Russell Branyan.
- Gregor Blanco got the start in center field for the Braves and hit eighth, walking three times in four plate appearances. He now has a .500 OBP (seven hits, six walks) in 26 plate appearances since being called up. It won't win him a starting spot, but it does make him a candidate for the distinguished title of Best Fourth Outfielder in Baseball.

Tough Days:

- AJ Burnett lasted just three innings, giving up six runs on six hits and six walks. He did strike out five. if you insist on looking at the bright side.
- Livan Hernandez gave up five runs on 11 hits over six innings, striking out four without a walk. Looks like the ride is over, kids. Time to get off.
- Justin Masterson conceded (as those honey-tongued World Cup commentators like to say) six runs on six hits and four walks over five innings.
- Cole Hamels, pitching a road game in his home park thanks to the Jays' eviction from Toronto due to G20 security measures, gave up five runs on seven hits, including three home runs, over just four innings.
- Shane Victorino went 0-for-4, and now has just seven hits in his last 49 at-bats (.143 over his last 14 games).
- Kelly Johnson went 0-for-4, and now has just seven hits in his last 42 at-bats (.167 in his last 10 games), which is at least better than Victorino. He's homered just once in his last 32 games, and you have well missed your chance to trade him at his peak value.
- Ian Kennedy walked nine batters in 5.1 innings. The damage could have been worse, actually, as he gave up just two hits and four runs thanks in part to seven strikeouts. How he packed all that into only 115 pitches is a bit of a marvel.
- Chris Johnson and Jason Castro, who laughingly represent the Astros' current youth movement, went a combined 0-for-8 with three K's between them.
- Josh Hamilton went just 1-for-4, but that was good enough to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.
- Carl Pavano pitched the day's only shutout, giving up three hits and a walk while striking out four. He now has nine wins and a 3.33 ERA. No, really, he does. Check it out.

Injuries:

- Clay Buchholz hyperextended his left knee running the bases in the second inning after picking up his first big league hit. With Dustin Pedroia already out for a significant amount of time, the Red Sox simply can't afford any more big injuries if they want to keep pace in the AL East.

Home Runs:

- Miguel Cabrera (20), Paul Konerko (19), Prince Fielder (15), Ryan Howard (15), Colby Rasmus (15), Alex Gonzalez (14), Justin Upton (14), John Buck (13), Mark Teixeira (13), Chris Young (13), Adam Jones (12), Aaron Hill (11), Jason Kubel (10), Hideki Matsui (10), Kurt Suzuki (9), Milton Bradley (7), Aramis Ramirez (6), Clint Barmes (5), Chipper Jones (5), Jose Lopez (5), Darnell McDonald (5), Jason Michaels (4), Ian Kinsler (2), Skip Schumaker (2), Mike Cameron (1)

Stolen Bases:

- Juan Pierre (28), Chone Figgins (20), Shin-Soo Choo (12), Austin Jackson (12), Ben Zobrist 2 (12), Rafael Furcal (11), Franklin Gutierrez (9), Derek Jeter (8), Ian Kinsler (7), Ian Desmond (6), Sean Rodriguez (4), Vernon Wells (4), Jason Bourgeois 2 (3), Coco Crisp (1), Matt Joyce (1), Ryan Sweeney (1)

Caught Stealing:

- Brandon Phillips (8), Hanley Ramirez (5), Shin-Soo Choo (4), Miguel Olivo (4), Starlin Castro (2), Mark Ellis (1), Yunel Escobar (1)