Game 1: Great pitching, but the offense was stifled and didn’t come through in opportunities they were given. Unfortunately the team couldn’t rally behind Swisher’s 9th inning blast, the only ray of light for the Yanks. (Shucks, I guess I’m a series too late for the Rays puns)

Game 2: Awful pitching all the way around, good offensive effort but it wasn’t enough. I will say this though: Johnny Damon is a monster. I can’t find a picture of it now which is a real bummer but he made a SICK catch crashing into the left field wall. Highlight of the game: WELCOME BACK SHELLY DUNCAN

OK ENOUGH OF THAT, TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE REAL NEWS

The trade deadline transported more people than a 747. If I tried to cover every person moving this way and that way, I’d be here until the trade deadline next summer. In the spirit of wanting to finish this and salvage my summer at the same time, I’m going to cover the 7, count ‘em 7, teams that made the biggest impact in the market. 

1. Philadelphia Phillies: As if there was any trace of doubt in the Phillies’ minds about Cliff Lee, it was silenced quickly: 9 IP 4H 1ER 2 BB 6 K. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I actually covered this trade when it was initially made in an early blog in much greater detail, to read it click here

2. Cleveland Indians: It’ll probably take a while to find out whether their trade actions will benefit the organization or not. They traded away their best pitcher Lee and good offensive players in Martinez and Francisco for some prospects, and time will only tell if they made the right move. They collected Chris Perez, Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, Jess Todd and Nick Hagadone. “These trades mean that they’re not going to win for a couple of years…I think they’re going to end up being really good in about 2012. But in the meantime, it’s going to be hard.” 

3. Boston Red Sox: As hard as it is to admit, the Sox pulled off some pretty good trades. They got 1st baseman Casey Kotchman, catcher/1st baseman Victor Martinez and Chris Duncan. While the trades for the 1st baseman and catcher confused me a little bit at first, it really makes a lot of sense for the Sox. With Varitek and Lowell aging pretty visibly, they can put one of their new guys at catcher, one of their new guys at first base, move Youk over to third and that way you can have Varitek and Lowell out of the lineup resting without losing that much offense. And they did it all without having to part with Clay Buchholz. Although it chokes me up to say this…well done…

4. Toronto Blue Jays: As much as everyone says they’re losers this trade deadline and that they made a big mistake and did a bad thing blah blah blah, I have to disagree. Trading Roy Halladay was not a do-or-die situation for them, they did not go into July saying “ok, this is a guy that we have to deal right now.” They entered with the mindset that they were possibly going to deal him if any offer came around that “wowed” them and that was too good to pass up. They almost reached that with the Phillies, but Philadelphia wasn’t ready to part with their best prospects which is what the Blue Jays were asking for and what Roy Halladay is worth. Some say that he was “overpriced” which is pure BS, because this is Roy Halladay we’re talking about. This is a man who can turn a team around and pitch like no other. “…you know what? As good as Cliff Lee is, I still think it might have been worth it [to overpay for Halladay]. Roy Halladay in the National League would have been unhittable. He would have put up CC [Sabathia] numbers for a year and a half. I can’t say that about Cliff Lee,” said one AL executive. No team was willing to give up what Halladay was worth and thats all there was to it. As for the Scott Rolen trade, they probably got the bad end of that one.

5. Chicago White Sox: They’re another team thats going to have to wait a while to see if their trade paid off. Jake Peavy is on the DL and isn’t expected to return until september, but in a tight race in the AL central, he could prove as the factor that pushes the Sox ahead of everyone else. While a healthy Peavy can sure be a dominant one, the Sox took a real gamble on a guy who won’t even be able to pitch until the seasons almost over.

6. St. Louis Cardinals: While they were the early birds of the trade deadline, making their deals in June and July, they sure made some really great ones. They got heavily needed offensive protection for Albert Pujols in acquiring Mark DeRosa, Matt Holliday and Julio Lugo. With power hitters stacked throughout the lineup, opposing pitchers are going to have a hard time figuring out how to pitch to them. “Now you don’t know what the hell to do. You don’t want to walk him [Pujols], and you don’t want to pitch to him, either. And unfortunately, you’ve only got two choices.”

7. Pittsburgh Pirates: On first glance, you might be mistaken into confusing a list of the players involved with their trades with a complete list of their 40-man roster. But if you look closer, you’ll see that the number of those traded/acquired falls a tad short. They traded away “big” names like Hinske, Sanchez, McLouth, LaRoche and Snell for mostly a bunch of unknowns. On the plus side: they’re rebuilding an unsuccessful team. On the negative side: are they trying to erase every semi-known face of their franchise to make the team completely unrecognizable. Who are they trying to hide from anyways?

Well there’s the trades for you, time to look forward to August waivers!

Signing off for now

-Inside the Thought Bubble