Tuesday's first pitch

Leading Off
So yeah, we planned to blog while on vacation. It worked out alright the first two days. Then we had a travel day from Williamsburg, Va., to Philadelphia. Seven hours in traffic just ruined any blogging moods.
Then, we stayed at a wonderful hotel in Philly. The only problem was we had to pay a large chunk of change for internet connection, so blogging was unavailable.
And oh how we wanted to blog.
There was the Matt Holliday trade. We caught the Phils-Cards game Friday night, his first as a Redbird. First, dad said, "Is that Matt Holliday? When did the Cardinals get him? Wasn't he in Colorado."
So, yeah, he missed the whole traded to Oakland thing. But he picked up on Holliday pretty quickly. A young woman standing next to us said the trade was announced that day. "But I didn't think he'd be here tonight," she added.
A quick look at the scoreboard showed Oakland was playing the Yankees so Holliday only had to travel a couple hundred miles.
Well, lets try to get caught up on everything else.
Regional Roundup
While we were on vacation the region's teams were hard at work, especially the World Champs

• The Champs are on fire. They looked really good against the Cardinals and started their series with the Diamondbacks very strongly. As for the Roy Halladay rumors, well, the Phillies have options. Jimmy Watch:1-for-5, double, RBI. Consistently at .236. Figure this one out, J-Roll is on pace for 104 runs scored, 44 doubles and 29 stolen bases.


• Melvin Mora wants to remain an Oriole. Was this Rich Hill's last start.


• John Lannan is trying out a new philosophy, making batters hit the ball. Lannan has a 3.25 ERA this season, so something is working out for him.


• Tim Lincecum dominated the Triple-A roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Best of Rest

• The Blue Jays might not be impressed by what's being offered to them.


• The Mariners could be big sellers, even though Jarrod Washburn would like to stay an M.


• The Giants picked up Ryan Garko. This is one of those under-the-radar moves that could really work out. Last season, the Indians traded Casey Blake to the Dodgers. Blake was almost as important as Manny Ramirez for Big Blue.


• Are the Red Sox going after Adrian Gonzalez?


• Here's a good Vin Scully feature.


• A New York Daily News reporter has gotten caught up in the firing of a bizarre employee.

Batter's Eye

• So, while we were away, the Pirates continued to trade their Major League talent. They sent Adam LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox, who already have former Pirates Tim Wakefield and Jason Bay on their roster.
  Next up, they're going to trade PNC Park to Toronto for a player to be named later.

Today in history
1958 -- For the sixth time in his career, Mickey Mantle hit home runs from both sides of the plate. New York beat the Athletics 14-7.

1971 -- Sixteen-time Gold Glove winner Brooks Robinson committed three errors in the sixth inning against the Oakland A's. Frank Robinson's three-run homer in the ninth won the game for the Orioles.

The Closer
The Phillies are the World Champs, but the Yankees are the best team in baseball right now.
It will be interesting to see if they can keep this hot streak alive for the next few weeks.
Their recent streak has coincided with them facing Baltimore and Oakland, who are not the giants they were in the 1970s.
That said, if the Yanks continue to play well against Tampa Bay and Chicago during this week, then they will probably be the favorites to win the American League.