The Week in Baseball: 7/29-8/2

Trades: The Tigers started the week off by improving their terrible bullpen with the acquisition of Jose Veras from the Astros. The Braves improved their bullpen by picking up Scott Downs from the Angels. Jake Peavy was sent to Boston in a three-team trade involving Detroit. Oakland traded Grant Green for Alberto Callaspo to fill in at 2nd. Little known fact: the A's scouted and liked Mike Trout, they selected Grant Green instead. The Diamondbacks got bullpen help by sending Ian Kennedy to San Diego for Joe Thatcher. The funniest moment and turned out the last moment of the deadline was the Astros sending Bud Norris to Baltimore for Hoes. What a lame deadline.

Fear the Blue: Not a trade but former Giants closer Brian Wilson signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers to help with their bullpen. I have to say I'm not bitter about this move. When a former Giants becomes a Dodger it usually doesn't work out (Jeff Kent and Jason Schmidt anyone?). Also I'm looking forward to the Dodgers trying to score 10 runs every night because their back end of the bullpen features Wilson and Brandon League and the front end has Carlos Marmol! They're definitely blowing a save in the playoffs.

PIRATES: This hit gave the Pirates their first lead this late in the season in the NL Central since the last time they made the playoffs in 1992. FEEL THE EXCITEMENT IN PITTSBURGH!



Biogenesis: You know the people of Biogenesis are bad when the feds are looking into them. As of right now in this case no one has been suspended yet that isn't named Ryan Braun. ARod has tried to negotiate a settlement for the punishment and he can't even pull that off. Buck Showalter spoke up about MLB possibly suspending ARod for life and is angry about it because suspending ARod for life would wipe his contract off the books for the Yankees giving them an advantage. As always, Buck is correct.

The Dave Kingman All-Stars: What are the Dave Kingman All-Stars? Well they are the players who are out machines (low OBP guys) who can also smack the ball out of the yard. Alfonso Soriano this season is about to join the Dave Kingman All-Stars if he gets to 25 home runs this season which is a possibility.

The Pirates and Francisco Liriano: On Thursday I talked about the pros and cons of the Pittsburgh Pirates going forward. Dave Cameron says don't expect any regression from the Bucs. One of those players that have turned into a pro for the Pirates is Francisco Liriano. Beyond the Boxscore looks at how rare it is for a pitcher to have a third resurgence like the case of Liriano this season. One of the things BtB noticed was that Liriano is clearly more successful when he isn't throwing fastballs as much like he is doing this season.

Charlie O: Oakland has had their fair share of colorful owners. Everyone knows about Al Davis' exploits by this point because he stuck around for so long. People forget though just how batshit crazy former A's owner Charlie O. Finley was in his own right. Athletics Nation takes a look at Finley's crazy reign as the A's owner and finishes off what was probably the beginning of the end for Finley as the A's owner when he took his own fight to the commissioners office when he tried to "sell" his own players.

The Games of the Weekend: A look at the best games and pitching matchups of the weekend.

Friday, San Francisco vs Tampa Bay, Bumgarner vs Archer: I'm only picking this game because of the pitching matchup. If I picked this game because of the quality of the team, the Giants wouldn't be nowhere near this list. That being said the Bumgarner-Archer matchup is one of those matchups you have to watch despite how bad or good a team might be. /watch both Bumgarer and Archer not make it out of the fifth inning

Saturday, Texas vs Oakland, Garza vs Parker: True story, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are making their first appearance ever in Oakland this weekend. YOU SEE YANKEES THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SUCK! JOE BUCK AND TIM MCCARVER ACTUALLY HAVE TO CALL A GAME IN OAKLAND! If I had to guess, this is the first game McCarver has called in Oakland since the 1990 World Series.

Sunday, St. Louis vs Cincinnati, Lynn vs Leake: If the Cardinals are careful, the Reds are also going to surpass them in the standings. I would argue St. Louis needs a series victory more in this series than the Reds do because Cincinnati really has no pressure on them right now.