You don't hear much of that Manny-for-MVP talk any more, do you.

Meanwhile, Jason Bay has hit .347/.387/.547 with 24 RBI in 23 games as the Red Sox have gone 17-7 since the trade.

It must be infuriating to have a dog in the NL West. The division is just THERE for the taking and nobody seems to want it.

The Rockies seem to want it. Check out Livan pitching like a Cy Young contender

The Rockies want it now: They've been playing very good ball since the first of July, going 31-20 since then. The problem was that they didn't seem to want it the first three months of the season, when they went 32-51.

They lost their sixth consecutive game Wednesday, 5-4, to the Washington Nationals, but they lost no ground in this charade of a pennant race.

If the Dodgers lose tonight, they'll be swept by the team with the worst record in the league. But the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks just got swept by the team with the second-worst record in the league, the San Diego Padres.

"I don't care about Arizona," Kemp said. "We don't need to worry about anything Arizona is doing if we take care of our job."

The Diamondbacks lead the Dodgers by three games, and the teams play three games in Phoenix this weekend.
...
They gave up two unearned runs, one after 17-time Gold Glove winner Greg Maddux threw so high to second base on an attempted force play that he overthrew shortstop Nomar Garciaparra covering the bag and hit Jeff Kent, backing up in short center field, on the fly.

And, in his second start since the Dodgers acquired him last week, Maddux again offered little evidence he could strengthen the Dodgers' rotation. He struck out none, for the first time this season. He gave up four runs, two earned, and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The Nationals got all eight hits within a span of 17 batters. In 11 innings with the Dodgers, Maddux has given up 17 hits.

LA Times (RR)

At the beginning of this year, I was really hoping to see Maddux go another season or two. Just to see if he could finish 3rd all time in wins. Thats not looking like a possibility anymore. Hell, at this point catching Clemens is looking to be a challenge.

Meanwhile, Jason Bay has hit .347/.387/.547 with 24 RBI in 23 games

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez has hit .380/.473/.620 with 6 HR and 21 RBI in 25 games. That's a 181 OPS+ for those of you scoring at home. Manny has not been the problem. The Dodgers are 5 for 50 with RISP in the last 4 games.

At the beginning of this year, I was really hoping to see Maddux go another season or two. Just to see if he could finish 3rd all time in wins. Thats not looking like a possibility anymore. Hell, at this point catching Clemens is looking to be a challenge.

Yep. Two more goddamned wins. Just two. But, as you say, that isn't looking likely.

And how are Bay's stats relevant anyway? The Dodgers gave up a couple prospects for Manny, would have had to give up significantly more to get Bay.

OK, I guess it could have been Manny to Pitt, Bay to LA and two prospects to the Red Sox. :-)