What were the odds that the trade deadline would come and go without us making a single move? I mean the team is exactly .500 for the 15th time this season. I wonder what the record is for most times at times at .500 durning a season? With the number of players in the last year of a contract, you would have thought we'd make at least a couple of moves, maybe try to build some depth? Anyway none of it happened.

In other news, Dustin McGowan had surgery on his arm and all went well.

"It's encouraging news," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "He should be ready for Spring Training [in 2009]. We might have to bring him along a little slower in Spring Training, but everything looked good, went good and he's on the road to recovery right now."   

This line does worry me:

An MRI exam showed a slight tear in his rotator cuff, but Toronto's medical staff determined that the damage wasn't the main concern.

'Slight tear' and not the 'main concern' seem like terms that might could come back to haunt us.

The trade of Manny to the Dodgers looks like a good one for all concerned. The Dodgers added a great bat and are in a division where none of the teams at very good. Adding a great bat to the middle of a poor lineup might be enough to allow them to pull away from the rest of the crappy teams in the division. Watching him play defense in that huge outfield in LA should be great fun.

Jason Bay is a heck of a bat too....his numbers are not all that different from Manny's this season and his defense will be better and, of course, he is more likely to care about winning. Bay is hitting .282/.375/.529, Manny's numbers .299/.398/.529, so the offensive difference might not be as big as you might have guessed.

The Pirates are getting pitcher Craig Hansen and outfielder Brandon Moss from the Sox and third baseman Andy LaRoche and minor league pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers. So they didn't do too badly either.

Thought it would be a good time to check how our injured players are doing:

Jeremy Accardo: is throwing from the mound, accardoing to his blog (sorry) he's 'making changes to his mechanics' to take stress off his arm. He saw the doctor in LA last week and apparently all is fine. He's a few weeks from returning.

Aaron Hill: is apparently still not ready for 'strenuous' activities. They said he was hitting off a tee and fielding ground balls, but he looks like it is going to be a while before he's back. Jp said "he's not feeling great". I wouldn't expect to see him before August.

Shaun Marcum: is making at least one rehab start, buy likely two, so he'll won't be back till the near end of the month.

Dustin McGowan: has been told that there is no 'new' damage to his shoulder. They are calling it 'shoulder inflammation' now. He's not going to have surgery, but he won't be back for at least a month.

Shannon Stewart: is still feeling pain in his ankle when running. He has taking bating practice. Who knows (or cares) when\if he'll be back. I guess the other question is will he be back or will the team release him?

Vernon Wells: was expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks with his grade 2 strained hamstring. He says he'll be back quicker but I wouldn't expect him to be back before August.

Casey Janssen: his recovery is reportedly going well. So it looks good for next season.......boy wouldn't he have been great to have in our bullpen this year.

Oh well, another loss....we can't beat good teams and we can't beat bad teams....can we find someone else to play?

The good.....hmmmmm give me a while, I'll think of something. Well, Lind's two run, home run was good. He continues to impress. Sending he down earlier in the year is starting to look like reason #446 to fried JP. And League pitched! Honest, he did. I was starting to think there would have to be a plague to get him on the mound. Two innings of shutout ball. Yeah, I'm not going to mention the 2 walks, 2 hits (one a hard hit ground rule double) and the amazing double play that Rolen pulled off that saved his bacon.

The bad....everything else. They managed to make Washburn look like a very good pitcher. They also made 4 relief pitchers look amazing. Three innings of no hit relief pitching. Rios looked lost at the plate. Stairs and Barajas looked just as bad. Zaun had as poor a pinch hit appearance as you are likely to see. McGowan again looked bad on the road. He did make one of the defensive plays of the year, Sexson hit a hard one at him that knocked his glove off, but he chased the ball and glove down and threw out Sexson. And....well let's just say if they wore a Jays jersey they didn't look good out there....expect for Lind's home run.

The unders won in the RISP pool as we had zero. 0 for 7. Jay of the Day? Would have to be Lind and Lind alone.

We had a very lively and fun Game Thread...414 comments....we were visited by some very friendly M's fans...misery love company. And had a lurker unlurk....come back often domefan.

Tomorrow's an off day for our boys to lick their wounds after losing a series to the worst team in the AL. Friday they are in California to face the Angels, AJ vs Jered Weaver. Be sure to join in in the Game Thread.  Four games under .500 and the hope of getting back there before the All-Star break slipping away. With nine games, they'd have to go 7 and 2 to get there. We can hope.