AL East

The Boston Red Sox have dealt struggling reliever and hometown flame-thrower Manny Delcarmen to the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

After first breaking in with the Sox's in 2005 and posting a respectable 3.00 ERA, the 28-year-old Delcarmen has experienced distinct peaks and valleys in his six seasons in Beantown.

I'll admit that I wasn't always the biggest Marcus Thames fan.

I hated his long swing. I hated how he played the outfield like a foreign exchange student in gym class. I even hated his name—and no, not his oddly pronounced last name.

Has there ever been a likable Marcus? Really? No...no there hasn't.

Fact is, the New York Yankees love returning to the Bronx.

Why wouldn’t they love coming home, with a packed stadium full of fans?

The Yanks are tied for the first place, and they also share the best record in baseball and Yankee fans will cheer the team till the end.

The other team leading the pack is the Tampa Bay Rays, a 12-year-old franchise with loads of potential and hands-down has the best young talent in all of MLB.

Marcus Thames hit his sixth home run in as many games as the Yankees slugged their way past the Oakland A’s 11-5.

Here are some notes:

I understand the need to appeal to the mass audience. It's even somewhat expected that an announcing team from a nationally televised broadcast may not know all there is to know about the teams they're visiting.

But the shame of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast of the Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox game crossed the border of embarrassing and went straight into laughable.

Through history, many players have entered baseball's most hallowed hall. The list of players is numerous: 54 starting pitchers, 16 catchers, 18 first basemen, 17 second basemen, 10 third basemen, 21 shortstops, and 60 outfielders have plaques in the Hall of Fame. Even nine umpires have gained entrance to Cooperstown.

Some claim third base, or even catcher, is the most underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame.

Roger Clemens plead not guilty to the perjury charges levied against him Monday, according to a report from the Associated Press. 

Clemens was accused of lying to  Congress during a hearing regarding the use of steroids and HGH in baseball.

If he's convicted, he faces jail time of up to 30 years, and a fine up to $1.5 million. But the real damage was done today, as Clemens' not guilty plea has already sealed his fate.

Here are 10 reasons why Clemens' Hall of Fame dreams were dashed today.  

There was a lot of news surrounding the Toronto Blue Jays in the final weekend of August.

They were playing the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, and despite having one of his best strikeout totals, Marc Rzepczynski struggled to keep the ball in the zone and suffered as a result.

Three of the five baserunners he walked later came in to score, a costly result when he only allowed five hits. 

Early in the season, the Yankees were carried by their strong rotation and were constantly hurt by their poor bullpen. Lately it has been the exact opposite, though.

The New York Yankees have some big pitching concerns, and for once it’s not the bullpen.

The starting rotation has been a major question mark and concern lately—so much so that many Yankees fans are not confident in this team's chances in the playoffs if it makes it.

A.J. Burnett has put the Yankees in a very tough spot. Burnett and Javier Vazquez have both been extremely inconsistent this season.