Baseball

All three starting outfielders for one major league team are heading to the All-Star game for the first time since 1995, when the Cleveland Indians sent Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, and Albert Belle.

This season, the Philadelphia Phillies will be the club sending its starting outfielders to the Midsummer Classic with the group of Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez, and Jayson Werth.

Ibanez was the top vote-getter among National League outfielders, while Victorino was voted in by the fans in the final vote, garnering about 15 million votes.

Of course it would happen on the day that I come in from work and instead of writing and getting caught up on the day's news I grill out and mow the lawn. So, when I checked my cell phone for text messages around 9 p.m. I finally found out that Jeff Francoeur had been traded.

When I found out whom to and for I was shocked and perplexed, but ultimately pleased. While trading a former top prospect to a bitter division rival, the Mets, seems a little risky getting Ryan Church in return makes it a little better.

Prior to tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, Mets GM Omar Minaya made an unexpected move when he announced that he traded away RF Ryan Church to the Atlanta Braves for RF Jeff Francoeur.

As many of you probably know, the Royals traded two minor league pitchers for Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

The Royals did have to give up Double-A pitcher Daniel Cortes, who has been tagged by some scouts as the best pitcher in the Royals' farm system. They also gave up Single-A reliever Derrick Saito.

I have talked to some Mariners fans, and they say this is a major win for Seattle. I beg to differ.

Center fielder Torii Hunter and left fielder/designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero were officially placed on the 15-day disabled list today.

Guerrero tweaked his hamstring and strained a muscled behind his left knee when he landed awkwardly after making a catch in Thursday night's game against the Rangers.

Hunter will be resting a a strained abductor muscle in his side that he's been nursing since slamming into the wall at Dodger Stadium on May 22.

Now, after the screaming dies down, pay attention. 

With all the talk lately about Bowker coming up, Sandoval getting screwed in the All-Star vote, Schierholtz getting his chance to play almost every day, the Big Sadowski, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain doing so well, I believe that we are forgetting someone who is quietly producing for the Giants.

Travis Ishikawa.

Most of his accolades concern his stellar fielding, which is possibly the best in the National League. Hell, maybe in all of baseball.

But I'm here to talk about his bat. Yes, you heard me right, his bat.

Earlier this week the Toronto Blue Jays started listening to offers for Roy Halladay, their strong ace, after falling out of the AL East race. Surely there are teams interested, but not many may want to pay the price that they are asking for. I have come up with a list of five teams that should consider going after the ace, and establish a run in this years playoffs.

The Mets traded Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur. Hopefully this isn’t what the Braves needed to take the division, but I’m more concerned about Jeff. He’s hitting .250, which is more than he hit last year, and has five home runs.

I have teetered back and forth over whether I want the Phillies to bankrupt the farm system to bring Toronto Blue Jays ace pitcher Roy Halladay to town.

Upon doing research, my answer is yes.

I did not weigh the pros and cons of losing Kyle Drabek, the linchpin on the part of the Phillies end of the deal. Nor did I look at Halladay's age, his last loss, or whether I thought the Phillies could win the National League East, then go through the playoffs to even reach the World Series.

Nope. I turned to what I usually depend my arguments in life. I turned to history.