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Switch-hitting second base prospect Harold Garcia of the Clearwater Threshers has been named the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for June 2010. Matthew Way of the Lakewood BlueClaws has been named the Phillies' Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

Garcia, who to this point in his career has not had a lot of pop in his bat, had an explosive month during which he batted .370 with eight doubles, two triples, and two home runs. He collected 22 RBI and 13 runs scored and stole 10 bases in 13 attempts for the High-A Threshers.

In my “10 things we learned about baseball in June” post, I referred to June as the “Month of the Injury.” In June we saw star players such as Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Chase Utley, and Jason Heyward, amongst others, hit the disabled list.

Now it looks like July is picking up right where June left off. Though the first four days we have seen a lot of quality players hit the DL. Let’s take a look.

The fans may not have given the Red Sox much love when casting their ballots for the all-star game, but opposing players and managers- as well as Major League Baseball itself- certainly did as six Red Sox were chosen to play in the Mid-Summer Classic next week in Los Angeles.

And now Sox fans can help to make certain that another player gets to go along too, as a seventh player (1B Kevin Youkilis) is one of five non-selectees nominated in the MLB.com Final Vote.

On Sunday afternoon the Blue Jays finally got a bit of good news after a few weeks of utter despair.

Outfielders Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista were odds on favorites to make the American League All-Star team and did so, but to everyone's surprise, catcher John Buck was also named to the team as a replacement for injured Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez. This is Buck's first ever all-star selection.

All three made it as reserves.

There will be no 4th of July fireworks for Shin-Soo Choo who leads the Cleveland Indians with 13 Home Runs.  Fan favorite Choo was placed on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to July 3rd.  He suffered a Right thumb sprain while attempting a diving catch in right field Friday night against the Oakland A’s.

Michael Brantley was called up from Triple A Columbus to fill the outfield spot.

It was just a matter of when Jim Thome would tie, and then surpass Harmon Killebrew for 10th place on the all-time home run list—not if.

With two outs in the bottom the second, on hot and humid Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis, Thome drove a 1-0 fastball off of Tampa Bay Rays' pitcher Wade Davis 345 feet to left field for his 573rd home run in his 20-year career.

By Sunday evening, the Chicago Cubs will have a new outfielder, Chris Heisey, and the Cincinnati Reds will have a new relief pitcher, Carlos Marmol.

You heard it here first.  

Sources are saying that, "Walt Jocketty and Jim Hendry are in serious discussions over a trade involving Chris Heisey and Carlos Marmol."

The intra-divisional deal is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows.  Teams almost never within their own division—especially when it comes to young talent.

It’s one thing to have prospects in your organization, but it is another thing to have those prospects develop and become solid major league players. That is the issue facing the Baltimore Orioles right now.

The Philadelphia Phillies were hoping for the best case scenario with star second baseman Chase Utley, but on Thursday they got the worst case scenario.

The Phillies placed Utley on the 15-day DL on Wednesday with a strained ligament in his right thumb. They were hoping that he would only be out a couple of weeks, but after Thursday’s events he will be out more than just a couple of weeks.

Utley had surgery yesterday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and is expected to miss the next eight weeks. That is a big blow to Phillies.

The Dodgers activated RHP Cory Wade and out-righted him to Triple-A Albuquerque on Thursday. 

The move was largely an attempt to avoid making more moves, as Wade is not occupying a 40-man roster spot while in the minors.

Wade stepped on the scene as a rookie in 2008 and was immediately effective.

In 71.1 innings, Wade finished with a 2.27 ERA. However, he was persistently hampered by shoulder problems, and his ERA ballooned to 5.53 while allowing 17 runs in just over 27 innings.