MLB NETWORK TO AIR MORE THAN FIVE HOURS OF LIVE TRADE DEADLINE COVERAGE ON SATURDAY, JULY 31

Gammons, Hart, Heyman, Reynolds, Verducci & Others Part of Coverage Starting at 11:00 a.m. ET

MLB Network to Countdown the 40 Most Memorable Trades in MLB History at 6:00 p.m. ET

Secaucus, N.J., July 28, 2010 – MLB Network will provide more than five hours of live coverage of the MLB Trade Deadline on Saturday, July 31 from 11:00 a.m. ET until 4:30 p.m. ET. Greg Amsinger, Matt Vasgersian, Peter Gammons, John Hart, Jon Heyman, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci will cover every move leading up to the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline. MLB.com senior writer Jonathan Mayo and MLB Network Insiders and sportswriters Phil Rogers, Richard Justice and Tracy Ringolsby will contribute analysis on-air throughout the day. Saturday’s coverage follows MLB Network’s hour-long Path to the Trade Deadline specials airing daily this week before MLB Tonight.

MLB Network will air MLB Network Countdown: The 40 Most Memorable Trades in MLB History, an hour-long show recapping the most influential trades that led to Hall of Fame careers, pennants, World Series titles and other significant franchise moments. Narrated by Vasgersian, the countdown includes: John Smoltz being traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Atlanta Braves in 1987, the New York Mets trading Hall of Famer Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977, the Texas Rangers trading Alex Rodriguez to the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano in 2004, Hall of Famer Nellie Fox’s trade to the Chicago White Sox from the Philadelphia Athletics in 1949, and the Cincinnati Reds trading Hall of Famer and pitching great Christy Mathewson to the New York Giants in 1900.

Saturday Night Baseball at 7:00 p.m. ET will feature the AL first-place New York Yankees at division rival Tampa Bay Rays, with select television markets seeing the Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox at 7:00 p.m. ET. Immediately following the game, MLB Tonight will return live for one hour, while MLB Network’s Hazel Mae will recap the day’s game action on Quick Pitch at 11:00 p.m. ET.

For more information and to find MLB Network in your area, go to:

• www.MLBNetwork.com
• www.Facebook.com/MLBNetwork
• www.Twitter.com/MLBNetwork

After months of speculation, Roy Oswalt has finally been traded.

The winners of the disgruntled player sweepstakes were the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies, not the Cardinals, as had been rumored. As an aside, I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad about that for reasons Amanda stated here. It kind of would’ve been nice seeing the Cardinals raid an already weak farm system for this year. It sure would have set up the Reds nicely for the next few years.

But back to the trade. The Houston Astros sent Roy Oswalt, who waived his no-trade clause, to the Phillies for lefthander J.A. Happ, shortstop Jonathan Villar, and Anthony Gose, who was flipped to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league first baseman Brett Wallace.

J. A. Happ was a runner-up in the rookie of the year voting last year, and looks to be a solid 3 or 4 starter in the Houston rotation. He’s no Oswalt, but he’ll be serviceable. According to the Crawfish Boxes, Jonathan Villar “has plus-plus speed coupled with a great arm. He has all of the tools to stick at shortstop and be a plus defender there, but needs to work on the skills aspect of his defense.” And Brett Wallace is one of the top first base prospects in the league. Which will be good for the NL Central, which is known for its shortage of awesome first basemen.

For the Reds, this trade means they will not face Roy Oswalt during the regular season again this year. The only way they would face him is if they made the playoffs. And with a first place lead 2 days shy of August, I’m feeling optimistic about the Reds’ chances.

Boxscore

Going into Thursday, the Cincinnati Reds were tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for first place of the National League Central. Thanks to the New York Mets and a great outing by knuckle-baller R.A. Dickey, the Reds are back in first.

A day after their extra-inning affair, the Cardinals’ offense played tired. They managed 4 hits and no runs. Albert Pujols played, despite being gimpy, and contributed nothing in what is shaping up to be the worst year of his career. (Of course, the vast majority of players would kill to have a year as “crappy” as Pujols is having. It’s nice having Joey Votto on the Reds.)

Blake Hawksworth wasn’t very good again in his start for St. Louis, getting his 7th loss. Over 6 innings, he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts.

After storming out of the break with a 7-game winning streak, the Cardinals have now lost 2 series in a row.

Daniel Ray Herrera, the diminutive left handed reliever that the Reds have on assignment down in AAA Louisville right now, was arrested last night for public intoxication. From WLKY.com:

Police said Herrera, 25, was walking along northbound US 31 when he was stopped by Indiana State Police at 4:18 a.m.

ISP arrested Herrera and charged him with public intoxication. When he arrived at the Clark County Jail, his blood alcohol level tested at 0.228.

Herrera is due to be released from the Clark County Jail at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

It’s been a while since anyone in the Cincinnati has been in trouble with the law. Didn’t used to be that way. I remember Brian Shackelford’s arrest on a Milwaukee road trip, and of course, Ryan Freel gave us not one, but two mug shots. Comparatively, wandering up the highway in the wee morning hours seems only LaRussa-esque.

A few things that have been stacking up in my inbox, just waiting for a night when I’m too tired to write anything of my own. Thank you, other bloggers, for sharing!

Prospect Interview
Bus League Baseball interviews Blue Jays’ prospect Zach Stewart. If you’re like me, you have no recollection of who that is, and since the Reds aren’t mentioned in the story, reading it would be interesting but not helpful in making the connection. Fortunately, Brian, the author, reminded me that he was among the players the Reds traded for Scott Rolen.

Past Glory Meets Current Nerdiness
Remember the pretend 1977 Reds team I was “managing” this season? And, by managing, I mean seeing some of the best players of the era get screwed over by unlucky rolls of the dice and losing interest in the whole thing. Well, apparently the dice have been in their favor lately, and they’ve been on a bit of a tear. Check out the write-up, if you’re as interested in imaginary past glory as the current real-life glory of the team right now.

Around the Sphere
Not that I have nearly the time to read other blogs that I want to have, but I did take a moment to check out Reds Country and was well impressed. I hope you have an little time to give it a look. I also has an email from back in March announcing another baseball blog, but I spared you that one, because my standards for the blogs I’ll link to are rigorous: 1) you must know how to use paragraphs, and 2) you must post more than once ever.

Call for our Prospectus
Moving on to the sort of crap only a baseball fan MBA could come up with (ahem), SeatGeek.com is a “website that forecasts how sports and concert ticket prices move on the secondary ticket market.” This may be as good a market to invest your retirement fund in as any. Read the report, but remember that every opportunity has risks.

Else
And that’s about everything in the inbox, except for a book excerpt I’ve been meaning to look at for four months, SEVERAL poorly punctuated messages from PayPal to let me know that my account has been locked and that I need to fill out an attached form with all my personal information in order to access it again, and a surprising number of Canadian pharmacies want to sell me Viagra. How did they even know I was in the market?