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5 Things: Trade Deadline Deals and Yankees Offensive Explosion

By Andrew Kahn

On Sunday in Cooperstown, Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez became the newest members of the baseball Hall of Fame. Perhaps a future Hall of Famer or two will be traded—or already has been—before the 4 p.m. ET non-waiver trade deadline.

Swan song no-no

Has a player’s last start for a team ever been a no-hitter? We now know of at least one, as Cole Hamels threw a no-no for the Phillies on Saturday before getting dealt to Texas late Wednesday night. Hamels dominated the Cubs in Chicago, striking out 13 and walking just two in a 5-0 win. Rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera made two “diving” catches late in the game, the quotation marks used because the plays didn’t require dives. In both cases, particularly the final out of the game, Herrera seemed overeager and wanted to be sure he didn’t screw up the no-no. Whether the final play would have been ruled an error is debatable, but Herrera made it a moot point by securing the grab.

Game of runs

Sometimes the facts are all you need: On Tuesday, the Yankees trailed the Rangers 5-0 in the first inning but didn’t allow a hit after that and scored 21 unanswered runs. Playing in Arlington, the Yanks did most of their damage in immediate response to the Rangers’ barrage, posting 11 runs in the second. As crazy as it sounds, the onslaught could have been avoided. Texas was up 5-1 when a ground ball that should have been a double play was misplayed, leading to two runs and opening up the floodgates. Here’s the dizzying array of runs:

 

Shortstop swap

This trade deserved it’s own headline. Toronto sent Jose Reyes to Colorado for Troy Tulowitzki. Colorado players—including Tulo—say they were shocked by the trade, but Tulowitzki’s name had been in trade talks for weeks. Reyes’ was not. Both shortstops are having good but not great seasons and each has a significant injury history. It also seems odd that Toronto would give up a clear leadoff hitter to get another big bopper in a lineup full of them—not that Tulo or others couldn’t bat first. Colorado also received some minor league flamethrowers in an attempt to finally inject some quality pitching into the franchise. As the deadline approaches, not too many of the other deals involve star players swapping teams, like this one did.

What’s your deal?

It seems like there’s been more intra-divisional trading than in the past. Jonathan Papelbon going from Philadelphia to Washington is one high-profile example. And an interesting side effect of that deal is incumbent Nats closer Drew Storen saying nothing other than he has talked to his agent about it. In other words, he’s not happy. CBS Sports has every trade listed for your convenience. Other notable deals include Kansas City winning the Johnny Cueto sweepstakes and dealing for Ben Zobrist. The Mets, meanwhile, did not trade for Carlos Gomez, despite Wilmer Flores crying on the field Wednesday night after thinking he had been dealt.

Royal defense

The Royals upgraded their roster this week, but their defense was already among the best in baseball. On Tuesday, they turned a 4-6-3 “single play” in the ninth inning to preserve a 2-1 lead. Second baseman Omar Infante fielded a grounder on the opposite side of the bag and flipped it to shortstop Alcides Escobar, who fired to first for the out.

 

Infante shuffled it to his teammate straight from his glove and Escobar appeared a bit stunned to receive the toss. He kept his calm however, handled it cleanly with his bare hand, and made a strong throw. Was it really quicker than Infante making a jump throw across his body? Who knows, but it was pretty, and it got the job done.

 Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about baseball and other sports at http://andrewjkahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn

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