[dgally]

The All-Star game kicks off July. As in the last few years, Buck is the only rep from the Jynx I mean Lynx. Koch is getting snubbed I think. 20 dubs, 20 bombs for a .285 avg and 60 rbis is solid production half the year through. I may have missed this but we traded out Garza our LF who had a good year and now was batting .176 through 80 games for Coyle. The OSA/Scouts are split on him becoming a frontrunner or bench player. He plays all IF well enough so he can slot in as a 4th once Gross comes back.

The games pick up again at the end of the week where we face San Luis. Former Lynx Star Bryan is having a fine year, looking again toward 30/100/.290. We lose the first two but stave off the sweep by a fine performance by Asenjo and the BP, shutting out the Cyclones 3-0. 1-2

Guatemala is next. A three game series in two days. The doubleheader is a double edge beating as we fall to both, losing 6-9 and 4-6. Again, we stave off the sweep with a nice performance by Brackmann who's finally showing signs of life. 1-2

We head over to Tijuana next. Gross is nearly ready to come off IR from his 6 week wrist injury. We sweep the Frozen Ropes, championed by a 1-0 performance from Buck. I would love a stat to see his run support. 3-0

The Kangaroos of LA come into town next. We split the first two but win the rubber match in a definitive 8-0 shutout complete game by Buck, making 17 innings straight of 0 run ball. Breakout CF Esteban Gonzalez picked up his 7th triple of the season. 2-1

Division matchup in Chicago. A topsy turnsy series sees us the loser in the rubber match. 1-2

Next, a two game series across three days against Havana. We split the two. 1-1

Big trade talks happening.

San Diego comes into town and we almost exact revenge on the sweep they put on us last time. We win 2 and barely miss out on the last, losing 0-1. But the matches are unimportant to fans. 2-1

Blockbuster trade. We find a package deal where we can unload 17mil/yr McWilliams...it includes Star 2b Tom English. English is having another down season though with his defensive abilities, he'll still manage to get 4-5 WAR. But, he's on 30mil/yr with an opt-out coming up, one I'm guessing he might take. We can't get as much as we want but we'll get #69 prospect Quinn in return plus a decent looking 2b prospect. At 23 Quinn is sadly still not ready but I'm hoping for a late bloomer. Either way, dumping nearly 50 million off the books lets us fully restructure. We can slot in Chris Lady at 3rd, Gross at 2nd, and Gubernick at SS-- who may steal 100 bases this year. It's sad but it gives us the breathing room we've needed. Fans hate it. English goes to champs Guatemala and will prob finish out the year hitting .300.

Post trade, we head to Monterrey and miss out on a series win by a hair as all three games are decided by 1 run. Wolterman has lost the CL job in favor of Bobby Rodriguez again. 1-2

We close out the month in Ottawa. Starter Vogler, whom we got for Puentes goes down for a month. Still, the last game of the month falls our way, 1-0

Having done our business pre-deadline, we make no deals. We got 13-11 for the month, the second month in a row above .500 putting us at .455 win mark for the year and 11 back in the division. Onward to August. We'll see how Gross and Koch fill the English hole.