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We've gone 6-5 before the All-Star break in July, a season high 4 game winning streak to close out the 1st half was nice. We are still 6 games ahead of Colorado for the 1st pick, tied with both Boston and California.
I made our first 2 deals of the trading season during the break. I dealt relievers Kevin Ponder and Michael Jackson to the Giants for AAA corner 23 year old Jeff Barry. Ponder was the closer for the Angels last year but had an ERA close to 6 in Florida while Jackson was in the rotation to start the season but lost his spot with an ERA over 5. Barry looks to be a Dave Magadan type but with plenty of speed. He's hit .300 every stop so far and hit 40 doubles last year in AAA. He will go right into the lineup.
With an extra corner man and suddenly down two arms, I dealt Steve Buchele to Baltimore for lefty Don Carman. Buchele was hitting .181 as a utility man and Carman is an arm. We also called up Chris Bosio to go into the bullpen as he was having a nice year in Edmonton.
We have 4 blowouts in the divisions. The Yankees are 8 games ahead of the Tigers, the White Sox are 8 up on the Rangers, Houston are also up 8 games over the Dodgers while the Mets are 'only' 7 games ahead of the Phils.
Barry Larkin is hitting .401 so far, but he's on the DL for 4 weeks with a broken thumb. Sheffield is having another amazing year hitting .372 with 26 HR and 64 RBI. Walker is at .330, 23 HR and 76 RBI.
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