A day after the Blue Jays and Twins traded outfielders (Shannon Stewart to the Twins and Bobby Kielty to the Blue Jays), both teams seem to have benefitted from the deal. Kielty went three for four for the Blue Jays as they beat the Red Sox and the Twins are winning for the first time in quite a while (though Stewart is hitless so far).

Ichiro Suzuki is two for three so far for the Mariners, though they are losing to the amazing Royals. Ichiro is having an amazing run is now up to .355. For the third year in a row he is well on his way to 200 hits and has a chance for 250 hits two years after hitting 240. Sometimes it is hard to acknowledge that a foreign player is among the best there is in the game. The NBA is now going through the same quandry as so many of its new stars are from eastern Europe, China and other countries. But it's time for the Fan to give it up and simply say that Ichiro is amazing and one of the most exciting players in MLB.

Ichiro turns a ground ball into an exciting play. He is the best right fielder in baseball and there is nothing he can't do with the bat. I can't remember what expert said that Ichiro and Hideki Matsui (I believe the conversation was about Matsui at the time and was made by Joe Torre) are situational hitters and that is now rare in MLB. The comment was made that most hitters now take the same approach when hitting now matter what the situation. Suzuki and Matsui change their approach each at bat and that's why they succeed. Ichiro is simply terrific.

Ken Griffey Jr. hurt his leg again tonight in a very sad development. Reds fans booed him as he was leaving the field. Talk about a class act that doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. The Fan sincerely hopes that Junior has at least one more great season before the toll of his injuries take him out of the game.

Barry Bonds tried to soften his comments about Babe Ruth today as his mouth has created another controversy. His latest alleged quote is: "Babe Ruth is symbolic of baseball,'' Bonds said. ``If there is a record you want to go after, it's Babe Ruth. Because Babe Ruth is Mr. Baseball, right? ... He's considered the greatest baseball player, and if you want to compare yourself, you want to compare yourself to the greatest player.'' Nice try, Barry. For the full story see: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giants-bonds-ruth&prov=ap&type=lgns

And finally, the widow of Oriole pitcher, Steve Bechler, is suing the makers of Xenadrine RFA-1 for $600 million dollars. Bechler died of heat exhaustion and an autopsy revealed large amounts of the supplement in his system. The money won't bring the pitcher back but perhaps if this supplement is allegedly unsafe, then a settlement should help to take it off the market. It will be interesting to see where this case goes. I would imagine an out of court settlement is in the future for Ms. Bechler.