I don't get the trade. I do, but I don't. The trade of Armando Benitez for Jeff Nelson makes sense for Seattle. The Mariners have an injured closer and they trade a player who was openly critical of the Mariner organization. The trade makes all kinds of sense for the Mariners. But it makes no sense at all for the Yankees.

The Yankees trade a thirty year old arm that is one of the premier closers in baseball for a thirty-six year old arm that can't match Benitez statistics with a Frisbee. Perhaps the Yankees are trying to reach back for a proven formula of their championship seasons by bringing Nelson back to set up Rivera. Nelson performed flawlessly in that role in his Yankee career. But that was a few years ago. And he has never gone a season without some sort of physical problem.

This trade simply makes no sense from the Yankees perspective. In many ways, with Benitez, the Yankees had a setup man that was scarier than their closer. The Yankees closer is struggling right now. Benitez was excellent insurance and a solid performer. We'll see what happens IF the Yankees make the playoffs AND if they have to face Seattle somewhere along the way.


In happier news, Dontrelle Willis pitched eight innings, gave up only three runs and improved his rookie record to 11-2 tonight with a win over wildcard rival, St. Louis. Willis had a rough first inning and then was untouchable the rest of the way. There are few stories this year as much fun and as exciting as the year this Marlins' pitcher is having.

Florida is now only a game behind the Phillies in the wildcard race. The season the Marlins have put together is, along with the Kansas City Royals, one of the best stories in baseball. The Red Sox and the A's are neck and neck for the AL wildcard. Both teams still have a great chance to win their respective divisions.


It's time to look at the Fan's favorite boxscore players and how they have performed the last seven games:
- Coco Crisp. Coco had gone loco the last time we looked but came back to earth this week with only five hits in twenty-four at bats. His season average is still a respectable .289 and he did hit a homer tonight that do not factor into above stats.
- Rocco Baldelli. Baldelli also had a tough week batting .194 with only six hits in thirty-one chances. His season average dipped below .300 for the first time all season. I hope he bounces back over that mark soon.

My favorite young Texas Rangers players:
- Hank Blalock. Blalock beat Rivera and the Yankees tonight and continued his .350 batting for the last seven days. Blalock is back up to .321 for the season with 19 homers and 63 RBI. In a very positive statistic, he is also getting more patient at the plate as he walked five times last week.
- Shane Spencer. My old friend batted .313 last week with three RBI. It appears that his new batting coach believes in Spencer and is making adjustments that could get Spencer back to where he was when he started his career with a bang for the Yankees.
- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira is the hottest of the Rangers batting .391 with three homeruns and seven RBI. His strikeouts are down and his walks are up.
- Michael Young. Young had a bad week as he batted only .185. But he still hit four extra base hits and is fielding his position with passion and flair.

- Pat Burrell. Burrell has gone beyond the Phillies wish to keep waiting for him. He has been pinch hit for, benched, double-switched for pitchers. It's obvious that the Phillies patience is over. Burrell had only two hits in only fourteen at bats last week (.143) and remains below the dreaded Mendoza line for the season.
- Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera also had a tough week (a common theme this week?). He was only three for seventeen with nine strikeouts. Still, he drove in four runs with those three hits and has 29 RBI in just 38 games. Cabrera is now batting .250 in his young big league career.
- Jose Reyes. Ahh! The young Mets' shortstop was a phenomenal .423 last week with 11 hits in 26 at bats. He scored six runs and stole three bases. He is now batting .292 in the first year of his promising career.
- Bo Hart. The Cardinal second baseman bounced back this week batting .333 with two homers, six runs scored and seven RBI. He is a sparkling fielder and is very entertaining to watch.
- Albert Pujols. Pujols "only" batted .348 this past week. The third year player is batting .372 with 30 homers and 99 RBI.
- Sean Burroughs. Burroughs is spinning around a little bit, batting .259 this past week with only one extra base hit and three RBI. He's still batting a solid .285 for the season.