The trade deadline’s over and there are a bunch of guys wearing different color uniforms than they wore last week. All of them are hoping that they can make a difference in their new homes and take their new teams to heights that their old teams weren’t going to reach. So on the first day after the trade deadline, how did some of the traded players fare? How were their old teams without them? Let’s use today’s Digest to take a look.
Perhaps the most auspicious debut with a new team belonged to one of the more under-the-radar pickups, Derrek Lee. Lee was forced out of his starting spot in Baltimore after the Orioles traded for Chris Davis, and so he was unceremoniously dumped off to Pittsburgh where the Pirates hoped he would be able to give them some production from a first base position that had seen almost nothing from Lyle Overbay. Lee responded with two home runs and three RBIs against the Cubs, but unfortunately, neither fellow deadline acquisition Ryan Ludwick nor any of the other Pirates could do much of any thing and the Pirates lost to the Cubs 5-3.
Carlos Beltran‘s been with the Giants for almost a week now, but it took his first trip to AT&T Park for his bat to heat up. He had two hits, including a triple, against the Diamonbacks last night in his first game in front of his new home crowd in San Francisco. That equaled the number of hits he had in his first four games with the Giants and the triple was his first extra base hit. Unfortunately for him and his new teammates, they dropped a 5-3 decision to the Diamondbacks.
Michael Bourn‘s first game with the Braves didn’t go much better. He was only 1-for-4 at the top of the lineup and the Braves lost to the Nationals 5-3. The Nats tried to make a bunch of trades this week, but couldn’t complete any significant ones. Drew Storen, who seemed Minnesota bound for most of the week leading up to the deadline, notched his 27th save.
Interlude: The Pirates, Giants, and Braves all lost despite making deadline additions, but the Astros, who traded away their two most recognizable offensive players, beat the Reds. Lest you think that making a trade caused teams to lose, the Reds mostly stood pat despite many thinking they had a big trade in them, and they lost to the Astros.
The the Brewers/Cardinals game for NL Central supremacy, there were plenty of recently-acquired bit players that saw action. Octavio Dotel threw a scoreless inning for the Cardinals while Felipe Lopez and Jerry Hairston Jr. manned second base for the Brewers. The Brewers won, but thanks the efforts of guys like Nyjer Morgan and Zack Greinke, who have been Brewers all year.
In Boston, Kosuke Fukudome had just one hit in four at-bats for the Indians, but Asdrubal Cabrera made sure that didn’t matter with his 18th and 19th homers of the year leading the Tribe to victory. Both the Red Sox and Indians will have to wait a few days for the debut of their new pitchers.
And finally in Denver, Hunter Pence struggled again (1-for-5), but the Phillies won again anyway thanks to late home runs from John Mayberry (to tie the game in the ninth) and Shane Victorino (to go ahead and eventually win in the tenth).
For Tuesday: There’s lots of good action tonight. David Huff and Josh Beckett face off in Boston, Wandy Rodriguez makes an audition start against Homer Bailey in Houston, Jaime Garcia and Shaun Marcum continue the battle for the NL Central in Milwaukee, Ervin Santana returns to the mound for his first start after last week’s no hitter, and Daniel Hudson and Tim Lincecum match up in San Francisco with the Diamondbacks just a game behind the Giants. Full schedule can be found here.
