Nothing to see here

Well, nothing happened.

There was no "Bloody Sunday," or "Shortsighted Saturday" or any other easily nicknamed day in organizational history.

Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and (sigh) Adam Dunn all still work for their former employers, while Lastings Milledge, Yusmeiro Petit and Brian Bannister remain safely ensconced in the warm bosom of the New York Mets' farm system.

As I pointed out Saturday to the FAN's Adam Schein (never thought I'd be "Brian from Brooklyn" but there it is), Mr. Milledge seems to be sporting a rather large halo for a guy who has yet to hit his fifth home run of the 2005 season.

He hit four in 232 AB at St. Lucie, and while he's posted a .324 average at Binghamton, I'd like to see some power from our consenus Top Prospect. Call me unreasonable, but it is one of the five tools, right? I'll save my concerns about his SB% for another time (hint: he gets caught frequently).

Meanwhile, in Houston, the boys salvaged the last game of the four game series, averting total catastrophe and escaping the Juice Box with a mere savage beating. Strange that it should come against Oswalt, but isn't it always the way?

I followed this one by the out-of-town scoreboard at Yankee Stadium, where I was taking in the Empire's 11-inning barnburner with Los Angeles Angeles. My younger cousin Holly, seated to my left at the Stadium and appreciating how bummed out I would have been about a Houston sweep, was nice enough not to point out that the Mets had fallen behind 4-3 in the 6th inning (I admit I was getting into the game in front of me, junior circuit or no), calling my attention to the score only when they had tied it in the 7th. So thoughtful, that Holly.

The series still put the boys squarely behind the eight ball, wildcard-wise, while the Braves, led by Jeff "The White Guerrero" Francoeur, have been putting the division back in the hammerlock to which it should by now be accustomed.

A heroic run could still be in the offing, but losing the first three games in Houston probably made it a little easier for Omar to think long term about the deals being discussed.

Speaking of which, BP did a simple but informative breakdown (in today's "Damned Lies..." [$]) of the proposed Manny deal, which estimated that the remainder of Ramirez's contract will net a loss of over $20 million for its holder.

I had been of the opinion that whatever the financial ramifications, trading Manny seemed like a good way to hurt the Sox's repeat chances. While that's probably still true, the right package of players in return, combined with the massive unburdening of Manny's remaining contract years, might have made it a good deal for the BoSox in the medium-term.

I would like to have seen him in the Mets, lineup, with his hair spraying out the right side of his helmet and the ball hurtling off his bat, but this was probably a good non-deal for Omar to make.