Covering the bases

After the news of their ace going down has had a couple of days to sink in, the Yanks responded with a resounding 8-0 shutout victory over the Padres. Andy was dandy and the Bombers were bombing away. Alright, enough of my little rhyme fun. Catching up:

Yankees: Billy Traber (remember him?) was called up from AAA to replace Chien-Ming Wang (sniff), who was placed on the 15-day DL and is out until at least September.

Mets: The classless Mets FO fired Willie Randolph early this morning and replaced him with Jerry Manuel. Omar Minaya made a disasterous press conference and the Mets lost their game against the Angels. Good day for them. What could be better? Having them re-hire Steve Phillips. They deserve each other…and it’d get him off of Baseball Tonight. See? Works for everyone.

Mariners: GM Bill Bavasi was fired. No surprises there.

Nationals: Pitcher Tyler Clippard was optioned to AAA again to make room for Paul Lo Duca, who was activated from the 15-day DL.

Tigers: Pitcher Fernando Rodney was put on the 15-day DL.

Rangers: Pitcher Sidney Ponson was waived…maybe the Yanks will take another go at him. He didn’t pitch too badly while with Texas. Pitcher Thomas Diamond was activated from the 60-day DL and was optioned to AAA.

Red Sox: Pitcher Bartolo Colon was placed on the 15-day DL with a back problem. Pitcher Chris Smith was recalled form AAA. The Sox also signed a couple of their draft picks. Catcher Christian Vazquez was signed and sent to Rookie ball, while pitcher Kyle Weiland was signed and assigned to A-ball.

White Sox: 1B Paul Konerko was put on the 15-day DL. OF DeWayne Wise got the call in AAA.

Dodgers: Pitcher Brad Penny was placed on the 15-day DL. Pitcher Eric Stults was recalled from AAA.

Rockies: Catcher Edwin Bellorin was sent to AAA to make room for IF Doug Bernier. Pitcher Micah Bowie was moved to the 60-day DL in a move to make room on the 40-man.

Padres: OF Chase Headley was called up from AAA and OF Justin Huber was outrighted to AAA.

NBA: Dang it. The Celtics blew the Lakers out of the water in epic fashion to claim the NBA title.

US WNT: The US WNT finished off Brazil 1-0 at about the same time Willie Randolph was fired. Hope Solo did indeed start in goal and recorded the shutout. Amy Rodriguez scored the only goal of the match. It was a pretty physical game. Within the first 15 minutes, both teams had lost a player to injury. Carli Lloyd took a shot off the nose and broke it. She was removed from the match and Angela Hucles took her place. In only the 7th minute of the match, Brazilian Aline went down with a knee injury and was removed from the match on a stretcher. US team captain Christie Rampone also had to leave the action early with an apparent ankle injury. She is listed as day-to-day, while Lloyd is listed as likely to play in the next match against Italy. No, I do not know why Solo was wearing the US MNT jersey. Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose if I find the answer, I’ll pass the info along.