Hey Milwaukee - need a closer?

It’s been widely speculated that the Orioles are waiting for the July trading deadline to spin a few more trades that turn current players into more talented farmhands.  No trade chip is more valuable then that of George Sherrill.  Sherrill has saved 15 games already this season in 17 attempts, a result of the Orioles record in one-run games.  If I am Andy MacPhail, my imagination runs wild at what a dependable closer such as Sherrill could fetch at the deadline.

So who are teams in contention that might need a little bullpen help?  Well, aside from an injury here are some teams who have had shaky closer/bullpen issues:

- Milwaukee

- Chicago

- St. Louis

- New York (Mets)

- Cleveland

To name a few at least.  I would dub Milwaukee and Chicago most likely to step up the plate because they seem to have a lot of young talent that we covet while also being in the position to go for a win now.  Who knows.  Sherrill has put himself into this position by being so good as a closer and while we will miss him closing games for us, we do have a pretty good guy coming back next year in Chris Ray.  Remember what Ray was doing before his elbow became a problem?

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Another Red Sox/O’s game, another O’s victory.  JayPay delivered the kill blow with his 7th inning grand slam.  Brad Mills inexplicably brought in Hideki Okajima (a lefty) to face Payton (a righty) and the move worked out in the worst possible way for the Sox.  Who could have pictured this: bases loaded vs. Manny the day before = double play, base loaded vs. Payton = grand slam.  I love this game.  The O’s have an off day now before their annual battle of the beltway vs. those piping hot Washington Nationals.  They sit at 21 - 19 after 40 games and in third place.

PS - At 12 - 6, the Orioles have the 2nd best home record in the AL, 3rd best in the Majors (Atlanta is #1).