The beginning of August marks a period known as the ‘dog days’.  With the summer heat and the daily stress of playing games for the previous four months, players and entire teams occasionally break down, while others display the resolve of a champion.  It was in August that the 1951 NY Giants rallied to overcome the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the pennant. t was also the month that the 1993 Giants lost 8 straight games, ceding a four game lead over

I the challenging Braves and found themselves looking up from a four game deficit.

The season starts to get interesting at this time of year (not that it has not been interesting already), but there are some stories to follow which will inevitably resolve themselves by the end of September.

The Braves seem to be the big winners at the trade deadline, having landed Mark Texeira from the Rangers as well as a revitalized Octavio Dotel from the Royals.   Texeira has had a strange year, marked by injury and a power outage as compared to his prior home run years of 26, 33, 38, and 43.  He still has time to get his numbers up and may find it easier to do so with the likes of Chipper Jones protecting him in the lineup and his presence may assist Andruw Jones to get his career back on track.  

Texeira is a gold glove caliber 1b as well, a position that has been unsettled since April.   The stability at that position should provide further stability throughout the bench as Julio Franco will not be overexposed in a daily lineup.   They did give up a good player (Jarrod Saltalmacchia), a promising hitter without a  real position (he is a catcher with limited defensive skills and was filling in at 1b as well).

Eric Gagne was also unloaded for a pitcher and three prospects, potentially a very good trade for the Rangers.  The Red Sox want to win now and they took Gagne and his contract (11.1 million for 2007) to avoid the prospect of his being traded to the Yankees.  With Papelbon and Japanese import, Hideki Okajima,  as well as Mike Timlin, their bul pen is secure, possibly the best in baseball.  The Red Sox are acting like the Yankees, treating money as no object, as they guaranteed Gagne all the

performance incentives in his contract, incentives he would never have been able to meet as a set up man in the Boston pen, a team that was not on his list of possible teams to which he would accept a trade.   Given that that some major league scouts discount his arsenal of pitches as merely a shadow of his former standard of excellence, the Red Sox have certainly been very aggressive, putting an exclamation point on a season that started with the extravagant sum of money paid to have rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Yankees unloaded overused Scott Proctor on the Dodgers who were looking for pitching help, in return for Wilson Betemit.   Proctor’s strike out to walk ratio has become significantly worse this year as opposed to last year (37/20 in 2007, 89/33 in 2006), while he is allowing more hits per nine innings pitched this year (53 hits in 54.1 innings, 2007), as opposed to last year (89 hits in 102.1 innings, 2006).   Clearly his efficiency is in the throes of a steep decline, possibly exacerbated by overuse (83 games in 2006, with 52 appearances so far in 2007).   The Yankees need bullpen help as well, which makes one wonder why they think t

hey can afford to lose him.  Betemit is an interesting player, able to play all infield positions, possibly providing much needed rest to Jeter and Alex Rodriguez during this long month of August.  And he might be able to play 1b too, providing a younger version of Miguel Cairo to fill in at this position that has been in so much flux throughout the season.  He has 10 hr in limted play (156 at bats with only 36 hits altogether), so he has some pop in his bat.  Still the Yankees may miss the innings they asked Proctor to pitch as they have not replaced him with a known quantity, hoping they have a rookie pitcher (Joba Chamberlain) who can step into the pressure cooker of baseball in the Bronx in August and September.

The Twins have apparently thrown in the towel?  They traded an all star caliber 2b for a little known prospect and have enraged Johann Santana, their most valuable player, at the same time.  Not a good move.  Thus they have probably ensured that Torri Hunter will bolt at the end of the season and that Santana may not wish to re-sign after the ’08 season.  None of this bodes well for this small market team which has become a role model for other small market teams (along with Oakland) by being competitive every year.  They are not destined to repeat the run they made last year in winning the AL Central division, and may slide off into mediocrity shortly thereafter if they lose both Santana and Hunter.

The Brewers hang in there, clinging to a one game lead over the surprisingly resurgent Cubs.   Having just demoted 2b Rickie Weeks to AAA, they are apparently committed to getting this together and take no chances on a dead roster spot at this juncture of the season.  Weeks’ numbers are down (.212 batting average), and he will be replace on a regular basis by super sub, Tony Graffanino.   Their commitment to excellence is reflected in the wise draft choices they have made including Ryan Braun (3b), Prince Fielder, Corey Hart (of) JJ Hardy (ss) and versatile Bill Hall (of/inf).   I would love to see this team compete in the post season, as they are young and energetic, representing a city that has not won in long time.

The Angels are having a tough time making anyone believe they are in need of anything in particular.   They rank 3^rd in pitching in the AL and fifth in runs scored and third in batting average in the league.  So what’s the problem?  Vlad Guerrero has not hit a home run in 27 games and they have no one to strike fear into opposing pitchers.  The steady presence of Garret Anderson lulls fans to sleep, and apparently does not make the heartbeat of opposing pitchers and manager race  with the prospect of pitching to him in spite of his .290 batting average.  He has only 5 hr in 56 games as he has been injured this year and only recently returned to action

And the home run chase continues…or  should we term it a crawl.  Barry Bonds inches forward slowly towards the inevitable, apparently feeling the pressure of stalking Aaron.  The actual event will be an anti-climax, but may release the rest of his teammates, not to mention the loyal SF fans and the national media from what has evolved into a macabre quest at the expense of the game itself.  Will Bonds continue next year in search of his 3000^th basehit?  Who knows, but anyone with any sense should hope not.  Which means Barry will, in all likelihood, try to get one more contract out of Peter Magowan and Brian Sabean.   If he would sign for a paltry $3 million or so, then it might be reasonable and have him platoon with another player, but at his present salary base of $15 mil….forget it.

The Oakland A’s officially threw in the towel on this season some days ago when they traded their primary catcher, Jason Kendall.  Replacing him with an untested rookie seemed to be a gamble if one was really hoping to compete in late September for a playoff berth.  Kurt Suzuki does not seem ready to assume the duties of a full time catcher without a tested veteran mentor on the team; his defense appears to be spotty and his bat, at the moment, is as inconsistent as Kendall’s has become.  They inexplicably hung on to Mike Piazza through the trade deadline, perhaps due to the fact there were no satisfactory offers or that the only suitor was the Angels, leaders in the AL West.  me runs and get on base, but has suspect defensive skills.

Their team is full of offensive holes; arguably their most valuable player is on the trade block (Shannon Stewart, leads the team with 111 hits), their franchise player is injured but not on the DL (Eric Chavez), and they have a rookie playing shortstop, filling in for the oft injured Bobby Crosby.  While their pitching is still good, their anemic offense is a puzzle which even the astute Billy Beane has not been able to solve yet, in spite of the acquisition of reclamation project, Jack Cust, who can hit some ho