The Braves have thrown in the towel meaning Mark Teixeira could very well be on the move.

It was a fairly uneventful week for me since my last column, so contrary to my usual smattering of somewhat nonsensical thoughts mixed in with a smattering of baseball, it looks like this week will have a slightly increased baseball focus, which may or may not please you, my loyal readership.

I was at the Mets-Cardinals game on Saturday night (yes, the 14 inning, five hour one), and I uttered the words I never thought I would: “I don't care who wins anymore, just end this game already.” Thanks in large part to my upbringing, it seems I am physically incapable of leaving a sporting event before its conclusion. So, there I was, at 12:15 a.m. joining Mr. Met in a rousing chorus of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 14^th inning stretch. No food (all the stands had closed), no beer (beer sales ended in the 7^th inning), no more pitchers (Aaron Heilman was the last available Mets reliever, and had just pitched his third inning). I can safely admit that I was willing to accept a Mets loss, as long as it got me back to my bed as soon as possible.

A word of advice: When playing baseball on the Nintendo Wii, don't go to the splitter too often. I learned my lesson this weekend that throwing enough splitters ultimately keeps the slow splitter up in the zone. Slow splitters up in the zone go extremely far. I also learned that my 3 year-old niece somehow knows the chorus in “Slow Ride” by Foghat. Guitar Hero strikes again!

It looks the the Braves are folding up the tent on the season, as they placed Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones on the 15-day disabled list with arguably marginal injuries. Hudson has “right elbow tightness” which would ordinarily raise some flags, but until yesterday, he was scheduled to be the starting pitcher on Tuesday. As far as Chipper is concerned, one imagines that this is just one of his typical injuries which he can force himself to play if the game is important enough. This liberal use of the disabled list leads me to believe that a Mark Teixeira deal is imminent. The Diamondbacks are rumored to be a strong contender, and if they can add his pop to that lineup, I seriously like their chances at making a run in the playoffs. From a fantasy perspective, Teixeira is historically a second-half player, and a move to a more advantageous hitter's park could result in a monster August and September for Big Tex.

In case you were napping, Hall of Fame induction was this weekend. One of my favorite activities is checking out some of the players who receive 1 or 2 votes. This year, such superstars as Todd Stottlemyre (138-121, 4.28 ERA, 1.376 WHIP career), Chuck Knoblauch (four time all-star, 1839 lifetime hits, at least he had 407 career stolen bases), David Justice (305 home runs in 14 seasons- I resisted an off-color wife beating joke here), Chuck Finley (200-173, 3.85, 1.376 lifetime, and the exact opposite of Justice, in that HE was beat up by his wife), and Shawon Dunston (.269/.296/.416, 212 home runs, 203 stolen bases, in 18 seasons) each received 1 vote for the Hall of Fame. Travis Fryman (.277/.336/.443, 223 career home runs, five time all-star) got TWO! The only one of these I could consider voting for is Dunston, simply because of his performance for the 1999 Mets, and because that would inevitably boost the value of the approximately 15 rookie cards I have among my baseball card collection.

And, amazingly enough, as I write this, I just received word from a friend of mine in the Atlanta area that Tim Hudson's “right elbow stiffness” may be something far more serious. Supposedly, he has a visit scheduled to, shudder, Dr. Andrews. If Hudson truly is scheduled for some kind of elbow surgery, there is no doubt in my mind that Tex is on the move. The only question is where.

And in wonderful Tony LaRussa fashion, just a few hours after giving a “vote of confidence” to Ryan Franklin as the closer, pitching coach Dave Duncan indicated that Jason Isringhausen would begin to get save opportunities again. This seemed inevitable, as the Cardinals were highly unlikely to throw rookie fireballer Chris Perez into the closer role in the middle of a pennant race.

And finally, we come to the annual Manny Ramirez saga. Three things you can count on in life: Death, taxes, and Manny complaining about something. Although everyone seems to be saying that “this time is different” and “this time he has gone too far,” I have to believe that come August 1, Manny will still be donning his #24 for the Boston Red Sox. The bottom line is that the Sox simply cannot afford to deal Manny's offense without getting a major league replacement. And no contender can afford to make a lateral move like that, while also acquiring the headache that is Manny. The rumor of Pat Burrell for Manny makes virtually no sense to me, especially with the kind of year Burrell is having. Manny will still be a member of the Red Sox on Friday.

That will do it for me. See you next time.