–Joey Votto has a better approach at the plate than any other player in baseball. For the next month though, the only plate he’ll approach is one at Tim Hortons. Votto had minor knee surgery yesterday on a meniscus injury and will miss up to 4 weeks. He is the NL’s leader in OBP and seemingly the only really competent hitter in Cincinnati’s lineup.

-Late in the Blue Jays game against the New York Yankees, Jose Bautista took a hard cut at a pitch that landed in foul territory deep in left field. Then Bautista left the game. It appeared as though he may have tweaked his wrist while sliding into home earlier in the game and this hard swing clearly didn’t help the situation. Jays manager John Farrell said that Bautista, the AL’s #2 HR hitter, felt something pop. Generally, you don’t want things popping in your wrist.

-David Ortiz tweaked his achilles while running the bases on an Adrian Gonzalez HR. You read that correctly. Bobby Valentine expects Ortiz to miss “a few games.”

-Also in Boston-land, Kevin Youkilis returned to Fenway Park last night and delivered a 3-hit performance for the White Sox, albeit in a loss. Youkilis got a standing “Youk” from the Boston crowd prior to his first at-bat. The great irony of the game, though, is that Boston designated Brent Lillibridge for assignment prior to the start. If that name is unfamiliar to you, I don’t blame you. Lillibridge, though, is one of the players Boston got for Kevin Youkilis. How’s that Zach Stewart for Kevin Youkilis trade looking to Boston now?

Our men’s Olympic team had a bit of trouble with the Brazilians last night, winning sloppily by 11 points over a team whose best NBA player is Nene. The Americans were led by LeBron James’ 30 points. No other American player scored more than Kevin Durant’s 11. The team was awful from deep and didn’t appear to have much in the way of ball movement. Lots of work to do before the Olympics.

The Nats managed to hit into 65 double plays (a slight exaggeration) last night as they fell to the Miami Marlins 5-3. Edwin Jackson continued his streak of terrible starts (now at 3!). The bright spots for Washington were Danny Espinosa and Ryan Zimmerman, each of whom had 3 hits in the loss. The Nats and Marlins split their four-game series.

The Nationals will return home tonight to begin a 3-game series with the New York Mets. Ross Detwiler and Jon Niese will square off at 7:05 on MASN.

Today’s baseball game of the day takes us to Los Angeles, where Roy Halladay will return for the Philadelphia Phillies to face the Dodger’s young starter TBD. This will be Halladay’s first start since May 27, when he left with a lat strain. The Phillies are 3-1 since the All-Star Break and just got Ryan Howard and Chase Utley back. Game time is 10:10 p.m.