–Down 4 runs, in a game the Blue Jays would go on to lose 6-0, Toronto 3B Brett Lawrie dove into the deep camera well at Yankee Stadium trying to catch a Mark Teixiera foul ball. Lawrie didn’t come up with the ball. He did, however, fall a good 8 feet, smash his leg on a railing, and terrify everyone in his organization (and Teixiera who looked visibly spooked by Lawrie’s fall). MRIs revealed that the young 3B just suffered a bruise, but for a team that keeps losing key players, like Toronto, it had to be a frightening moment.

-Miguel Batista is a journeyman relief pitcher. He is currently employed by the New York Mets. He has, more than likely, been previously employed by your favorite team. There’s usually not much reason to pay attention to Batista. Last night, he decided to call some attention to himself by declaring that baseball’s best team is the New York Mets. That’s really all I have to say about Miguel Batista.

-I’ve written in this space before about Diamondbacks pitching prospect Trevor Bauer. He was the third overall pick in last year’s draft out of UCLA. Arizona promoted him to the big leagues about a month ago. That did not go very well. Bauer appeared to regress in each of his starts, culminating in a disastrous start in Cincinnati on Tuesday where he allowed just 1 hit in 3 innings of work (that’s the good part), but accompanied that with 4 runs, 5 walks, and 2 wild pitches, including one ball that was thrown directly to the backstop. Yesterday, Arizona threw Bauer directly back to AAA Reno to work on his command. This morning, Bauer tweeted the lyrics to a song that he’s going to write about adversity. Once that is done, perhaps he’ll work on the release point for his curveball.

-Doug Fister really likes the summertime. Now, I haven’t sat down with the lanky right-hander to discuss this, but if the previous two season are any indication, Fister becomes rejuvenated during the All-Star break and returns as a rotational Ace. Last night, Fister continued this trend by pitching 8 innings against the red-hot Angels, with just one run surrendered (an Albert Pujols HR in the 1^st) and 10 strikeouts. Expect a rush of Doug Fister trades in your fantasy leagues next June.

-The time has come for me (and we?) to stop ignoring the Oakland Athletics. Sure, I’m not convinced that Billy Beane can name the entire 25-man roster right now, but the A’s are surging and find themselves just a ½ game out of the 2^nd Wild Card spot in the AL. Yesterday, the A’s walked off against the Texas Rangers thanks to a HR by Guy You’ve Never Heard Of. And they’re doing this without their best pitcher, Brandon McCarthy, who is on the DL with a shoulder injury. And the news keeps getting better for the A’s who announced yesterday that pitcher Brett Anderson will begin a rehab assignment in Stockton this weekend as he tries to return from elbow surgery.  Add a healthy Anderson and a healthy McCarthy to a pitching staff without a single 4.00+ ERA and you’ve got a formula for success down the stretch. Even with that lineup.

17 games over .500. 4.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves. A remarkable season keeps heading towards a remarkable conclusion for the Washington Nationals.

It’s not always pretty (like last night when closer Tyler Clippard allowed two 9^th inning HRs), but the Nats are playing better baseball than anyone in the NL and have been doing so for nearly the entire season.

Actual closer Drew Storen is slated to return from the DL today after missing all of this season with an elbow injury. Word also came yesterday that Jayson Werth would begin his rehab from a broken wrist tomorrow.

The Nats will seek a sweep of the Mets today down at the Navy Yard, but it won’t be easy. New York will send R.A. Dickey to the hill to oppose Gio Gonzalez. The last time the Nats faced Dickey, they managed just 4 hits in 7.1 innings against the knuckleballer. Game time is 12:35 p.m. on MASN.

Team USA (basketball) will play another exhibition today, this time against Great Britain, who will send out a starting 5 of Andy Murray, Pippa Middleton, Sir Paul McCartney, David Beckham, and Ricky Gervais to take on LeBron, Kobe, Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler, and Carmelo Anthony. I expect this game to have a result similar to that of the Revolutionary War. Game time is 2:00 on ESPN2.

Our baseball game of the day is the Nats and Mets. By far the best pitching matchup of the day, unless May 2010 Ubaldo Jimenez shows up in Tampa today.