A fairly abbreviated schedule yesterday, but there are some things I’ve missed, so consider this your Week in Review.

-The Texas Rangers and LA Angels played a fairly big series in Arlington this week with the Rangers and Angels splitting a 4-game series. LA had a chance to win each game, especially Wednesday’s, but their bullpen did them in in both Texas victories. Wednesday night, closer Ernesto Freiri gave up home runs in the 9^th and 10^th innings, as Texas rallied for an 11-10 victory. Last night, Texas didn’t wait until the 9^th, hammering the Angels in the 7^th inning to win 15-9. And no, they weren’t playing football. Texas maintains their 5 game lead on the Angels, who also sit a ½ game behind the A’s in the West. LA would currently be the AL Wild Card 2.

-The San Francisco Giants are struggling mightily since losing Pablo Sandoval to a hamstring injury. The Giants are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are coming off a disappointing series loss to the New York Mets at AT&T park. New Giant Hunter Pence is 0-6 in his first two games in the Bay. The Giants lead the NL West by a ½ game over the Dodgers and 2 games over the Diamondbacks.

-We may have seen the end of the road this week for three former All-Stars as Bobby Abreu, Derek Lowe, and Hideki Matsui were all either released or DFA’d (designated for assignment, which is the precursor to being released). Only Lowe is expected to be picked up, but this was clearly the end of the road for three players whose time passed a few years ago.

AL Wild Card Matchup: Los Angeles @ Oakland

AL Divisional Round WC/1: Wild Card game winner vs. New York Yankees

AL Divisional Round 3/2: Chicago White Sox vs. Texas Rangers

NL Wild Card Matchup: Atlanta @ Pittsburgh

NL Divisional Round WC/1: Wild Card game winner vs. Cincinnati Reds

NL Divisional Round 3/2: Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants

The Nationals welcomed back Jayson Werth last night and got 7 stellar innings from Ross Detwiler to salvage the final game of their 3-game series with the Phillies.

Werth lined a ball to left field for a hit in his first at-bat and finished the game 1-3 with a walk. He played center field. It was the first time all season that the Nats had Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Adam LaRoche, and Jayson Werth in the lineup on the same day.

The story, though, was Detwiler, who bounced back from a rough outing in Milwaukee last weekend to earn his 6^th victory of the season. Detwiler gave up just 3 hits in the outing. Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard cleaned up to preserve the 3-0 win.

The Nats begin a 4-game series with the Miami Marlins today, with a double header. It’s also a single-admission game for those of you who like 18 innings of baseball for the price of 9. Here are the matchups for the weekend series:

Friday, 4:05 p.m.: Brad Hand v. John Lannan

Friday, 7:35 p.m.: Josh Johnson v. Gio Gonzalez

Saturday, 7:05 p.m.: Mark Buehrle v. Jordan Zimmermann

Sunday, 1:35 p.m.: Ricky Nolasco v. Stephen Strasburg

Baseball’s biggest series this weekend will take place in the Queen City as the red hot Reds host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh enters the series 3 ½ games behind the Reds. Of course, ESPN being what it is, the Sunday Night Baseball game this week is the Brewers and Cardinals. So enjoy that.

The Bulletin is going to be gone all of next week. It will return on August 13^th with a full recap of all of the tape-delayed Olympic excitement that it missed. Or baseball. Probably baseball.

The Bulletin returns…

We didn’t see the blockbuster trades (Cliff Lee, Justin Upton, Jacoby Ellsbury) at the deadline, but we did see a lot of movement over the previous two weeks, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants making the biggest moves.

Los Angeles acquired SS/3B Hanley Ramirez, RP Brandon League, and OF Shane Victorino at the deadline, all without having to give up their top prospect (pitcher Zach Lee). The additions of Ramirez and Victorino, coupled with the return of a healthy Matt Kemp, may have forced the Giants hand.

San Francisco, with LA hot on their trail, made the biggest acquisition at the deadline, acquiring Phillies RF Hunter Pence. Pence will be a huge upgrade for the Giants in RF.

In the American League, the Texas Rangers acquired Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster just before the deadline, a move made even more essential, as Texas announced yesterday that pitcher Neftali Feliz will miss the remainder of the season (and part of next) due to Tommy John surgery.

-AJ Burnett continued his “I Hate New York” tour last night, winning his 13^th game for the Pirates while tossing a complete game, 1-hit shutout against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Meanwhile, Freddy Garcia is a starting pitcher for the Yankees.

-Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander saw his streak of consecutive 6+ inning starts to a rain-shortened end in Boston last night. Nats pitcher Jordan Zimmermann now holds the streak for most consecutive 6+ inning starts.

-The Arizona Diamondbacks are warming up and find themselves just 3 ½ games behind the Giants for the NL West lead.

-The LA Angels are on fire (over the last two games), outscoring the Texas Rangers (over the last two games) 21-10. Mike Trout hit a HR last night. This is not surprising. He had 10 in July.

-Josh Beckett hungry! Josh Becket back hurt! Josh Beckett no pitch!

Okay, maybe not daily. The Nats took 3 of 4 games from the Brewers over the weekend, only to return to Washington last night, with Stephen Strasburg on the mound, and get hammered by the Phillies, 8-0 (It’s worth noting (no it’s not) that in the last two Nats games I’ve been to, they’ve lost by a combined score of 12-0.). The Nats were led last night by Mark DeRosa who went 0-4 with 4 strikeouts. He is currently available in 105% of all fantasy leagues.

But, relax people. Even with the loss, the Nats still possess MLB’s second best record. And if you’re going to lose a game, you do it 8-0 while giving Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche the day off with back soreness. The Nats will have a chance to bounce back tonight when Edwin Jackson and Vance Worley face off at 7:05 at Nationals Park.

Tape delayed Olympic action!!!!!!!!!

New York Mets @ San Francisco Giants (10:15/MLB.TV). Jon Niese and Matt Cain square off as Hunter Pence makes his San Francisco debut.