Welcome back to the Nightly Roundup, where I recap the day that was. Boy, July has been a rough month for posting these. First, it was the 4th of July week, then ASG week, and now I’m dealing with moving. Growing pains, I guess. Anyway, here’s what happened on Wednesday…

THE PHILLIES WON A SERIES!!

In an absolute shellacking of the Marlins by a score of 10 to 3, the Phillies won their first series since the two-game sweep on the Mariners at the end of June and their first three-game series win since taking two of three from the Giants at the beginning of June.  Nick Williams has been a huge catalyst for the Phils. In 16 games this season (and in his career), Williams’ slash line is .316/.349/.614 with 3 homers and 12 RBIs.

The pitching has been a bit better and having Vince Velasquez is great. The biggest storyline for the Phils will be when Pat Neshek gets dealt but while that gets put in gear, winning some more series would be great. Speaking of trades…

Blockbuster Trades Don’t Have to Wait for 7/31

I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about the Quintana trade but the Cubs have immediately seen that trade pay off and the White Sox will see it work for them in the future with the prospects they received–especially Eloy. The Yankees’ acquisition of Todd Frazier and David Robinson from CWS should help them to get into the playoffs. Frazier adds power to an already formidable lineup and Robinson adds great depth. CWS gets prospects in return and likely will pop up as a contender in a few seasons.

The D-Backs made a splash adding J.D. Martinez to the fifth-best offense in baseball. The Tigers got minor leaguers for him which is better than nothing honestly. Martinez will be a free agent in November and will likely go sign a nice deal that’s not with Detroit or Arizona. Arizona may be falling out the division race but loading up for the postseason isn’t a bad idea either.

We still need to see moves from the Nationals for their bullpen. The Dodgers and Red Sox could each use an additional arm. The Astros don’t necessarily need to do anything but like I just said, loading up depth for the postseason run isn’t a terrible idea. It will be fun to see how everything plays out over the next 11 days.

Other Baseball Stories:

• Kris Bryant left the Cubs’ 8-2 win over the Braves after injuring finger sliding into third base. X-Rays came back negative so he’ll be a day-to-day case. The Cubbies came out of the break flying to a 6-0 road trip. They’ve clawed themselves to only 1.5 of the slumping Brew-crew.
• The Pirates (!!) have been even hotter as the winners of 8 of 10 and now 4 games out in the Central. Pittsburgh was thrown around as a possible seller at the deadline and they should probably still sell. While it’s possible that the 7.5 game gap for the Wild Card can shrink, it’s hard to think that the Buccos will outlast the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals in their own division. Much less the Rockies and D-Backs as well.

That’s it for today. Don’t forget to check out our new Game of Thrones podcast in the Bullpen Cart feed. Let me know what you want to see in the comments!

(cover photo via)