ROLEN RIGHT OUT OF TOWN: The day after Ozzie Smith was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, the St. Louis Cardinals have added a player to the left side of their infield who may himself be Cooperstown-bound. The Cards today traded for disgruntled Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen, a move that was anticipated for over a year in Philly but was over-shadowed in that city's press by latest Iverson gun-rampage news. In exchange for Rolen the Phils got one of the Three Tenors (Placido Polanco) as well as pitcher Bud Smith, who pitched a no-hitter last year as a rookie but has struggled this year. The move gives Philly a phalanx of promising young pitchers, as well as giving their fans the chance to boo (if not riot) when the Cardinals come to town, as St. Louis now has both Rolen and J.D. Drew.
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN', BACK: The fad of Turn Back the Clock uniforms is one I've never liked; I've never seen much point to having players wear clothes from 50 years ago, especially since they cause one to flip past the game and wonder who, exactly, is playing. The trend this year, besides the "Turn Back the Clock Day" seemingly lasting for the entire month of July, is towards '70s-era uniforms- the A's, Braves, and Phillies were among those getting into the act, with the Phils even breaking out the old blue road uniforms.It's cool for about a minute, until we remember why the teams got rid of these fashion embarassments in the first place.
The Braves' regular uniforms, however, are themselves throwback unis, as they returned to their 1950s-era red-and-black color scheme in 1987 after a couple of decades of the garish blue outfits that made their unwelcome return this week. I half-expected Dale Murphy to be announced a pitch-hitter in one of this week's games.