Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

Quarter past 3:00, and nothing is doing on the Yankee front. A few things are going down around the league with some relevance to our cause, though. Let's check in with MLBTR:

• Jarrod Washburn to the Tigers - Probably a blessing in disguise. Washburn is a flyball pitcher who was due for a regression in BABIP coming from one of the very best pitcher's parks to one of the very worst were he to come to the Yanks.
  
  
• Red Sox are getting Victor Martinez - It appears they have shipped Justin Masteron, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price, meaning they aren't parting with Bucholz or Bard. Now they are shopping Adam LaRoche to make room. [Update: LaRoche swapped for Casey Kotchman. They are basically the same player, no?]
  
  
• Roy Halladay isn't going anywhere - Shocker!
  
  
• Potential target Justin Duchscherer's rehab start was mysteriously scratched.

If calling up Shelly Duncan from AAA is the biggest thing that happens on the trade deadline, I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

Soxenfreude

Heading into the home half of the 7th inning in Baltimore, the Red Sox sat atop a 10-1 lead. John Smoltz pitched only 4 innings due to a rain delay but held the Orioles to one run. The bullpen had kept them off the board in the two innings following Smoltz's early departure.

Then something happened. Something improbable and fantastic and impossibly satisfying all at the same time.

Justin Masterson, Hideki Okijima and Takashi Saito and thayuh fackin' awesome closah combined to allow 10 runs on 13 hits in two innings. The final two of those runs crossed the plate when the mighty Jonathan Papelbon came in to try and shut the O's down with one out in the 8th inning but allowed both of the runners he inherited to score. Those were the final the final straws in a contest the Sox led 10-1 but ended up losing 11-10.

Their loss, combined with the Yankees' victory, narrows the gap atop the AL East to 2.5 games, down from 5 one week ago.