In an attempt to keep things moving here, since I've been AWOL for almost a month ...

On the news side of things, my buddy Migs will be happy to hear that Lance Broadway has been called up to the Mets to replace Oliver Perez, gone for the year with more knee trouble. Not that Broadway is such an awesome pitcher, but, come on, the name!

The Red Sox released Brad Penny as Tim Wakefield came back from the DL. Penny is certainly not the pitcher he was in 2007, but the ERA jump from 3.03 to 5.61 (with a 6.27 mark last year) masks the fact that he was never that good in 2007 (4.38 xFIP -- Penny was very lucky on his HR/FB that year) and hasn't been that bad in 2009 (4.96 xFIP). This isn't really a John Smoltz situation where he could latch on and help a contender, but he probably could take the ball serviceably for a young team out of contention looking to go to a 6- or 7-man rotation to keep the innings counts on their young starters down. The Orioles and A's come to mind.

Today features a couple of afternoon games with standings implications: the Rangers visit the Yankees at 1:00 eastern and the Dodgers play the Rockies at 3:00. The Yankees can help both themselves and the Red Sox with a win, while the Dodgers' lead has shrunk to margins not imaginable earlier this season. It stands at three games right now, and that's only because L.A. beat the Rockies last night.

Neither game features a scintillating pitching matchup. It's really very close to September, so the best of a bad lot is probably Clayton Richard for the Padres twirling against Javy Vazquez for the Braves. (Maybe that one just jumps out at me for fantasy reasons. I own both guys, albeit in different leagues.)