Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Papelbon’s debut
Jonathan Papelbon made his debut as Washington’s closer on Thursday, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning and picking up his first save in a Nationals uniform. Although he didn’t show it, Papelbon admitted after the game that he was “pretty nervous.”
Fake-out
Justin Upton hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning of Thursday’s Padres-Mets game to give San Diego the win, 8–7. It wasn’t his only attention-getting move of the game, though: At one point, Upton, who has been the subject of trade rumours heading into the non-waiver trade deadline, began to hug everyone around him in the Padres’ dugout—an attempt to make it seem as though he’d just been dealt to a new team. “That was funny,” remarked Upton after the game.
Yankees’ woes
Josh Hamilton hit a walk-off single on Thursday to give the Rangers a 7–6 victory over the Yankees. The loss was the cherry on top of the Yankees’ sundae of despair: the team lost starter Michael Pineda to the 15-day disabled list, the result of forearm tightness.
Cueto the Royal
Johnny Cueto will start his first game for Kansas City today. The 29-year-old righty will face off against the Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison in Toronto. Here’s the story of how the Cueto trade went down.
Almost traded
Once the trade deadline has come and gone, fans tend to ponder the trades that might have been. So what are some of the most surprising near-deals? Turns out the Yankees considered trading Mariano Rivera to the Tigers back in 1995, and the Mets wanted to send a 19-year-old David Wright to the Blue Jays in exchange for Jose Cruz Jr. Toronto’s GM at the time, J.P. Ricciardi, would have none of it, though, reportedly telling the Mets: “I’m not trading a major league player for some guy in the Sally League.” Oh, and the Red Sox nearly acquired Joe DiMaggio back in 1947 in exchange for Ted Williams.
