Hard to say what I'm more excited about, the Rockies completing a four-game sweep of the Nationals on the backs of Jason Jennings (eight innings, zero earned runs) and Brad Hawpe (a homer and four RBIs) or England averting a near-disastrous draw with minnow Trinidad and Tobago thanks to two Liverpool stars notching late goals. First it was Peter Crouch, hero of tall, skiny, gawky guys everywhere, scoring on a David Beckham cross so perfect Crouch would have been hard-pressed to not head it past Shaka Hislop. Then Premier League MVP Steven Gerrard added a gorgeous midrange left-footer in added time to make the game look vastly less even than it actually was. Boy, Trinidad and Tobago ought to have put the fear of God in Sven-Goran Eriksson. The English are going to have to pick up their play a great deal if they're going to get past a possible first knockout-stage matchup with Germany.

Keith Law on the Diamondbacks' Russ Ortiz release: "They won't be eating one cent, because the money was already gone. The Diamondbacks ate that money the moment the ink dried on Ortiz's laughingstock of a contract." It's believed that the $22 million which Arizona still owes Ortiz is the greatest amount ever to be paid to a player given his outright release. But that record may not last long. I sense a developing trend. For example, the Seattle Mariners owe Adrian Beltre thirty-five and a quarter million dollars for 2007-2009. Beltre, .234/.293/.337, is playing well below replacement level for a third baseman at the moment. Will Seattle be wise enough to absorb the lesson about sunk costs the D-Backs have evidently learned? Says here no. But it would be pretty hysterical if the M's kicked Beltre to the curb. I guess not so much if you're a Mariner fan.