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Coming into the series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs had lost seven of their last ten games. They had not been losing close games either, they were getting blown out. The pitching staff had struggled and the drama of the Carlos Zambrano saga was obviously a distraction to a team that was struggling.

With the season's true mid point having passed this week and its unofficial end to the first half looming with next week's All-Star break, the timing couldn't be better to project how the Blue Jays will perform from here on out. With several unexpected offensive performances, both good and bad, this process will be closer to guessing than projecting.

There have been a lot of trade rumors surrounding the Royals’ David DeJesus, but should fantasy owners care?  Will his value change dramatically if he were to be playing for a contender?

First of all, let’s look at the numbers he’s posted thus far in 2010 (through Sunday):

306 At Bats
.327 Batting Average (100 Hits)
5 Home Runs
35 RBI
40 Runs
3 Stolen Bases
.393 On Base Percentage
.467 Slugging Percentage
.363 Batting Average on Balls in Play

Let’s go old school for a second. Old school as in a game starts at 7:05 and ends at 9:14. That’s old school and means a very well-pitched game took place.

With the Philadelphia Phillies struggling, losing five of their last seven, they needed one of their pitchers to step up. That pitcher was Roy Halladay.

In a crucial three game series with the first-place Atlanta Braves, the Phillies drew first blood as Halladay outdueled Derek Lowe 3-1 in front of 45,000 plus at Citizens Bank Park.

Another series of rumors took the Internet by storm last night. According to a Detroit radio station's Twitter account, the Twins and Mariners agreed to a deal that would send Cliff Lee to the Minnesota in exchange for Wilson Ramos and Aaron Hicks.

Eventually, various beat writers and reporters shot down the rumors but did confirm that the two teams were in serious discussions. At this point, I think it's time we draw some conclusions, in order of confidence:

1. The Twins are interested in trading for Lee.

As I sit here waiting for my boring accounting professor to get done talking with some 60-year-old woman, it occurs to me that I haven't written anything in two months. Call it annoyance with the fact that no one reads my articles.

Read this article!

Anyway, you've probably heard that the St. Louis Cardinals need another starting pitcher.

Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has built a reputation for pulling off sensational moves at the trade deadline, and this season looks to be no different despite funds being tied up in a bitter divorce and ownership dispute with the McCourts.

The list of players acquired or dealt by Colletti before the deadline over the last five years has some big names on it:

2006:
Acquired pitcher Mark Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall, dealt Sandy Alomar Jr., Odalis Perez for Elmer Dessens, got Greg Maddux and Julio Lugo while only giving up Caesar Izturis and prospects, also acquired Ma

The All-Star teams were announced two days ago, and, as always, the fans, players, and managers all made some idiotic decisions .

So Bleacher Report's Featured Columnists decided to see if we could do better.

In this slideshow are the results of a poll conducted during the last week of All-Star voting.

Yesterday I took a look at the July 31 trade deadline needs of the buyers in the National League East, so today I will look at the needs of the buyers in the National League Central.

Unlike the East, which had four teams as potential buyers, the Central only has two teams that should be buyers — the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.

The Milwaukee Brewers are kind of hanging around, but unless they go on a tear in July, they shouldn’t be buyers. The Chicago Cubs are a mess and we all know the plight of the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.

So, we're now more than halfway through the MiLB season.

And what an incredible season it has been for one of the up-and-coming leagues in American sports.