Flipping Fields

It's a marathon, not a sprint. The Major League Baseball season is not for the faint of heart. From March to November, encompassing nearly three-quarters of the calendar year, baseball is all about the long run. So, you can't blame fans if they fall into mid-summer lulls while waiting for the playoffs to heat up. The All-Star game is a nice temporary pick-me-up, but the biggest way to add spice to the season is the trade deadline. At this point, it's clear which teams are going to be buyers and sellers. With the deal D-day just a week away on July 31, it's time to speculate where some of the big names in the game will be moving. Let's countdown the top candidates who could be switching jerseys come August.

1.) Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies, SP- One position that every team can never have enough of down the stretch is a starting pitcher. No SP has GM's salivating like Ubaldo Jimenez. With the Rockies looking like playoff long shots, Jimenez has a great shot of swapping cities. Colorado has said that they will definitely be looking at offers for their ace. Although it will likely be extremely costly to acquire last year's breakout pitching star, that won't stop big market teams from offering up the farm for him.

MLB Power Poll

We're in the dog days of summer and the main focus in the world of sports is on baseball. After a huge turnover in the last edition of the MLB Power Poll, week three is much more stable. At the top, it's the same first five lineup. As we roll down the list though, we see some newcomers join the party. Injuries also play a major part this week. Let's see where the shakeups affect the latest Top 10.

Top 10

1.) Boston Red Sox [1] (43-28)- The heat hasn't cooled in Boston. Fresh off a Stanley Cup Championship for the Bruins, the Red Sox have given the "nation" more to cheer for. After taking 2 of 3 from the 4th ranked Brewers, the BoSox have now won five straight series dating all the way back to May. One dark mark is young flamethrower Clay Buchholtz landing on the DL with a back strain.
2.) Philadelphia Phillies [2] (45-28)- Smoothing sailing for the Phillies this month. It's almost become expected for the Phils to go streaking and sure enough Philadelphia has won eight of 10. What makes their consistent winning even more impressive is that they haven't even really started to hit. Philly's ranked 20th in the league in batting average (.247).

Future's So Bright...

Rory McIlroy didn't need shades to show the world that he has the potential to be the next superstar of the PGA.  Rory roared out to a huge early lead in the second major of the year and never looked back. When all was said and done on Sunday at The Congressional Golf Course in our nation's capital, McIlroy had turned in the best score ever posted at the US Open. A brilliant -16 performance gave McIlroy the first major championship of his young career. It also helped erase some of the ugly memories of the 22-year-old's meltdown at the Masters earlier this year.

No Doubting Thomas in Cup Clincher

There's no way the NHL's championship round could live up to the hype of the NBA's title, but it didn't have to. The Stanley Cup Finals were excellent in their own right. In the end, the Boston Bruins went the distance to top the Vancouver Canucks on the road in game 7 to capture their first championship since 1972. The hero of the series, and for the entire playoffs for that matter, was Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas. More so than in any other sport, a hot goalie can almost singlehandedly carry his team to a title, and that's exactly what Thomas did en route to the Conn Smythe trophy.

MLB Power Poll

Welcome to week two of the MLB Power Poll. We've got some major shakeups throughout the top 10 with the emergence of some red hot teams. The previous week's rankings are in brackets followed by the team's ranking in parentheses.

Top 10
1.) Boston Red Sox [6] (39-26)- Is this the same team that started the season with six straight losses and went 2-10 out of the gate. The Sawx can't be stopped now. A season long nine game win streak has them atop the AL East and just a 1/2 game behind the Phils for the best record in the bigs. Adrian Gonzalez has hit an RBI nine games in a row.