• Coolest pennant-race-development of the week: Beginning this Monday, selected Tampa Bay games will be broadcast on WAZL-AM in Maddon's hometown of ... Hazleton, Pa. "It's really neat, and when I heard that, it made me smile," Maddon told Tampa Bay reporters. "It's very cool and I know how into us they are right now."
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• Alex Rodriguez now has played 162 career games against the Angels -- one full season's worth -- and is hitting .329 (208-for-632) with 61 home runs and 138 RBI. And he's still got one fewer World Series ring than the Angels' organization.
• Quietly, Prince Fielder has abandoned the all-vegetarian diet that garnered so much publicity this spring. Like, here.
• If frozen-out Barry Bonds wants a new agent, maybe he should look here: San Francisco GM Brian Sabean told XM radio this week that "it would be smart" for Tampa Bay to sign Bonds, now that Crawford and Longoria are down.
• Houston GM Ed Wade quickly scotched the idea of signing Bonds after the Astros lost slugger Carlos Lee (broken finger) for the season.
• One scout watching the AL Central race closely says he expects the sprint between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota to go all the way to the wire: "The White Sox have got some power, the Twins have speed. Both pitching staffs are pretty good. (Third baseman) Joe Crede is down, and that doesn't help them. Chicago's pitching staff is solid, and the bullpen all can throw. Probably, whoever can stay healthy, and whoever can win four or five games in a row, will be the winner."
• Mariners president Chuck Armstrong is telling people that interim GM Lee Pelekoudas definitely will not become the permanent GM but that the organization will retain him in another role. And in the clubhouse, one big league executive says he hears Seattle is "as big a mess as ever" under interim manager Jim Riggleman.
• This isn't the first time Sabathia and Ben Sheets have been teammates. They also played together on the 2000 United States Olympic baseball team in Sydney, Australia. "I liked sitting on the bench with him," Sheets says. "We had good conversations. We'd talk about baseball, food ... anything you can think of."
• Yes, the Los Angeles Angels have all but officially won the AL West, what with that 15-game lead at midweek. No, they will not admit that they're even thinking about the playoffs yet. And yes, that was a reminder manager Mike Scioscia is wearing in the form of a T-shirt these days, replete with the Angels' haloed "A" logo with the phrase "Stay Humble" atop the logo and the Spanish Mantente Humilde below the logo. "There's nobody here looking at the standings," says Scioscia, whose club remains odds-on favorites not only to play in October, but to earn home-field advantage in the AL throughout. "It's too early to look at the standings. There's a time to look at the standings if you want to adjust some things, but that time is not (mid-August)."
• Arizona's sweet-swinging pitcher, Micah Owings , is headed for Cincinnati as one of the two players-to-be-named later in this week's Adam Dunn deal. One problem holding it up: Owings currently is on the disabled list.
• You can voice your opinion on the next voice to be inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Hall of Fame beginning Monday, Sept. 1, online at baseballhall.org. Fan voting will determine three of the 10 names to be placed on the final ballot that will be announced Oct. 6.
• Prayers for former Cincinnati manager Dave Miley, who's now piloting Scranton/Wilkes Barre, the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate and whose son, Cody, 17, was killed in a car accident in Tampa, Fla., this week. Miley has taken an indefinite leave of absence.
