The National League The Kevin Towers Steve Gilbert of MLB.com: "John McDonald's home, located about 30 minutes outside of Boston, was without power for a week as a result of Hurricane Irene, and his wife and two young children had to find another place to stay. "It's hard," he said. "I wished I was closer so I could have been able to help her even for just a few hours with all that was going on." The Frank Wren Carroll Rogers of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Braves can't get enough of a good thing, apparently. After seeing what Jose Constanza and Michael Bourn have done for them the past month or so, they dipped into the minor leagues for some more speed. The Braves called up outfielder Antoan Richardson from Double-A Mississippi." The Randy Bush Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune: "Oneri Fleita's four-year extension from the Ricketts shows the Cubs have a strong belief in the direction of the once derided farm system. The Cubs gave Detroit permission to talk to Fleita, then turned around and signed him to a four-year extension, despite not having a new general manager named." The Walt Jocketty Mark Sheldon of MLB>com: "Class A Dayton shortstop Billy Hamilton stole three more bases on Saturday to reach 100 steals for the season. Hamilton is the first player in the organization's history to steal 100 bases, and he snapped the organization's record of 98 steals held by Ramon Sambo in 1988 for Cedar Rapids." The Dan OíDowd Troy Renck of The Denver Post: "Jim Tracy is unflappable. He was raised in Hamilton, Ohio, to roll up his sleeves and remain a stranger to excuses. But even Tracy has been unable to hide his disappointment with this season. The Rockies were picked by many to reach the World Series. They need 16 wins in their final 23 games just to produce a winning record." The Michael Hill Mike Berardino of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "For every Josh Johnson, Mike Stanton, Logan Morrison or Gaby Sanchez the Marlins' system produced, it seemed there were three Elih Villanuevas or Graham Taylors who failed to make a dent. It got so bad, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria publicly complained about it in mid-July." The Ed Wade Zach Levine of The Houston Chronicle: "Jack Armstrong Jr., the prized third-round pick of the Astros, put on his ceremonial No. 77 jersey at Minute Maid Park Saturday and then rather quickly took it off. That will have to go in storage for a while, because things will not be rushed with Armstrong." The Ned Colletti Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.: "On Sunday, True Blue L.A. looked at Clayton Kershaw's placement the National League pitching triple crown categories." The Doug Melvin Kyle Lobner of Brew Crew Ball: "Ryan Braun had another big day today, going 3-for-3 with a walk and a homer (and also getting caught stealing) in the Brewers 4-0 win. Those three hits raised Braun's average to .335 (161-for-481), which moved him past Jose Reyes and into first place in the race for the NL batting title." The Sandy Alderson Michael Baron of MetsBlog: "It's interesting to read about all of these comparisons between this season's payroll and what next year's payroll is anticipated to be, yet the on-field talent right now is below even the lowest projection for 2012, and the team continues to hover around .500." The Ruben Amaro Jr. The Good Phight: "Playing under former big-league catcher, Sal Fasano, Travis D'Arnaud, the Eastern League MVP, relishes the opportunity to learn all he can from the man in charge." The Neal Huntington Bucs Dugout: "Neal Huntington says Gorkys Hernandez and Matt Hague will not be called up in September with expanded rosters." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "At the non-waiver trade deadline, the Cardinals acquired 33-year-old shortstop Rafael Furcal from the Los Angeles Dodgers to replace Ryan Theriot, who had foolishly been handed the starting shortstop position over the winter. To make room on the big-league roster for Furcal, the Cardinals made two corresponding roster moves--one of which was optioning shortstop Tyler Greene to Memphis. The Furcal trade created a glut in the middle infield and Greene was "the odd-man out." Manager Tony La Russa made the type of statements he often makes when the club options a player back to the minors." The Jed Hoyer Gas Lamp Ball: "In 2009 and 2010 we plugged Padres player's names into this anagram tool. This year my favorite is Cedric Hunter." The Brian Sabean Gwen Knapp of The San Francisco Chronicle: "Bruce Bochy dismissed the idea that Lincecum had succumbed to the pressure of pulling the Giants within four games of Arizona. He pointed out the obvious: Lincecum won two World Series games against the ostensibly untouchable Cliff Lee last fall. He outdueled Roy Halladay in a playoff game and thoroughly dominated Atlanta in the postseason opener." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post: "After the game Sunday, the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team played a softball game against a team of local celebrities. The program has helped the warriors adjust to life after losing a limb, providing camaraderie and normalcy." The American League The Andy MacPhail The Baltimore Sun: "The 141st and final game of Double-A Bowie's season this afternoon certainly carries some meaning. With the Baysox's 10-1 victory over Erie yesterday, coupled by Richmond's 1-0 loss in 11 innings to Altoona, Bowie enters today a half game behind second-place Richmond for a spot in the Eastern League playoffs." The Theo Epstein Alex Speier of WEEI: "No one has beaten up on John Lackey in his career more than the Texas Rangers. Lackey entered Sunday having made more starts (35) against Texas than any other team. He had also suffered more losses to the Rangers (14) than any other team, and his 6.04 ERA against the Rangers was his worst against any American League squad." The Kenny Williams South Side Sox: "Whether it's a cause or an effect, a lot of White Sox are starting to point fingers while watching their season spin down the toilet. Amid all the yelling, it once again raises the question -- just who exactly is in charge of whom?" The Chris Antonetti Lets Go Tribe: "This is essentially a must-sweep series. This is the last time the Indians will get the Tigers at home, and the two teams won't play again until the last series of the season." The Dave Dombrowski Lynn Henning of The Detroit News: "Max Scherzer is the master of self-analysis. The Tigers right-hander knew what went wrong during last week's abominable start against the Kansas City Royals. And during a couple of bullpen sessions last week, he fixed things, which was evident during Sunday's 18-2 Tigers trouncing of the White Sox at Comerica Park." The Dayton Moore Royals Review: "This season, as has happened for many years now, Major League Baseball marked Independence Day and Memorial Day with special holiday hats." The Tony Reagins Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times: "Reggie Willits, who earned his major league salary of $775,000 more by determination than talent, has been demoted from Anaheim to Salt Lake, the Angels' top farm team, nine times in the last five years. His once-promising career with the club now hangs by a thread." The Bill Smith The Star Tribune: "Joe Mauer returned to action Sunday after missing two games -- and resumed his domination of Angels right-hander Joel Pineiro." The Brian Cashman Anthony McCarron of The New York Daily News: "Making [Bartolo Colon] a reliever now would give him nearly a month to get comfortable in the bullpen, learn the peculiar rhythms of warming up on short notice and figure out how his four-seamer and slider fare in relief. It would surely be easier to learn it all now while the Yankees are finishing off the regular season than in Texas in October with a ballpark full of red-clad haters hooting at him." The Billy Beane A's Nation: "With a lot of the talk about Billy Beane possibly being a candidate and/or interested in the Cubs' GM job along with many other noted GMs, it has created "what if" articles about what would happen should he take other jobs. One such article was in Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest, where he discussed Beane taking over for Brian Cashman should he leave to take the helm of the Cubs." The Jack Zduriencik Pro Ball NW: "While the Mariners as a team have little to win over the rest of the season, a couple rookies on the roster still have a chance to earn some hardware. Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda are completely different players with very distinct season arcs, but both are frontrunners for the American League Rookie of the Year award." The Andrew Friedman DRaysBay: "It's Labor Day and the Rays find themselves coming off a 3-4 week and are currently 9.5 games behind the Yankees for the AL East title and 8 games behind the Red Sox for the Wild Card." The Jon Daniels Lone Star Ball: "The Rangers add to their Offensive Trophy Room." The Alex Anthopoulos BlueBirdBanter: "Chad Gaudin is obviously not on the list of players the Banterers here are excited about for a potential callup. After giving up 6 runs in 5 innings on 10 hits, 3 walks and just 1 strikeout, I don't think that will change."