-Dexter Sports
7:50 PM

In a day that was supposed to be all about the match up of Johan Santana and Ben Sheets, MLB saw two near no-hitters. Gavin Floyd threw 7 1/3 innings of no hit baseball. He shut down a tigers offense that still hasn't showed up in '08. The best part of the performance was the nasty, rainy conditions that saw only one-third of the crowd show up. Throw in the fact that it was windy and about 39 degrees, I don't blame them one bit.

On the other side of the country, In warm, sunny California, Matt Cain took a no hitter into the seventh inning today. Man does it suck to be a Giants pitcher these days. Either the offense doesn't give you any run protection, or the pathetic offense doesn't show up to the ball park. Anyways, here are some more things brewing up in baseball:

• Milwaukee's big boys are asking manager Ned Yost to switch the two in the batting order and revert to the way they hit last year. I say, why not go for it. It couldn't hurt. Fielder hit 50 homers last year and Braun put up possibly the best rookie campaign to date. It is unsaid whether Yost will bite into it. One of the big reasons that Fielder is batting third is because of Jason Kendall in the ninth position of the lineup.

• Rays Reliever Al Reyes will not be punished by his current team after his latest run in the law. Hmm, I wonder why? Maybe it is because they cant give up Reyes or any of their arms in the pen for any length of time.

• In the latest deal between MLB and the Player's Union, both came to the agreement that players in the Mitchell Report will be given amnesty. ARE YOU SERIOUS BUD SELIG? Ok, we go after these players to prove a point that this needs to be stopped, and then we back out of our allegations... What was the point of this Bud? Selig and President Bush should get together and talk about how big of a backfire you get from the American public when you deceive them. Well, Paul LoDuca, Eric Gagne, Miguel Tejada, Greg Zaun, Roger Clemens, and all of you other roid pumping ballplayers in the Mitchell report, consider this your lucky day.

• Scott Speizo was released by the Braves earlier today. GM Frank Wren explained the situation being that Spezio needed more time to rehabilitate from Alcohol abuse. Spezio was released by the Cardinals after a drunk driving incident this off-season.

• Finally, I'm not usually one to spread rumors but I wonder if the Tigers continue to struggle badly down the stretch, if they would be willing to dump some payroll. I say why not. If it really comes down to it, they could trade Jeremy Bonderman or a Nate Robertson type pitcher bundled with a prospect or two to Texas or Seattle. Why Texas or Seattle? They both have the catching prospect that the Tigers so desperately desire. If Texas or Seattle are in the hunt and is looking for pitching at the trade deadline, look for the tigers to be aggressive and go after a Jeff Clement or Jarrod Saltalamacchia. That way, they wouldn't have to resign Ivan Rodriguez, and they could go after one of the big name starters in the 09 free agent market, such as Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia. Other options could be Ryan Doumit or Ronny Paulino in Pittsburgh.