The Nationals gave infielder Felipe Lopez and catchers Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada their unconditional releases, while activiating Elijah Dukes.

The Phillies notched their fifth consecutve victory Thursday night, completing a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with an 8-4 victory at Nationals Park.

Facing the team with which he made his Major League debut, R.A. Dickey gave the Rangers a taste of what they're missing. Dickey earned the victory as the Mariners took their series finale with the Rangers in decisive fashion, 8-5, Thursday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Anibal Sanchez was solid in his return from right shoulder surgery on Thursday, and the Marlins beat the Rockies, 12-2.

If the Dodgers had appeared as a team with a little bit of momentum given their positive stretch in July, they now look like a team that is clearly motoring and the destination is straight to October.

The Angels must hate to see July end. One of the most productive months in franchise history came to a close with another triumph on Thursday night, a 12-6 thumping of the Yankees. Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera and Vladimir Guerrero each powered three-run homers in front of 53,405 at Yankee Stadium.

Manny Ramirez has enjoyed a long, successful history against the Yankees. In 200 games against New York -- the most he's played against any team -- Ramirez has a .321 batting average, with 55 homers and 163 RBIs. So the Yankees are somewhat relieved they won't face him as often after the outfielder was traded to the Dodgers on Thursday.

Joe Torre spent the last eight seasons of his stint as Yankees manager trying to figure out how to pitch to Manny Ramirez. Now in his first season at the Dodgers' helm, he'll be hoping to ride the former Boston slugger to a World Series championship after Thursday's blockbuster trade.

With the arrival of Ken Griffey Jr. from Cincinnati in a somewhat stunning trade finalized hours before the non-waiver Trade Deadline, Nick Swisher offered to give up his jersey No. 30 to the future Hall of Famer and take the No. 1 instead.

Nomar Garciaparra, who played with Manny Ramirez for four seasons with the Red Sox, gave his stamp of approval on the Dodgers dealing for the 12-time All-Star, and other Los Angeles players were heartened by management's move to add Ramirez.

The Red Sox parted ways with disgruntled slugger Manny Ramirez, sending him to the Dodgers in a startling, three-team trade that brought Jason Bay to Boston.

Starting pitchers don't like to talk on days they pitch except, apparently, when they've just learned a future Hall of Fame slugger has just joined the team.

With two major deals in the past week, the Pirates will finish the season with a much younger team than the one that left Spring Training.