Trade: Mark Teixeira to Angels for Casey Kotchman

Well, yesterday's rumored trade of Teixeira to Arizona did not come true. Instead he was traded to the Angels for Casey Kotchman and a AA relief pitcher. When taken in isolation, the Braves did ok in this trade. In Kotchman they got a big league caliber first baseman that is relatively cheap and under control until 2011. Kotchman is not quite the power threat that Teixeira is, but scouts believe that his power will develop.

The problem for the Braves is that the trade will always be looked at in combination with the trade from last year when they acquired Teixeira. The Braves gave up multiple solid prospects, knowing that he would be a free agent after this season. The trade did not result in a playoff appearance for the Braves in 2007 and it will not result in a playoff appearance in 2008. In that sense, the Teixeira era in Atlanta will always be considered a huge failure. He did not improve the team enough to get them to the playoffs and the package they ultimately received for him was far inferior to what they gave up to receive him.

For the Angels, Teixeira probably doesn't represent the difference between making the playoffs or not - in all likelihood they were already going to make the playoffs. What Teixeira does for the Angels is give them a secondary power threat in their lineup behind Vladimir Guerrero. They already had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and a very good defense, now they have an offense that rivals any in the league. The Angels have gone from being one of the players in the American League playoff picture to being the favorite in the American League. If they fail to win it all this year, they will have lost Kotchman, but will have two draft picks as compensation for Teixeira, who is almost certain to test the free agent waters. So, in essence they gave up Kotchman for two draft picks and the increase that Teixeira gives them in their chance of winning the World Series this year. I'd call that a good trade.

Watched: Braves @ Dodgers

I have never seen a no-hitter. Not in person and not on television. So when I heard that Hiroki Kuroda had put down every hitter he'd faced through five innings, I turned on the game. I figured that as soon as I started watching, the Braves would get a hit. But he put them down in order in the sixth and then he got Chipper Jones to weakly ground out to end a perfect seventh and I started to wonder. Blake DeWitt made a brilliant play on a bunt attempt by Gregor Blanco to lead off the seventh and that's when it started to feel like it might be really happening.

This was the first time that I'd seen Kuroda pitch. All I really knew about him is that the Dodgers paid a pretty good price for him to pitch for them and he hadn't really lived up to the hype. Looking at his stats, though, he hasn't pitched all that poorly. Going into the night he was 4-6 with a 3.59 ERA.

Kuroda has good "stuff" - his fastball touched 95 and he also threw a nice sinker at 88-89 and a slider in the mid 80's. As would be expected, he was hitting his spots almost without fail. He wasn't striking out a ton of guys, just six through seven innings, but he wasn't giving up any solid contact, either.

Mark Teixeira led off the eighth inning and... I still haven't seen a no-hitter. Teixeira ripped a double down the right field line, ending the perfect game and no-hitter. The Dodgers ended up winning the game 3-0 and Kuroda finished off a masterful complete game one-hitter.