Former YankeeJeff Nelson, never shy about expressing his opinions, let Mariners GM "Stand" Pat Gillick have it after the M's failure to make a deadline trade:

"It's frustrating for everybody in here, and it should be frustrating for the people who go out there and pay for tickets and pay these outrageous prices at these concession stands," the veteran reliever said. "They deserve a winner. Seattle, I think the whole city is aching for a winner, either the Seahawks, the Sonics or the Mariners. We have an opportunity to do that, and it's just unfortunate we didn't make a move.

"We have a good team, and we're in first place by four games. You watch these other contending teams -- New York, Boston, Oakland, Chicago -- they're very good teams as well, but they want to be better. And they better themselves by going out and making these trades. It's tough to sit here year after year and watch this team not do things to better themselves.

"I've never seen an impact player come to this team (at the trade deadline), nor have they ever seemed to go out and try to get one. Every year it's, 'Oh, we tried to make moves, we tried to make moves,' but other teams seem to do it."

Meanwhile, hold everything: Louie and the D-Rays went 14-12 in July. How sweet it is...