FanHouse Kevin Slowey

The Twins made an addition to their rotation for the stretch run on Friday, picking up Carl Pavano from the Indians for a player to be named later. With Kevin Slowey out for the rest of the season, the Twins needed another arm if they wanted to stay in the conversation with the Tigers and White Sox. Pavano's got an arm, which shockingly has worked without injury interruption this season.

You'll probably look at Pavano's 5.37 ERA and 1.36 homers allowed per nine innings and say the Twins didn't get anything that will help them. Digging a little deeper, though, there's reason to like the deal for Minnesota, even if most of it has to do with the lackluster cast of characters they're trotting out since Slowey's injury.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)

Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.

The Minnesota Twins returned home on Monday night after a 4-6 road trip in which they lost four of their last five, and the return home paid off with a 4-3 win over the White Sox. Still, while the win was nice, odds are that the Twins clubhouse wasn't in the greatest mood afterward.

With the team's core players already pleading with general manager Bill Smith to make a deal before the trade deadline, the Twins just discovered a new hole they're going to have to plug. Kevin Slowey had wrist surgery that is going to end his year.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Nationals outfielder Josh Willingham accomplished a feat that had been done just twice in National League history before yesterday, smacking two grand slams in the same game. Check this out -- the first National Leaguer to do this was Tony Cloninger, a pitcher, and the second was Fernando Tatis, who you may remember hit both his grand salamis in the same inning. By comparison, Willingham's slams look mundane. Ten American League players have also hit two grand slams in the same game, with the trick last being accomplished in 2003 by Bill Mueller.

Bad news for the Twins coming from Rochester tonight, as it's being reported that Kevin Slowey was scratched from his rehab start with the Rochester Red Wings and his headed back to Minneapolis to be examined by club doctors. Slowey's been trying to rehab from chips in his pitching elbow without surgery, though that now seems like it won't be possible.

For now, it means that 23 year-old Anthony Swarzak will remain in the Twins rotation. Swarzak's no Slowey, but he's been an able replacement in his first seven big league starts with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. The Twins can probably expect that to jump a bit due to some iffy walk and strikeout rates, but keeping Swarzak in the rotation at least for now isn't the end of the world.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Prospects' careers don't always progress the way we hoped they would. While players like Rick Porcello and Clayton Kershaw became fantasy-relevant before their 22nd birthdays, Nolan Reimold had to wait until he was 25 to get a legitimate shot. Travis Hafner wasn't a true force until he was 27, etc.. In any case, like the curious one of scorching outfielder Garrett Jones, it's important to keep that perspective in mind.

So what exactly do we know about "The Robber Baron"? (Other than the fact that he's drilled nine homers in his first 17 games with Pittsburgh)

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the milestones keep coming for Albert Pujols. He went into the record book in grand fashion Friday night, belting his 31st home run of the season. The drive was his fourth grand slam of the season and 10th of his career, both Cardinals' franchise records. The latter mark nudges him past Stan Musial on the club list.

"He broke Stan Musial's career record?" manager Tony La Russa asked. "I'll go bow to his feet here in a second. That's a serious point to make."

Pujols is on pace to finish 2009 with 61 home runs. And just in case that's not enough for you, it came in the eighth inning with the Cardinals down 3-0 to the Reds. St. Louis went on to beat Cincinnati 7-4.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Braves have their longest winning streak of the year.

OK, it's only four games. But before Thursday night, Atlanta was the only team that had not won four straight at some point this season.

And where has it gotten the Braves? Not out of fourth place in the NL East – yet within two games of the first-place Phillies, their victims the past three games.

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Rookie Rick Porcello and Randy Wolf make surprise appearances in the "Must Start" category for the week nine version of two-start pitchers. But, that's not the craziest addition to the list. Am I seriously adding Livan Hernandez? Take a look at what he's done over the last month and you'll want to add him to your starting lineup as well.

In all there are 41 pitchers throwing twice next week. The good thing about Monday is that all of the games are night-time starts. You won't need to finalize your weekly rosters until 7:05 PM ET.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Let me put this simply: you want no part of being No. 1 in the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings. It just brings discord, losing and possibly suspensions to your baseball team. Such was the case with the white-hot Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, who now have to deal with a 50 game-ban of their star slugger. Who's doomed this week? Let's just say that no one would be too shocked if they weren't there again next Wednesday.