FanHouse LyleOverbay

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

With the recent news that Mark DeRosa is on the trade block and the White Sox have possibly landed Jake Peavy, junkies of major league baseball trade rumors got an early glimpse at what promises to be a very interesting July. It's far to0 early to know exactly who will be in the market for what -- or who can afford to take on temporary payroll in this economy -- but it's certainly fun to speculate. Let's do it.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team about to lose one of the best pitchers in baseball. Let's face it, with the economy in the tank for the rest of this calendar year, major league teams will be forced to cut costs. Roy Halladay makes a lot of money. The Blue Jays are going to be the worst team in the AL East (yes, they really will). People will stop attending games, and the Jays are going to have to deal him for about 30 cents on the dollar.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Houston Astros (35-41) vs. Texas Rangers (39-38) - 8:05PM Est.

Generally when baseball has their "rivalry" matchups during interleague play, they schedule them for the weekend. That's not the case in Texas, as the Astros and Rangers prepare to begin a three-game set tonight at Minute Maid Park. I'm not sure the reasoning behind this, but I'm just going to guess that there's probably a big high school football scrimmage on Friday night, and the Astros are worried that it will hurt attendance numbers.

Of course, it could also just be that neither the Astros or Rangers have done much the last few seasons. The Astros haven't come anywhere near the success they achieved in 2005 when they won the National League, and the Rangers have only had one winning season (89-73 in 2004, which was good enough for third place!) since we entered the new millenium.

Yet tonight the Rangers are poised to go a whopping two games over .500 for the first time since September 22, 2006. Will history be made tonight in Houston?

The unassisted triple play has only happened 14 times in the history of baseball (after last night), so whenever it does, people always praise its beauty, etc. But there are a lot of lucky circumstances that have to happen for someone to pull it off. Like the batter hitting a line drive with runners on first and second and the hit and run on. Which is what happened with Lyle Overbay at bat last night in the Toronto - Cleveland game. Here's the result, courtesy of Asdrubal Cabrera.

Where's My Tater? tracks the slow starts of notable sluggers who are taking their sweet, sweet time leaving the yard.

The Cardinals were supposed to be a train wreck this year, but someone forgot to tell them: they're sitting pretty right now, second in the Central with the third-best record in the National League.

Troy Glaus has been a big factor, getting on base, smacking extra-base hits and driving in runs. Any sane fan of the game would be happy with his production ... but if you look at his stats, something just seems wrong: he's homer-less. He may be on pace for 72 doubles, but there's something comical about a projected stat line of .268-0-97.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Minnesota Twins (51-46) vs. Los Angeles Angels (56-40)-2:10PM Est.

Things haven't been going too well for the Angels lately. They've lost five of their last six games and have seen what was once a healthy 8 game lead in the West shrink down to 1. A loss today would be the first time the Halos have been swept in Minnesota since 1996. Joe Saunders will be making his first start in place of the recently demoted Ervin Santana and he's 3-0 with a 2.97 ERA in spot duty so far this season. He'll be opposed by Matt Garza who in three starts this season, is yet to give up an earned run. Of course the real question is whether or not Joe Mauer will be able to hit an inside-the-park home run for the second straight game. Not an easy feat, I know, but never doubt the power of the sideburns.

Here at FanHouse, we're never ones to find humor in an athelete's injury, unless it's someone we truly dislike. So believe me when I say that the only thing I find even slightly amusing about Lyle Overbay's recent fainting spell in a Manhattan hotel room is the way he himself talked about it afterward.

Responding to a 9:20am wake-up call last Friday, Overbay jumped up, got dizzy, and, as he told the Toronto Sun, faceplanted right into the carpet, hitting his face against a chair on the way down.

A doctor examined Overbay at Yankee Stadium, ruling out anything serious.

"He said I was okay, but then he started using a lot of doctorish terms on me, I don't remember everything he said," Overbay recalled.

As for the cuts on his face from the chair, Overbay didn't even see 'em until he saw himself in a mirror.

"I didn't even know I did this until I got into the bathroom. I was like, 'Whoa.'"

So what exactly happened? No one's really sure.

"I remember looking at the clock and it was 9:21, so I guess I was only unconscious for a minute or so," he said. "I had the same thing once about 10 years ago. The humidity was about 1,000% on Wednesday, maybe I was dehydrated."

Yup, no drinking-related injury here, folks. Move along.