The front-running Braves acquire slugger Derrek Lee from the Cubs for three minor league pitchers. As a ten-year veteran, who had played at least five years with the same team, the 34 year-old first baseman rejected a trade to the Angels last month because he thought LA had too much of a deficit to make up in the AL West race.

The Tampa Bay Rays complete a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers with an 8 – 6 win at Tropicana Field in what is a possible preview of the postseason. Evan Longoria drives in 4 runs today and goes 7 for 12 overall in the series.

The Braves acquire 1B Derrek Lee from the Chicago Cubs in return for three minor league pitchers (Robinson Lopez, Tyrelle Harris and Jeffrey Lorick) on the same day they place starting 1B Troy Glaus on the disabled listwith inflammation around his left knee. In the game which follows, the first-place Braves beat the Nationals, 3 – 2, on a 9th-inning run-scoring single by Jason Heyward off Tyler Clippard.

The Red Sox just cannot stay healthy this season. Today, OF Mike Cameron decides to have surgery on a torn abdominal muscle which has limited him to 48 games, and he will not play again this season. Fellow OF Jacoby Ellsbury, who has played only 18 games because of broken ribs, goes back on the disabled list for the third time, the victim of another cracked rib expected to keep him out 4 to 6 weeks. Still, Boston manages to hang on to the fringes of the wild card race, beating the Angels, 7 – 5, thanks to a leaping 8th-inning catch by Daniel Nava, just called up to replace Ellsbury; Nava also drives in the winning run with a bases-loaded hit by pitch. Jonathan Papelbon picks up his 30th save, becoming the first pitcher to reach that total in each of his first five full seasons in the majors.

Cheng-Min Peng becomes the fastest player in Chinese Professional Baseball League history to 1,000 hits, getting there in 844 games (topping Chung-Yi Huang’s mark by 32) and 2,838 at-bats (topping Min-Ching Lo by 406 AB). He is the 10th player in league history to 1,000. Chin-Chih Huang gives up the hit.

The Mets place closer Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list and will not pay him until he is able to pitch again. He suffered a season-ending thumb injury punching his father-in-law last week, an action for which he faces criminal assault charges. The Mets may still try to void the last year of his contract as well, worth $11.5 million, although such a decision would be certain to be contested by the Players union.

Jim Thome ties the major league record for career walk-off home runs with his 12th, as the Twins beat the White Sox, 7 – 6. Thome catches Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth.

Jonathan Albaladejo earns his 39th save of the season for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in a 7 – 4 win over Toledo, breaking the International League single-season mark held by Matt Whiteside since 2004.

Bobby Thomson, who hit what is arguably the most famous home run in baseball history – the Shot Heard ‘Round the World – dies at home in Savannah, GA. The memorable walk-off homer off Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca on October 3, 1951, sent the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series. Thomson was a star outfielder mostly with the Giants and Milwaukee Braves during the 1950s.