Nats Hock a LOOGY

Get it? Seriously, that headline is the only reason I'm even posting about this. In what I hope will be one of his last acts as general manager, Jim Bowden traded lefty reliever Mike Stanton to the Red Sox for a couple of young guys whose names sound like they came out of the EA MVP Baseball random name generator, Rhys Taylor and Yader Peralta.

It's a weird move. I don't know about you, but I certainly wasn't expecting a trade at this point in the season. Stanton will not be eligible for Boston's playoff roster, and I guess their low minors are so bursting at the seams with oddly-named pitchers that they can toss a couple of them our way for four games of Stanton. The Sox are no doubt hoping that Stanton can stop Jason Giambi in a way that drug-sniffing dogs and urine tests haven't yet been able to.

Anyway, we didn't get much, but we didn't give up anything. Stanton's heading into free agency, and getting anything for him is worth giving him up for the last three games. The Post on our new acquisitions:

Taylor, 20, went 2-2 with a 1.49 ERA in 11 games for the Red Sox's entry in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League this season. Peralta, 19, threw out of the bullpen in 27 games for three Red Sox minor-league affiliates, none higher than Class A, and went 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA.

Taylor is Australian, incidentally, so don't get into a drinking contest with him or anything. So hooray for Bodes, and I haven't said that since the Byrd/Chavez trade. Not only did he turn nothing into two very young pitchers, he provided an opportunity for the Gray Pages to reflect on Frank not knowing what the hell he's doing.