Since then, Hughes has been Mr. Inconsistency. He took back-to-back beat downs in Detroit and Toronto, then proceeded to right the ship with strong performances against Boston, the White Sox and Toronto to nearly carve his ERA back under 4.00.

Boston has now fallen 7.5 games behind the third-place Orioles as the prospect of a Wild Card spot slips further away. If not for a Toronto squad that is having even greater struggles, surely the BoSox would again be making a push for the AL East cellar.

He’s been on a serious roll since mid-July (seven straight scoreless outings, five of them hitless), and now that he’s survived the non-waiver trade deadline (there had been talk that San Francisco was very interested in him), Perez’s value for the remainder of the season has been solidified.

So here we are, at the end of July and on the cusp of the trade deadline, and the Phillies continue to struggle in last place in the NL East, now 12.5 games behind the second-place Braves after getting swept in Atlanta this weekend. We can be generous and say that the club’s offense has been middling.

As always, Dunn’s numbers leave you scratching your head. He has more homers (30) than singles (29). No one in the bigs currently has more homers, walks or strikeouts.

Schmidt still leads the way with 1,419 RBI while actually playing third base with Jones second on the list with 1,316. Recall that Chipper moved to the outfield for a few seasons, playing 363 games at that position (and producing 227 runs during that stretch).

The way things have gone this season, the veteran would love to be performing as we as we projected as he currently ranks around 50th among third baseman. In other words, Polanco’s value has been limited to deep NL-only leagues at best.