Notebook

-- Neil Walker has 47 RBI since the All-Star break; only Troy Tulowitzki and Matt Holliday have been more productive during that span.

-- Tomorrow's Sporting News has an article on the Twenty Smartest Athletes; Ross Ohlendorf is ranked third.

-- It will be interesting to see next year if the Pirate improvement in pitching is the result of Ray Searage's approach or September lineups.

-- Matt Capps and the Minnesota Twins have clinched the AL Central. Capps has 15 saves for the Twin Cities; his season line (he started with the Nats) is 4-3 with 41 saves and a 2.57 ERA. He was non-tendered by the Bucs in the off season and signed with Washington for $3.5M.

We're left to wonder what the Pirates could have gotten for him if they went to arbitration, tried to rebuild his value, and then moved him. The other side of that coin is that his release is what led to Octavio Dotel's signing with Pittsburgh, who was flipped for John McDonald and Andrew Lambo.