PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks sent pitcher Micah Owings to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday to complete the August trade for slugger Adam Dunn.
The Diamondbacks said Owings would be in his new Reds uniform Friday night when Cincinnati visits Arizona.
Owings did fine at the plate this season, hitting .288 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs in 22 games with the Diamondbacks. But the 25-year-old struggled on the mound, going 6-9 with a 5.93 ERA and was sent down to the Sidewinders on July 29.
The Diamondbacks sent minor-league pitcher Dallas Buck and two players to be named to Cincinnati for Dunn on Aug. 11. The Reds previously got minor-league catcher Wilkin Castillo from Arizona as part of the deal.
Astros making bid for NL wild card
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HOUSTON — In 2004, the Houston Astros were .500 at the All-Star break and went 48-26 the rest of the way to earn the NL wild card. A year later, Houston reversed a 15-30 start and reached the franchise's first World Series.
The Astros are at it again in 2008, making another second-half run built on strong pitching, timely hitting and the best defense in baseball.
Two games before the All-Star break, Houston was 42-51 and 8 1/2 games back in the race for NL wild card. The Astros have gone 38-16 since, the best record in the majors, and now are just three games behind sagging Milwaukee in the wild card chase.
Yankees' Girardi feels fans' pain
Yankees manager Joe Girardi wants to look ahead, not behind.
Nearing the end of his first season as manager, Girardi is aware fans are angry the team almost certainly will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
"I understand fans are upset. I'm upset with where we are. And I don't blame them with being upset where we are," he said before the team began its final homestand at Yankee Stadium.
Team co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner gave a blunt assessment a day earlier, saying: "Clearly, a lot of mistakes were made."
Girardi didn't want to respond directly to that.
"To me, playing the blame game doesn't really do much," he said. "Yeah, it might good for talk radio and articles but, you know, our job and our thought process is how do we get better and how do we fix it?"
New York began Friday fourth in the AL East, 8 1/2 games behind the AL wild card-leading Boston Red Sox with 16 games remaining.
The Yankees keep talking about how they have an outside shot, but they can do that math, and their hearts don't really seem in it.
White Sox win coin toss with Twins
NEW YORK — The Chicago White Sox won a coin flip with the Twins on Friday and would host Minnesota if the teams need to play a tiebreaker for the AL Central title.
The White Sox led Minnesota by one game, the tightest race in the majors.
Major League Baseball held a series of coin flips for teams that began the day within 5 1/2 games of a playoff spot.
The Boston Red Sox would host Tampa Bay in a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East championship. Fenway Park also would be the site if Boston and Minnesota need to play for the AL wild card.
In the NL, Philadelphia would host the New York Mets for the East title, Los Angeles would host Arizona for the West crown and Milwaukee would host the Chicago Cubs in the Central.
Inside pitch
● Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew, who has not played since last month because of a back injury, left the team because of a death in the family and will miss the rest of the four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Drew will miss the games because his grandmother died, manager Terry Francona said. He will rejoin the team in Tampa Bay on Monday.
● Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips had two pins inserted into his broken right index finger on Friday and will be evaluated in four to six weeks.
● The Rockies activated first baseman Todd Helton from the 60-day disabled list Friday.
● Detroit Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya has a stress fracture in a bone at the front of his right shoulder and will be shut down from baseball activities for six to eight weeks.
● Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter will miss the rest of the 2008 season because of continued weakness from a muscle strain in his pitching shoulder.
