Baseball Beat: Wednesday, July 18th

Here is the rundown for the Wednesday, July 18th edition of Baseball Beat. Charley Steiner is broadcasting a day game with the Los Angeles Dodgers today, so Chuck Wilson is hosting. All times eastern:

1:05 p.m.
Guest: Dayn Perry, FoxSports.com
1:25 p.m.
Guest: Jeff Blair, Globe & Mail
1:45 p.m.
Guest: Clark Spencer, Miami Herald (Marlins Beat)
2:05 p.m.
Guest: Joe Christensen, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
2:25 p.m.
Guest: Tim Sullivan, San Diego Union-Tribune
2:45 p.m.
Guest: Amalie Benjamin, Boston Globe (Red Sox Beat)

Guest Summaries:
Perry discussed national headlines including his piece on each team’s needs as we near the trade deadline. He also touched on the American League Central race between Detroit, Cleveland, and Minnesota, Chicago Cubs contending in the National League Central, New York Mets struggles, and Eric Gagne. Blair discussed the Toronto Blue Jays including the team’s first game with the New York Yankees since Alex Rodriguez incident at third as well as A.J. Burnett’s future in Toronto. He also discussed his coverage of Barry Bonds pursuit of Hank Aaron’s home run record. Spencer discussed the Florida Marlins including Scott Olson’s recent team suspension and Hanley Ramirez. Christensen discussed the resurgent Minnesota Twins including Torii Hunter’s chances of re-signing and what the club needs to compete in the AL Central. Sullivan discussed the San Diego Padres including Tony Gwynn’s upcoming Hall of Fame induction. He also briefly discussed Ken Griffey’s 2,500th hit as Tim used to cover the Reds in Cincinnati. Benjamin discussed the Boston Red Sox including Julian Tavarez and Jason Varitek.

Charley Steiner returns to Baseball Beat tomorrow. Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated will open the show to discuss his cover story on Hank Aaron in next week's SI.