LYNX: COLLIER RETIRES, R-BRAVES ROLL

Pedro Swann going 3-for-4 in a lost cause on the day the other veteran outfielder, Lou Collier, announced his retirement is an easy distraction from tonight's 12-3 Lynx loss (boxscore, play-by-play) at the hands of South Division-leading Richmond.

All around, it was a rough day for the Lynx (24-27). Collier has decided to call it a career after 14 pro seasons, which couldn't have been easy for him, just as it wasn't a few weeks ago when fellow outfielder Ron Calloway decided his time had come. (As faithful reader Pete Toms wonders in a comment below, it seems weird how guys keep packing it in, but it could be a coincidence how Collier, Calloway and lefty starter Brian Mazone each came to personal decision.)

Would that Collier's retirement was the only roster move to report. Left-hander J.A. Happ is on the disabled list with an elbow problem -- turns out there was something to worry about after he came out in the fourth inning vs. Durham on Tuesday. Righty Jason Anderson has returned from the R-Phils -- he wasn't in Double-A very long, but he did manage to pick up a win while he was there. Meantime, Zack Segovia was hit hard and it added up a long night on a semi-sweltering evening.

The upshot is the Lynx are just five games out in the IL North, but are now without three veteran stabilizers who would help. Their pitching, when it's on, plus their defence and disciplined hitting (fewest strikeouts in the league) gives them a long-shot puncher's chance over these final 93 games. Of course, it all comes back to the same three things -- pitching, pitching and pitching.

In case you're wondering, the 22 pitchers John Russell has used is not a league high. Richmond has used 25. The Columbus Clippers have ran through 23, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees have also used 23, including some guy named Roger Clemens. Never heard of him.