Phillies Notes: Phils trade Michael Young to Dodgers

CHICAGO - Two veteran infielders who arrived for work Saturday morning as members of a Phillies team well below .500 awoke Sunday morning in first place.

Shortly before midnight, Michael Young was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and immediately after the Phillies' 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs, John McDonald was told he had been traded to the Boston Red Sox.

The Phillies also sent cash to the Dodgers as part of the Young deal and received minor-league lefthander Rob Rasmussen in return. Rasmussen, 24, is a combined 3-11 with a 4.11 ERA at double-A Chattanooga and triple-A Albuquerque this season.

Because both players were dealt before midnight, they will be eligible for the postseason rosters of their new teams.

In each case, the move represents a sort of homecoming.

Young, who went 7 for 10 in the two games against the Cubs before being traded, is returning to Southern California, the place where he grew up a Dodgers fan. He now lives in Texas, where he had played his entire major-league career before being traded to the Phillies during the offseason.

In order to complete the deal, Young had to waive a no-trade clause.

Young, 36, hit .276 with 24 doubles, eight home runs, and 42 RBIs for the Phillies this season. He also earned the respect of interim manager Ryne Sandberg for his professionalism as his name circulated in trade speculation for more than two months.

"His name has been out there and he continued to come to the ballpark and produce and be a Phillie," Sandberg said before the trade was made. "You don't hear a word about the possibilities or see him change his attitude. It was pretty unbelievable . . . and I've been pretty impressed."

Young's departure opens third base entirely for rookie Cody Asche, who had been receiving the majority of the playing time there anyway since being called up from triple-A Lehigh Valley. Asche will return to the lineup Sunday after sitting out three games with a hamstring injury.

In return for McDonald, the Phillies received Nefi Ogando, a 24-year-old righthanded reliever who was 2-3 with a 4.09 ERA in 33 games at high-A Salem this season.

The fact that McDonald, a 38-year-old veteran who has been to the postseason just once in 15 seasons, is going to the first-place Red Sox was good enough news for him. Just as exciting was the opportunity to play at Fenway Park, which is a 45-minute drive from the native New Englander's home in Massachusetts.

"I called my wife and the kids were excited," McDonald said. "They don't really comprehend it. They just know that Daddy is coming home. It's exciting to go to a pennant race."

It has been an interesting season for McDonald. He opened the year with Arizona, but was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Pittsburgh Pirates near the end of spring training. A little less than three months later he was traded from the Pirates to Cleveland and 17 days after that, he was dealt to the Phillies.

"My fifth team this year," he said. "I think I've made my way east on every team, so I don't know if this is baseball's way of telling me something."

Extra bases. Domonic Brown was out of the lineup for the fifth time in seven games Saturday because of a sore Achilles tendon in his right foot. He did strike out in a ninth-inning pinch-hit appearance. Sandberg said Brown will be examined more closely by team doctors when the Phillies return home Monday.