Touch 'Em All: Moth attacks at Busch Stadium

Cards manager Tony La Russa had never seen anything like what occurred Monday at Busch Stadium. Outfielder Matt Holliday called time and was forced to leave the game after a large moth flew into his right ear and got stuck.

Holliday was manning his left field spot as usual with two outs in the eighth inning when the moth, without warning, flew straight into his ear. After attempting to evict the moth with his finger, Holliday soon realized that he was going to need some help.

Holliday was attended to near second base, but it was soon determined that the moth was deep in his ear.

Back in the Cardinals clubhouse, trainers attempted to lure the moth out by turning out the lights and then turning a smaller light on. Team trainers then used a long pair of tweezers to try and extract the moth but were unsuccessful at first because, Holliday said, "the initial tries pulled a few wings off."

The moth was eventually removed after an estimated stay of about ten minutes. When the moth emerged, it was still alive. Holliday put it into a plastic bag, which the outfielder proudly displayed Tuesday afternoon.

Asked if he killed the moth as retribution, Holliday said, "No I didn't. I just think so much wisdom was passed onto him that he died with an overflow of wisdom of being inside my head. As long as there is no larva remaining, as long as he didn't lay babies while he was in there, I'll be OK I think."

While saying he hadn't seen anything like a moth getting stuck in a player's ear, La Russa did reflect on a game at the old Busch Stadium when thousands of moths invaded the field and a ball hit the head of Barry Bonds in the outfield and bounced over the wall for a home run.

Asked why he thought the moth chose him, Holliday said, "I don't know. Maybe I smell."

We're not even within a week of Labor Day, and the Houston Astros are already, as Yogi might have put it, DOA on arrival. A 9-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies, combined with Milwaukee's doubleheader split in Pittsburgh earned Ed Wade's bunch mathematical elimination. The Astros are on pace for 109 losses. That'd be the most in baseball since the 2004 Arizona Diamondbacks lost 111 games.

Arizona had to do something.

Looking to shake his team out of its malaise, GM Kevin Towers made a bold move, trading second baseman Kelly Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for second baseman Aaron Hill and shortstop John McDonald.

Johnson is the team's second-leading home run hitter with 18. But he's only hitting .209, and his .287 on-base percentage is one of the lowest among regular players. Hill is another player looking for his stroke, and he's not as good as Johnson in the field. But maybe the proverbial change of scene will do them both some good.

After the Angels locked up young ace Jered Weaver with a five-year, $85 million deal, a Halos fan reacted online:

"A great day for JERED WEAVER ... He can ignore the yapping narcissistic East Coast media deluding itself into assuming that good players immediately want to sign with teams located in the humidity-strangled urban hellholes left over from the horse and buggy stenched days of the early industrial revolution."