The Weekend Buzz while you were seeing Mamma Mia!. ...

Adding the pop and speed of Xavier Nady was a brilliant move for the Yanks. (AP)

The way the Yankees bounced around Ortiz's Red Sox this weekend, Big Papi might want to add the names Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte and perhaps even Jarrod Washburn to his "Do Not Discuss" list.

Who would have figured two weeks ago that all three would be far sexier names around The Stadium than Madonna?

The Yankees are on the move, both on the field and in the front office. They're off to their best post-All-Star start since 1947, when they won their first 11 games coming out of the break, and their deal with the Pirates was high-definition sharp.

Nady, in the midst of a career year, is exactly what the Yankees need: a corner outfielder with pop who can run. The Yankees are old and slow; Nady has range in the outfield, makes the Yankees a little more dangerous on the bases and is in the midst of a career year (.327, 13 homers, 57 RBI).

Marte is a situational lefty with a 1.76 ERA in the month of July who paid immediate dividends, striking out Ortiz in his first game as a Yankee on Saturday shortly after the club sent a charter flight to fetch him and Nady.

Washburn started and won for Seattle on Sunday, which allowed Sidney Ponson to keep his spot in the New York rotation for Sunday night's series finale against the Red Sox. But the Yankees and Mariners continue talking in advance of Thursday's non-waivers trade deadline, and though Washburn has no-trade powers, one source close to him says he is eager to bail on a dead-end Mariners club going nowhere.

Though Washburn isn't exactly another Whitey Ford in the making, he has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his past nine starts, and the Yanks can never amass too many lefty starters with that short 314-foot right-field fence.

If the Yankees are able to complete this trade, Washburn, who turns 34 in two weeks, will lengthen a rotation that has been lacking ever since Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy went south in April. Darrell Rasner, Tuesday's starter, has more brains and guts than stuff, and while he has helped in an all-hands-on-deck sort of way, you can't keep winning in a pennant race on those two things alone.

Adding Washburn would cost the Yankees a minimum of $14 million in salary through 2009 -- ahem, New York's deep pockets are on the verge of striking again -- and that alone should induce Mariners general manager Lee Pelekoudas to keep Yankees counterpart Brian Cashman on speed dial. The broken Mariners can use the savings and a low-level prospect they would get from the Yankees far more than they can use Washburn if they don't deal him.

Anyway, while that percolates, the buzz in the industry is that the Pirates have been swindled -- again. They've had on-and-off trade discussions involving Nady and outfielder Jason Bay since last winter, and sources insist they could have gotten a better package than the Russ Ohlendorf-led quartet the Yankees sent them.

So score another for the Yankees, who, if Manny Ramirez's latest midseason mental break in Boston continues very much longer, have every tool now to bypass the Red Sox and close in on Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Until Sunday night's 9-2 loss in Boston, the Yankees since the break had outscored their opponents 49-15, were batting .300 and had compiled a stingy 1.56 ERA. Notably, they have only allowed one home run since the break.

Suddenly, they can do no wrong, from moving Joba Chamberlain into the rotation to blowing out the Red Sox. Suddenly, that dramatic, All-Star national goodbye to Yankee Stadium might have been a bit premature.

The way the Yankees are going now, Yankee Stadium might have another few games left on the national stage. Say, one more last gasp in October?

2. Hall of Fame inductions: Congratulations to, among others, disciplinarian manager Dick Williams and menacing closer Goose Gossage. And talk about long overdue for Gossage. While you're watching your local skipper contort himself as if on a Twister mat to prevent his closer from working more than one inning, consider that the Goose collected seven or more outs in 52 of his 310 career saves.

3. The trade deadline: It arrives Thursday, which means, between now and then, roughly 862 rumors will cross your computer screen -- 852 of which have as much chance of occurring as you dating Penelope Cruz. My personal annual favorite: All the hitters over the years who have been rumored headed toward Angels manager Mike Scioscia's lineup. Miguel Tejada, Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday, Paul Konerko, Miguel Cabrera and Adrian Beltre, just to name a few. One thing we do know, though: St. Louis had better get some bullpen help, or the impending comebacks of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are going to be too little, too late. The Cardinals have converted only 28 of 53 save opportunities, their 25 blown saves by far leading the majors.

4. Manny Moments: Fine, the Red Sox finally said. Go have MRIs on both knees. The results showed no damage. Boston's mistake: Not scheduling an MRI for Manny's head ("The doctor said there's nothing there, so he's good to go!"). It's all reminiscent of when Ramirez quit on the season in 2006, removing himself as the Yankees constructed a five-game butt-whomping in Fenway Park in August. And gee, what a coincidence: The Red Sox finished third in AL East that year. Now will Ramirez approve a trade? Not going to happen between now and Thursday, though the slugger is correct on one thing: He is sick of the Sox, and they're most definitely tired of him.

5. White Sox-Tigers: First must-win game of the season on Sunday for Tigers. But unless Ozzie Guillen's club suddenly swoons -- and White Sox are headed to Minnesota next -- it won't be the last.

6. Baseball talking with U.S. Forestry Service regarding timber and broken bats: And aren't you far more comfortable with Smokey the Bear involved in talks instead of Don Fehr?

7. Joe Blanton and the Phillies: Though the Phils are 2-0 in his starts, so far, it ain't exactly a match made in CC Sabathia-Brewers heaven. Joe Blanton, who worked two innings Sunday and didn't return following a long rain delay, now has a 7.88 ERA in two Philadelphia outings. Phillies allowed 19 runs combined Saturday and Sunday against Atlanta ... and won anyway.

8. Ryan's brawn: Four times in July, Ryan Braun has homered to either tie the game or give Milwaukee the lead. Meanwhile, as the Brewers tied the Cubs for first place in the NL Central on Saturday (before slipping a game back Sunday), Chicago manager Lou Piniella was watching the opposite of Braun: "If we continue to swing the bats like this the rest of the year, we ain't going to win that many," the skipper told Chicago reporters.

9. Now introducing ... Brad Ziegler? Talk about sudden impact. After tacking on two more in Sunday's win over Texas, the Oakland right-hander now has started his career by throwing 27 consecutive scoreless innings. It broke the old mark of 25, set by Phillies right-hander George McQuillan 101 years ago, in 1907. Or, roughly about the same time current Phillies left-hander Jamie Moyer was born.

10. Sundaes for everyone! Mark it down, Baltimore beat the Angels on Sunday, finally winning one following 15 consecutive Sunday losses. Of course, after losing five in a row, the Orioles were just happy to win, whatever day it was.