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In the playoff mix for a second straight year, the Baltimore Orioles made the biggest move on a quiet trade-deadline day, acquiring Bud Norris to keep pace with the Boston Red Sox. Hoping to catch the NL West-leading Dodgers, the Arizona Diamondbacks filled a hole in their bullpen Wednesday by sending struggling 20-game winner Ian Kennedy to San Diego for lefty reliever Joe Thatcher. Boston put the pressure on Baltimore by picking up 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox less than 24 hours earlier in a three-team trade. The deal was finalized quickly in part because the Detroit Tigers were eager to protect themselves in case shortstop Jhonny Peralta is suspended for his involvement in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drugs scandal. "The frank reality is that I do not know what is going to happen with Jhonny, but with this move, we now feel well protected if there is a long suspension," Tigers general manager David Dombrowski said. With all eyes on the Yankees because of Alex Rodriguezs likely suspension by Major League Baseball for his role in the wide-ranging drug case, New York never could work out a deal with the Phillies for corner infielder Michael Young, who is staying -- for now -- with Philadelphia. San Francisco also held onto left-hander Javier Lopez and the Los Angeles Angels kept second baseman Howie Kendrick after sending Alberto Callaspo to Oakland late Monday. Other than a few other minor swaps Wednesday, baseballs executives did much of their work in the weeks leading up to the 4 p.m. EDT non-waiver trade cutoff. "In general I just think everybody was dealing with a relative level of frustration knowing that the strength wasnt there, the bona fide help, per se, across the board was going to be very tough to fulfill their needs," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said after the deadline passed. The busy Cubs sent Alfonso Soriano to the Yankees, Matt Garza to Texas, Scott Feldman to Baltimore and Carlos Marmol to the Dodgers. Francisco Rodriguez, Marc Rzepczynski, Callaspo, Scott Downs and Jesse Crain also switched teams this month. The NL Central-leading Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and the struggling World Series champion Giants were among several teams that chose to stand pat Wednesday in a tepid market. In the midst of a revival that has an entire city brimming with Bucs fever, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington reluctantly held back from making any deals. "We talk a lot about, we dont want to do something stupid," Huntington said. "We were willing to do something stupid, we just didnt want to do anything insane." Teams can make trades for the rest of the season, but it gets riskier. Players must first pass through waivers, meaning they can be claimed by another club before a deal takes place. For a player to be eligible for the postseason with his new team, swaps must be completed before Aug. 31. On Wednesday, Houston also sent outfielder Justin Maxwell to Kansas City and the Dodgers picked up backup catcher Drew Butera from Minnesota and sent him to the minors. Also, Seattle traded minor league infielder Robert Andino to the Pirates for a player to be named or cash. The young Astros, with the worst record in baseball at 35-70, dealt reliever Jose Veras -- to Detroit on Monday. Norris only had to walk down the hall to join his new team with Houston in Baltimore. Outfielder L.J. Hoes, one of two prospects sent to Houston, was initially in the Orioles lineup but ended up getting the start for the Astros. Class-A left-hander Josh Hader was the other player in the deal. A 28-year-old right-hander, Norris helps fortify a rotation that will be without injured Jason Hammel for at least the next two weeks. In his fifth big league season, Norris is 6-9 with a 3.93 ERA in 21 starts this year. He has a lifetime record of 34-46 and is under team control through 2015. "Im excited for the future," Norris said. "I pitched my way into this situation to be traded and help out a team. This (Baltimore) team is a young club, they know how to contend. They had an amazing year last year. I just want to be any piece of the puzzle I can to help this team keep pushing to the World Series." Baltimore began Wednesday five games back of Boston in the AL East and in the second wild-card position. The Diamondbacks have fallen 3 1/2 games behind the surging Dodgers and needed lefty relief help. Thatcher is 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 50 games this season. He has limited left-handed batters to a .215 average. "Its exciting to get traded. Its a big deal. It brings excitement to be in a pennant race," Thatcher said. "That is all you ask for, is to win. Im looking forward to getting over there and helping out and doing whatever they need from me." The Diamondbacks also got 23-year-old right-hander Matt Stites, who is 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA and 14 saves in 46 games with Double-A San Antonio. Kennedy, 21-4 two seasons ago, is 3-8 with a 5.23 ERA in 21 starts and hasnt won a game in two months. Hes expected to start Sunday at Petco Park against the New York Yankees, the team that took him in the first round of the June 2006 draft. Cheap NCAA Jerseys China .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Cheap NCAA Jerseys . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. https://www.cheapncaajerseysjustwholesale.com/ . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. NCAA Basketball Jerseys . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. College Football Jerseys . At a Manhattan federal court hearing, attorney Jordan Siev said his law office has gotten more evidence nearly every day to support its lawsuit accusing MLB and Selig of going on a "witch hunt" to ruin Rodriguezs reputation and career. He said the defendants went "way over the line. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Goodbye green. Its back to clear water in the pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, allowing synchronized swimmers to see underwater on the first day of Olympic competition.Officials completed pumping nearly 1 million gallons of clean water into the pool used for synchro with little time to spare before Sundays free routine preliminary began. They had raced to drain green-tinged water out of the pool overnight at a venue that has embarrassed local organizers.The massive undertaking was necessary to ensure clear water for both judges and competitors, who spend much of their time underwater during synchronized swimming.At last, this is real water, Natalia Ishchenko of Russia said through a translator. The visibility is good, not ideal, but compared to before, at least the water is a normal temperature.The water problems had limited the swimmers to just one practice session in the pool when the water was unusually cold.Ishchenkos partner, Svetlana Romashina, said the pool was only half-full when the swimmers arrived to prepare.The clear water appeared slightly cloudy under sunny skies on a day when temperatures reached 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) after a recent string of cool and cloudy weather.It was a lot better than it was the other day, American swimmer Anita Alvarez said. Switching the water helped a lot. The temperature was little bit better for us and its a little bit clearer underwater, which also heelped.ddddddddddddBefore the water polo competition moved to the Olympic Aquatic Stadium as previously planned, athletes had complained their eyes were burning from chlorine in the pool.I didnt notice chlorine too bad, Alvarez said. Chlorine-wise, this was pretty good on our eyes. We were ready for anything.The Russians topped the standings after the duet free routine preliminary. Ishchenko and Romashina, with three Olympic gold medals each, led with 98.066 points. Russia has won the duet and team titles at every games since 2000 in Sydney.Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan of China were second at 96.066. Yukiko Inui and Risako Mitsui of Japan were third at 94.400.The U.S. duet of Alvarez and Mariya Koroleva was ninth. Scores from the preliminaries dont carry over to the duet tech competition on Monday. The duet free final is Tuesday.Later Sunday, the venues diving pool hosted the womens 3-meter springboard final.The green water in that pool wasnt changed. It turned a dark green shade last Tuesday and the larger pool at Maria Lenk began to turn the same color the following day.It doesnt make too much difference if the water is blue or green, but I was a little bit worried about some sanitary conditions, said bronze medalist Tania Cagnotto of Italy. I hope we will be all OK and I hope they can fix it soon. ' ' '