Jarrod Washburn gets attention, but so far no trade

Jarrod Washburn, the focus of swirling rumors of a pending trade to the Milwaukee Brewers, talked to a crowd of reporters for a long time before the game, as teammates looked on with equal measure of amusement and bemusement.

At one point, Mike Sweeney stuck his head in and said, "Are you still my teammate?" And later, Adrian Beltre walked by and said, "Wash, where you going?" Washburn replied, "Nowhere."

Washburn, of course, was in play last year at the trade deadline as well, and nearly was dealt to both the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.

"I guess my feelings are a little different," he said. "Last year, I was hoping something would get done. This year I am just waiting to see. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, I am happy either way.

"The first one [last year] had me going to the Yankees, and that didn't work out. I was a little disappointed, but I was able to convince myself that I probably wouldn't fit in that well in New York, anyway. That was OK. But when it was the Twins, that one stuck with me a little more. It would have been in my backyard and I was thinking how good that would have been."

Jack Zduriencik wandered into the dugout and held court for a little while. Much of it was the usual "we're always looking to help the club" rap, but here are some of the more interesting comments:

Said Zduriencik: "Our focus right now, after this weekend, is just try to get back on track, and try to get back on our winning ways. ... This club has been resilient. They've bounced back.

"People are going to call, obviously. Everybody's talking to everybody right now. Things have heated up in terms of communication. That doesn't necessarily mean something is going to happen. You have a responsibility to sit back and look at everything and weigh the big picture, that's all. At the end of the day, do what we've always tried to do, continue to help our club get better."

Note

• Manager Don Wakamatsu said the lineup omissions were innocent. Russ Branyan, who was 1 for 11 over the weekend, had back discomfort, and Jose Lopez woke up this morning with back stiffness.

"He couldn't seem to get loosened," Wakamatsu said of Lopez. "I think both these guys are day to day. I expect them back in the lineup [today]."

For the record

Streak: L4

Home: 25-22

Road: 26-26

v. AL West: 16-15

vs. L.A.: 7-6

vs. Oakland: 6-3

vs. Texas: 3-6

vs. AL East: 12-10

v. AL Cen.: 12-16

vs. NL: 11-7

vs. LHP: 17-16

vs. RHP: 34-32

Day: 19-15

Night: 32-33

One-run: 23-13

Extra inn.: 5-4

Home attendance

Monday's crowd: 28,696

Season total: 1,296,890

Biggest crowd: 45,958 (April 14)

Smallest crowd: 16,002 (May 19)

Average (47 dates): 27,593

2008 average (47 dates): 28,500