One of the minor effects of the Ramirez trade is uniting the LaRoche brothers, Adam and Andy, in Pittsburgh. There have been over 350 sets of brothers to play in the majors, 97 of them with the same team, according to Baseball Almanac. The LaRoches make the 98th–or they will, once Adam comes off the DL.

Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou all played together on the ‘63 Giants, right after Felipe and Matty were on the 60-62 Giants and right before Matty and Jesus continued the family tradition with the 64-65 Giants. Felipe and Matty would reunite on the 1973 Yankees, but Felipe and Jesus never appeared together without Matty.

The pioneering Wright brothers—George, Harry and Sam—played together in 1876 with the Boston Red Caps, and Sam pulled out of the trio in 1877, before George went on alone in 1878 so Harry could manage. Two would also enter the Hall of Fame, Harry as a manager and George as a player.

Brothers on the same team isn’t always a good thing, often matching famous brothers with their less talented siblings (Jose and Ozzie Canseco on the 1990 A’s, Cal and Billy Ripken on the Orioles of the late 80s and early 90s, Hank and Tommie Aaron on seven different Braves teams). Jeremy Giambi always seemed to strain to get out from under the shadow of big brother Jason, but he never got any better when the Yanks grabbed Jason in 2002, and was out of the league a year later.

More rarely, the brothers are evenly matched. Probably the most famous are the Waner brothers, teammates for thirteen straight years with the Pirates (and once again on the ‘41 Braves and ‘44 Dodgers). “Big Poison” (Paul) and “Little Poison” (Lloyd) played in the Forbes Field outfield together, and are the only brothers in the Hall of Fame as players. Many would argue that Paul was the better player, but these two certainly made each other better. Robby and Sandy Alomar played on the same team six times in their careers, and each had very good years on the 1999 and 2000 versions of the Cleveland Indians.

Occasionally, the brothers make each other worse. Rather than reversing his career decline, Marcus Giles went into a tailspin when he joined brother Brian on the 2007 Padres, and he was released later that season. Aaron and Bret Boone played on the 1997 and 1998 Reds teams, but Aaron’s career was just beginning, while Bret’s was well underway, but neither would play as well together as they did apart.

Adam and Andy LaRoche join each other in a similar situation, with big brother Adam well-established and Andy a future star. Adam has been in the majors since 2004, when he came up with the Braves, and broke out in 2006, with a .285/.364/.561 season that saw him hit 32 homers and knock in 90. His star, it seemed, was on the rise, and he was traded to the Pirates for reliever Mike Gonzalez, along with a minor-leaguer on each side.

But he’s struggled to repeat his success in 2006, with a sub-par .272/.345/.458 campaign, with 22 homers and 88 RBI. These numbers were weighed down by a slow start, with his OPS rising ninety points after the break, as well as the pressure of being the main hitter in a lineup, rather than the secondary threat he was in Atlanta. This year, too, he also got out slow from the gates, with an awful .174/.260/.244 first month, and .251/.330/.434 before the break. Now, just as he seemed to be turning it on for the second half, Adam went on the DL last Tuesday, with an unclear return date.

If and when he returns to the lineup this season, he’ll see brother Andy playing in an unimpeded full-time role for the first time in his career. With the Dodgers, Andy was tagged as the third baseman of the future, but he disappointed in a short tryout early last year and hasn’t gotten a real chance to redeem himself. A combination of injuries and two guys named Blake DeWitt and Nomar Garciaparra have stopped him from doing more than part-time duty, but he’s been named the starter at third by Pirates manager John Russell.

Andy has been a perennial favorite by scouts, listed as the Dodgers’ #2 prospect by this year’s Baseball America, and on all of their writers Top 50 overall lists. He’s got a great batting eye, projects to have good power, and should handle his glove well enough at the corner. With only Jose Bautista in front of him and a struggling minor-leaguer Neil Walker behind him, LaRoche has the rest of this season, and possibly the next, to show he can stick.

Whether big brother Adam will help or hurt him is yet to be seen. At least they can share monogrammed equipment.

• The White Sox hit 4 solo home runs (Thome, Dye, Konerko, Anderson) but couldn’t overcome an awful outing by Mark Buehrle against Kansas City. The Royals won 9-7.
• Evan Longoria continues to mash, hitting his 27th double and 21st home run last night in the Rays 9-3 win over the Tigers.
• Jason Bay hit a first inning 3-run home run and Kevin Youkilis smacked 2 homers in the Red Sox blowout win over the A’s, 12-2.
• The Twins failed to gain any ground on the White Sox after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Indians.
• Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton saved his spot in the rotation by out-dueling Cardinals starter Braden Looper in the Phillies 2-1 win over St. Louis.
• Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie pitched a complete game 4-hitter to shut down the anemic Seattle offense, 3-1.
• Who needs Pudge Rodriguez? Jose Molina went 3-for-3 with a home run and 3 runs scored to help the Yankees get past the Angels, 8-2.
• The Braves were no match for the Milwaukee heavyweights on Saturday. The Brewers threw around some 500 lbs. as Prince Fielder launched 2 home runs, and CC Sabathia allowed just 2 runs over 8 1/3 innings as Milwaukee beat Atlanta, 4-2.
• The Mets bullpen collapsed again against the Astros. This time Billy Wagner gave up 2 runs in the 9th inning to allow Houston to tie the game, and Aaron Heilman allowed another run in the 10th inning to take the loss.
• Florida’s Ricky Nolasco struck out 13 batters over 8 innings to overcome Matt Holliday’s 2 home runs and beat the Rockies, 5-3. Florida moves ahead of New York into 2nd place in the NL East.
• Manny Ramirez hit his first home run as a member of the Dodgers, a 2-run shot in the first inning, to lead Los Angeles to a 4-2 win over Arizona.

Saturday’s Scoreboard

Sunday’s Probable Pitchers

BDD’s daily recaps are provided by founder and managing editor Joe Hamrahi. Joe’s a CPA, a financial executive, a baseball analyst, and a proponent of using all available information (read stats and scouts!) in order to make better baseball decisions! Joe can be reached at jhamrahi@baseballdigestdaily.com.