The failure before Stralsund gave the German princes a pretext for dealing their long-prepared blow against the emperor, ostensibly by attacking Wallenstein.
The Red Sox, of course, once had a reputation for elevating improbable collapses into the routine, dealing their opponents one inside straight after another.
As the police moved down the sidewalk, the traders re-emerged in their wake and immediately resumed dealing their wares alongside sellers of pirated DVDs, newspaper vendors and cellphone repair shops.
Instead of dealing their best prospects for a rental like Greinke — or even a pitcher like Cliff Lee, who is signed for three more years — they swapped Villanueva and Hendricks to rent Dempster.
In fact, the Mets are probably done, for now, dealing their high-priced players, and Duquette's mission today was partly to soothe the nerves of veterans who might have felt that they would be traded before the July 31 deadline.
Some of their white teammates, including Lou Rymkus, retaliated by dealing their own cheap shots.
