• Lou may shuffle the lineup tonight. That article also says:

  Lou Piniella said he expects the club to bring up at least outfielder Felix Pie and pitcher Kevin Hart from Iowa once they're done with the AAA playoffs.

  I've heard different. We'll see.
• The Brewers are still whining about CC Sabathia's "lost" no-hitter on Sunday. Now, this does raise a legitimate issue. I have long felt that the official scorekeeping duties should be taken away from writers and clubs and that the scorer should be made a fifth member of the umpiring crew. Maybe this will create the impetus to do that. Here's Carol Slezak's take on this in today's Sun-Times.
• There's nothing wrong with Rich Harden, says Bruce Miles:

  Rich Harden said Monday he'd rather be pitching but that he agrees with the Cubs' decision to rest him until next Tuesday's series opener in St. Louis.

  The Cubs say they're playing it cautiously with Harden's right shoulder, which put him on the disabled list earlier this year when he was with Oakland.

  "Yeah, let's make sure I'm feeling good and fresh for the stretch here, the last few games," said Harden, who is 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA as a Cub since coming over from the A's in July. "I've been feeling pretty good. I haven't felt too much strain or anything from throwing the ball.

  "With a couple of days off, I definitely feel stronger. It can make a difference, especially late in the season when you get a little tired. I really want to be out there, but I agree with it."

• Finally, I posted this in a couple of the threads last night, but once again, I think it bears repeating:

  In their last 14 home games, the Cubs are 8-6.

  In their last 14 road games, the Cubs are 13-1.

  Maybe the home/road split this month will work out after all.

There! That ought to keep you busy till gametime tonight.

The Cubs beat the Reds 7-3 last night, but I know all any Cubs fan wants to discuss this morning is the Cubs' acquisition of Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the A's, which was announced a couple of hours before game time.

So. What do I think? I haven't changed my mind. There's no doubt that Rich Harden has a great arm and can be one of the most dominant pitchers in the game -- when he's healthy, which he hasn't been since 2004, the only year he's spent an entire year in a major league rotation without spending some time on the DL. If he can avoid getting hurt, the Cubs have countered Milwaukee's acquisition of CC Sabathia -- though Jim Hendry says it wasn't a counter-move, that he's been after Harden for several weeks, and I believe him -- and in addition, strengthened their bullpen with Gaudin, who has a good arm and familiarity with Lou Piniella (he pitched for Piniella in Tampa). I want to stop here briefly to point out the hypocrisy of Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, who yesterday practically begged Hendry to make this deal rightfreakingnow, and then today, after Hendry actually did so, raised the injury caution flag.

Hey, Jay! Got whiplash from turning this around so quickly?

At the ballpark, news of the deal spread by buzz -- overheard cellphone calls, then checks ourselves to confirm the rumors. BCB reader BartlettBob, sitting with us, let me use his iPhone to take a look at BCB, where one particular person was ecstatic, with many of the rest of you expressing happiness, but also caution due to the injury risk. And then the Cubs did something that I don't think I've ever seen before in a situation like this -- they posted news of the deal on the scoreboard and made a PA announcement, which was met with a loud ovation. (And my apologies to BCB reader aisle 209 -- with all the commotion regarding the trade, I never did get a chance to stop by your seat last night.)

These aren't the old Cubs, indeed.

Of the players sent to Oakland, in my mind the only one who might make enough of an impact to make the Cubs lament losing him is Sean Gallagher, who will move right into the A's rotation, and who has a chance to be a good starting pitcher for a long time. It should be mentioned that Harden is only four years older than Gallagher and is under the Cubs' control through the end of 2009. If healthy, this makes a deal where the Cubs have a slightly older and far better starter in exchange for a young guy who might get better -- but that's far from certain. Farewell to Matt Murton, vilified by some, loved by others, who never had much of a chance to play with the Cubs. He'll get it in Oakland, and good luck to him. I was never fond of Eric Patterson, who could play several positions, none of them well, and seemed to have all the baseball smarts of his brother. As for Josh Donaldson, many here loved the choice when he was picked a year ago, but he was struggling in the Midwest League and with the emergence of Geovany Soto, he is far from major-league ready.

Good job, Jim Hendry. And stay healthy, Rich Harden. (And don't forget the added benefit of getting someone who can speak Canadian with Ryan Dempster.)

This raises the question: which pitcher goes? The Cubs shipped a hitter and a pitcher (Gallagher and Murton) off the roster and added two pitchers. They won't carry 13 pitchers -- so who's gone? It may be, at long last, time to DFA Jason Marquis.

Now, before the salivating masses yell "DFA!!!1!!1!", let me remind you what "DFA" actually means. "Designated for assignment" means the club has ten days to do something with the player, and maybe the Cubs can take those ten days and make a trade involving Marquis, even if they have to eat a fair portion of Marquis' deal for 2009. It'd be worth it, because Harden is under contract for a reasonable price for next year. We'll find out something later today after it's announced whether Harden will start Friday or Saturday -- he was scheduled to start for the A's on Friday vs. the Angels (a start Gallagher will make now), and Friday was to be Marquis' turn. We await developments.

Tuesday's trade wasn't the first between Hendry and A's general manager Billy Beane, and the history between the GMs aided completion of the six-player deal.

"We hashed out a lot of names over the last few weeks," Hendry said. "[Beane] is blunt, honest, he tries to trade talent for talent. We got what we wanted, and I'll be rooting like heck for those guys [the Cubs traded]."

In one of Hendry's first deals as Cubs GM, he got Mark Bellhorn from Oakland for Adam Morrissey. Last year, Hendry got Jason Kendall for Rob Bowen.

Mark Bellhorn was acquired on November 27, 2001 -- and that deal was made by Andy MacPhail, who was GM until July 5, 2002. Hendry did make a deal with Beane before last year -- he engineered the deal in which Michael Barrett was traded from Montreal to Oakland and then to the Cubs in exchange for Damian Miller at the end of the 2003 season. You're welcome, Toni, for the correction.

This trade reminds me of the Rick Sutcliffe deal in 1984 -- the Cubs gave up someone, Joe Carter, who was destined for stardom and who became a World Series hero. Sutcliffe led the Cubs to their first postseason play in 39 years and won the Cy Young Award; the 96 wins the '84 Cubs had is the most in the last 63 years. They didn't make the World Series, of course, but that wasn't Sutcliffe's fault. This deal has the chance to take us farther, to the Promised Land. Let it be so.

Oh, yes, there was a game last night, too. Well, Ryan Dempster became the Cubs' first 10-game winner, and except for the 4th inning where he got wild and walked four, allowing his only run, he threw a solid game. The Cubs hitters waited out Aaron Harang to the tune of seven bases on balls, and timely HR from Mike Fontenot (a 400-foot blast with no wind) and Geovany Soto put the game away early. There were also fine defensive plays from Jim Edmonds and Aramis Ramirez. The only sour note was a shaky 9th inning from Bob Howry, which forced Lou to get Michael Wuertz throwing with two out. Even the booing of Dusty Baker when he came out to make a pitching change was muted. We've moved on. The Rich Harden Era begins later this week -- Harden, who wore uniform #40 with the A's (the same number as Sutcliffe, for you numerologists), will undoubtedly get it gifted to him by its current wearer, pitching coach Larry Rothschild (who has worn three different numbers as a Cub coach, #40, #41, and #47).

So the Cubs match the Brewers' raise. Wouldn't it be fun to see Harden and Sabathia match up in Milwaukee later this month? Could happen. What a great ride this season has been, and it's barely into the second half. Fasten your seat belts, the best is yet to come.

Jim Edmonds makes a diving catch of Jerry Hairston's fly ball

Mike Fontenot sliding into 2nd after his 6th inning double

Aramis Ramirez catching Brandon Phillips' popup in the 8th inning, with Ryan Theriot right there to help, and Mike Fontenot wondering, "What's going on over there?"

Jay Bruce strikes out to end the game

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

It's a day off for the Cubs, but not a day off from big baseball news. Here are ten viewpoints on the Sabathia deal:

1) What does this do to the Cardinals' chances? Viva El Birdos readers chime in.

2) The "other" BCB

3) There was another team involved: comments from fans of the Cleveland Indians.

4) Jeff Passan at Yahoo says: Sabathia's right for Milwaukee.

5) Notes on the Brewer prospects involved from ESPN.com.

6) Ken Rosenthal: Prospects are power.

7) Official Indians website story

8) As of this morning, the Brewers website had no official trade announcement story, just this article about the "rumored" deal.

9) Yet another viewpoint from Sportsline.

10) Finally, for you fantasy baseball addicts, the possible effects this deal will have on your team.

Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream -- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Runnin' Down a Dream"

That's the song they've been playing as the Cubs take the field for the last few days, and it fits real well, I think -- that's exactly what they, and we, are doing, pursuing a dream that hasn't come, so far.

It seemingly got a bit further away today, that dream, as the Orioles blew out the Cubs 11-4, their worst loss since a 9-0 shutout at the hands of the Reds on May 7, and their first series loss at home since April 29-May 1 vs. the Brewers.

Yes, it was bad. Real bad. Jason Marquis was bad today -- he had little stuff or command, and yet he was one strike away from getting through the disastrous third inning without any runs scoring. Once the floodgates opened, no Cub pitchers could stop it, and that's a bone I have to pick with Lou Piniella. Today was a perfect opportunity to use Jon Lieber, who's supposed to be a "long reliever", to finish out the game; he came in at the top of the fifth with the score 7-0. But after one mediocre inning and only 20 pitches (17 strikes, typical of a Lieber appearance), Lou yanked him. This meant that the team went through most of the bullpen, with Scott Eyre (who left with groin discomfort, and no wonder, after having been idle for a week), Michael Wuertz, Bob Howry and Neal Cotts all seeing action.

This isn't how you manage a blowout, Lou -- and we should be congratulating you today for being named a NL All-Star coach, replacing former Mets manager Willie Randolph. Lou sounded quite pleased on the postgame show, saying he'd be happy to go back to Yankee Stadium for the last time, having spent so many years there as a player, coach and manager. In any case, today, Jon Lieber should have thrown at least three, maybe four, innings; now what happens if you need someone like Wuertz, who threw 30 pitches today, tomorrow, if the game goes into extra innings?

OK, I'm done, with that, anyway. Sometimes even good teams have games like this, where nothing works right; example: the 2001 Mariners, managed by Lou, who blew through their schedule, setting an AL record with 116 wins, went into Kansas City on July 23 that year, with a 72-27 record, leading their division by 18 games, and lost two straight to the Royals -- who at the time had a record of 38-61, 34 games worse than Seattle's. It happens. The good news is that the Cardinals also lost today, blowing a 9th-inning lead and losing 3-2 in 10 innings to the Tigers.

So who's in worse shape? The Cubs, who lost and got to rest some regulars for half the game today and have a road series in their hometown, or the Cardinals, who played till 1 am yesterday and extra innings today and have to go play in Kansas City this weekend against a team that swept them in St. Louis last week? I think you know the answer.

In any case, the less said about today's game, the better, except that I met BCB reader Shanghai Badger, who came up and introduced himself to me in line (sorry you had to see such a bad game!), and we had a nice talk with two Cubs fans who live in Washington, DC, who came in for the series (one of them originally from Sydney, Australia, and he got a BCB card -- if you are here, welcome!). My friends Brian and Kristy brought their ten-month-old baby today -- fortunately, it wasn't the baby's first game, or she'd have nightmares about her first experience at Wrigley!

What I will say is that today, I heard more about the Cubs' possible pursuit of C. C. Sabathia. I can't go into too many details, but let's say that I do know that Jim Hendry IS looking into this, that it's more than just our wishful thinking, and that it could happen sooner rather than later with the Indians having fallen into last place. We already know that Sam Zell has green-lighted Crane Kenney and Hendry to do whatever they think they have to in order to win this year. While I'd be leery about trading for Sabathia unless the Cubs had a real good chance to sign him to an extension -- there's no doubt that Sabathia could make a great 1-2 punch with Carlos Zambrano (who threw today off flat ground and will probably have a bullpen session on Sunday) for several years to come if they can sign him; after a terrible start Sabathia is 4-4, 2.42 in his last ten starts, and in the four losses the Tribe scored nine runs. C. C. would probably thrive with the higher-powered Cub offense.

Go get him, Jim.

And go get the Sox again, starting tomorrow.

Miscellaneous thoughts and facts while we await tonight's game:

• In both a post buried in the comments yesterday, and in email, I was told that the White Sox individual tossing a ball around while it was raining Sunday before the game, and making obscene gestures to the bleacherites, wasn't Ozzie Guillen; it was relief pitcher Octavio Dotel. Apologies to Ozzie -- and Octavio... geez, think a little, will ya?
• "Sources say" that Jim Hendry has the green light to spend "what ever it takes" to get starting pitching after the All-Star break. This comes all the way from Sam Zell. Will it be C. C. Sabathia? Maybe, but it could be anyone. In any case, here's more proof that the Cubs are going all-out to win this year.
• Since I -- and most of you -- never hesitate to criticize Joe Morgan (justifiably so), credit to Morgan for leading the charge to get Ron Santo into the Hall of Fame:

  "I played against him, and when you look at third basemen, he was the best third baseman of his era," said Morgan, the Hall of Fame second baseman and ESPN broadcaster. "I thought that's the way you judged it. Every year I voted for Maury Wills and Ron Santo. Those are my first two guys. To me, they were both a no-brainer."

  Well, Maury Wills isn't really a Hall of Famer, but again, if Morgan can help get Santo over the top next winter and into the Hall, good for him.
• Lou Piniella has learned some stuff, not the least of which is that Micah Hoffpauir isn't an outfielder:

  Micah Hoffpauir's left-handed bat is a valuable asset with Daryle Ward out, but, like Ward, the rookie is not good enough defensively to play left or right field on a regular basis. Hoffpauir looked tentative on a few balls that landed in front of him on the artificial turf at Tropicana Field, and he didn't start over the weekend against the Sox.

  I could have told Lou that after watching him play "tentative" in the outfield during spring training. The article goes on to say that Hoffpauir could be trade bait. He doesn't really have much value, so if Jim Hendry can deal him, more power to Hendry.
• Finally, a site note. I have received a few emails saying that the game threads have occasionally gotten a little contentious and personal. I just want to remind everyone of the paragraph you all read -- and agreed to -- when you signed up for your BCB account:

  When posting at this blog, please follow this one simple rule: Before hitting "post" to post your remarks, ask yourself: "Would I be embarrassed to say this in front of strangers who were physically present in the room with me and could respond to my face?" If the answer is "yes," then don't post. BCB encourages and welcomes all opinions, no matter how strong; however, personal attacks, vulgarity, and other uncivilized forms of expression are not welcome. Thanks.

  I don't think that kind of civility is too much to ask. Thanks again. Let's win tonight.