Not easy, but Eveland notches win

A hard-fought win by Dana Eveland and the Oakland A's against Seattle tonight. Eveland gave up three in the first on a three-run homer by the Mariners' Richie Sexson. Then he scattered hits the rest of the way, giving up no runs over the next 4.1 innings. The A's climbed back into the game thanks to Wes Bankston's two-run homer and took a 4-3 lead before Eveland's departure in the sixth. The bullpen held Seattle scoreless the rest of the way, handing Eveland his seventh win.

Fantasy Impact: Eveland threw just 53 of his 100 pitches for strikes, but found a way to keep his team in the game after a rough start. That's the reason he's 7-5 on the year. He's a solid, if not spectacular, fantasy starter.

Hiroki the hero

Mark Teixeira broke up Hiroki Kuroda's perfect game bid, leading off the eighth with a double to right on a 2-2 pitch. Kuroda still threw a complete game shutout, getting the last six batters in a row.

Kuroda struck out six over the first four innings but did not record a strikeout over the last five. Kuroda's ERA drops to 3.39, a full 34 points, and he only 91 pitches (61 for strikes).

Fantasy Impact: Kuroda's time on the DL must've served him well. This was a dominant performance. This was a pitcher completely taking control of a game and finishing it in style. Although Teixeira broke up the perfect game and no-hitter, Kuroda got him down 0-2 before the fatal pitch.

Soria blows 2nd save

For just the second time in 25 chances, Royals closer Joakim Soria blew a save opportunity. The latest comes with a 3-2 K.C. lead on Tampa at Tropicana Field in a Monday matinee. With one out in the ninth, Carlos Pena hit his second home run of the series to right.

Update: The Royals belt two home runs in the top of the 10th. John Buck sends a three-run homer out to left which is followed by a solo shot from Mike Aviles, and Soria ends up with a win. He gave up another homer to Eric Hinske in the 10th, but the Royals prevail 7-4.

Fantasy Impact: Soria is an elite closer who's worked 23 of his 25 chances to near perfection this year. He struck out two of the five batters he faced in the inning and is averaging more than a strike out per inning this season. Pena's got two home runs since returning from the D.L. in late June.

Cubs after Harden

After losing out in the C.C. Sabathia sweepstakes, the Cubs appear to be focusing their efforts on Rich Harden, according the the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Cubs have spent a lot of time on the phone recently with Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane trying to pry away right-hander Rich Harden. Expect the phone lines to start burning a little hotter beginning today.

Interesting that Sabathia won the A.L. Cy Young last year, and Harden's expected to be a leading candidate for the award this year. If the Cubs end up landing Harden they may be getting the better pitcher -- at least for this year.

NBA: the problem-solving pace-setter for MLB, others?

This column from the Chicago Tribune explains the ideas behind NBA commisioner David Stern's hiring of a former military general to take misguided referees to task. The writer asks for the same sort of authority figure to sort out problems in the NCAA, which he hopes eventually helps to clean up Major League Baseball:

That in turn would apply pressure to Commissioner Bud Selig, whose baseball industry sanctions minor-league umpires to arbitrate major-league games so the elite can enjoy an in-season vacation, not to be confused with a five-month off-season vacation. When the regulars return from fishing, perhaps the more confrontational types could be urged to avert disorder instead of baiting players and managers.

If players don't get a vacation during the season why should umps?

Sabathia deal: prospects leaked

While we await official announcement of the Sabathia deal early this week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has leaked at least a few of the players expected to be named in the trade to Cleveland. The Indians will receive:

Matt LaPorta - The jewel of the trade. He's hit 20 home runs in Double-A and was a suspected second-half call-up for the Brewers.

Robert Bryson - Drafted in the 31st round of the 2006 draft out of H.S. He's dominated in A-ball over roughly the last month.

Zach Jackson - A supplemental first-round pick back in 2004, he's been roughed up at Triple-A to the tune of a 7.85 ERA. The 6'5 lefty owns a 10.06 ERA when he's behind in the count this year.

Cleveland may get a fourth player to be named. The JS thinks it could be Taylor Green, another A-ball prospect who's hit 10 home runs as a third baseman.

Fantasy Impact: That's a pretty good haul for Cleveland, which would be getting one of the top two Brewers prospects plus some players with good promise for a guy they can't afford to keep. The Brewers are betting heavyily on winning it all this year, as Ben Sheets suggests he won't return to the team in 2009, and there's speculation that Milwaukee can't retain Sabathia past this year, either. LaPorta may come up and play for Cleveland right away, and if he does he has the talent to contribute to a fantasy team. The Indians would appear losers in this deal only if Milwaukee wins a title in 2008 or is able to sign Sabathia after the season. Otherwise, the Brewers spent a good deal for a guy they can't keep. Expect Sabathia to thrive in the National League. He'll be facing hitters who've seen very little of him, and he'll face the opposing pitcher a couple of times each game.

Source himself: Sabathia to Milwaukee

With all of these reports citing sources saying that C.C. Sabathia is headed to Milwaukee, ESPN trumped them all early Sunday or late Saturday (depending where you live) getting this text message from the ultimate source, C.C. himself:

"I'm good, excited," Sabathia wrote. "It's weird leaving these guys."

ESPN attributed the text to one of its online reporters, Amy K. Nelson. Way to go, Amy, but how is it you are the one getting C.C.'s texts and not someone like Steve Phillips?

Giant potential

Looking up C.C. Sabathia trade talk this weekend, I found an interesting tidbit from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Check out the section under 'STAT-O-MATIC' which reads:

Strikeouts galore: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez are the first Giants to have 100 or more strikeouts before the All-Star break since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958.

I'm a big fan of these three young pitchers, and that's quite a remarkable statistic. The cupboard is never too bare when you have aces to get you by. San Francisco may be out of the race this year, but they're only a couple of special hitters away from competing in a big way.