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Don't forget Nebraska at USC (5:30 pm PST) FIGHT ON!!! Except Nebraska-USC is not until a week from Saturday, September the 16th.

One more note on Harben that I noticed from his splits before somebody who knows a little more hopefully takes over. It seems like that most people want to make him a reliever, and his splits may tell why. This year: Against Right handers: .195/.328/.258 WHIP 1.13 Against Left Handers: .327/.423/.452 WHIP 2.05 I'm not sure if this is a trend that will continue (because I don't have splits for previous years) but this is a pretty extreme split.

Ok-a little bit of information from a dated article (Harben was ranked as the Twins 11th best prospect before 2005, still looking for the one before 2006). He has a fastball that is in the low 90's that tops out at 97. He is supposed to have a big upside with good command of the strike zone. At that point, they said he needed to have more command of his slider and change. I know that's dated, but that will give you an idea-still looking for more recent info. Edit: Apparently as that article said the command was only good with his fastball. The knock on him still is to improve his control-he's had a BB/9 rate around 4 most of his minor league career.

It took me a minute to find Harben's numbers because apparently his first name is Adam :D. He's 23 years old-here are his last 3 years 2004-A ball-9-7, 3.09 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 10.79 K/9 2005-High A Ball, 10-5, 2.66 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 7.91 K/9 2006-AA, 3-7, 3.89 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, no K/9 numbers, 5.41 K/9 He went up to the Twins for a small time this season, had a 6.75 ERA in just under 7 innings. He's a right hander, 6-5, 210 pounds. The other thing I like about his numbers is that he's given up 16 HR's in the last 3 years combined. When I find more of a scouting report about what he throws, I'll post it.

Currently? No. In history? No. I don't know about currently but historicly, they're Years Existed/Championships Won Ratio makes a case. It's not even the worst ratio in the National League alone. Exactly. If we date the start of championship baseball as the start of the WS (1903-also 1904 was skipped) then the Cubs have 2 WS titles and 8 other appearances in the WS in those 102? WS chances. Compare that to some other NL teams Reds-5 championships, 4 appearances-better than Cubs Braves-3 championships, 6 appearances-I'll give it to the Braves-1 more title is worth more than 2 appearances Phillies-1 title, 4 appearances-here we go. The Phillies have been around since the start of the WS also-and they have had less success than the Cubs have. Teams that could be on their way to less success than the Cubs: Astros-0 titles, 1 appearance in 44 years-they would have to win a title in the next few years to have a better ratio than the Cubs. Padres-0 titles, 2 appearances in 37 years-they have a bit of time-but they are on their way Expos/Nationals-0 titles, 0 appearances in 37 years-this franchise is well on their way to be worse-in my understanding, this franchise has only been in the playoffs one time in its existence. As far as ratio of championships won, the Cubs are ahead of teams like the Phillies, and might be ahead of teams like the Astros, Padres, and Expos. When you throw in WS appearances, it shuts the door completely-the Cubs have historically been more successful than these franchises still.

Nice start Jones. Come on guys!

Well, I'll quote my own post here..I think we'll see Jones batting 2nd this inning.

So..who do people think is going to be the pinch-hitter in the 9th?

Coats was sent down less than 10 days (or games-I can't remember which one it is) ago, and to bring him back up they had to put somebody on the DL. I don't think that rule applies any more since rosters have expanded. In 2002 Zambrano was sent down, then called back up just a couple of days later when rosters expanded. This was done to make room on the roster for someone coming off the DL. He didn't miss a start and didn't even report to Iowa. To me the only reason for putting someone on the DL at this point is if it's the 60-day to create a space on the 40-man roster. I'm not sure..that's just what Len and Bob said why Barrett was put on the DL.

Wow-Pierre and Pagan with 4 walks combined today. Nice to see out of them. BTW, Pagan continues to do pretty well-he should be a nice reserve outfielder next year.

Coats was sent down less than 10 days (or games-I can't remember which one it is) ago, and to bring him back up they had to put somebody on the DL.

I doubt Z told anyone if it was stiff before the game-with his personality, there is no way he lets anyone know-he is just too competitive for that.

That might be the best thing for Z-stiffness in the back won't be a major injury, but it might shut him down for most of the rest of Dusty's tenure.

Apparently it's not an arm injury..lower back stiffness

There was a lot more to the interview by that Summary of the Interview Hendry said that the injuries have been unfortunate, but that the team cannot use that as an excuse and that the team needs to be fixed He said that Murton, Cedeno, and Theriot would be gettting a lot of playing time in September He said that they would "entertain the possibility" of re-signing Pierre He said there might not be 10-12 new faces next year, but that they definitely need some new players, and that the team needs to be fixed over the offseason. As has been reported, he said that another catcher and Ryu will be up tomorrow. Pie will probably not join them, but will work out in Arizona and be ready to play winter ball. There was a lot of good in this interview-one of the better Hendry interviews I've seen.

I hate to do all of this, but I have been swimming in so much information that I'm beginning to wonder if I have this right. I'm going to list 4 teams here-if you see any holes or any upgrades, please let me know. I have listed 2 trades I have offered other clubs-see if I should cancel the trades or not, and see if I should pick up Gabriel in the two leagues I have put it on. Thank you-I know this is a lot of information, but I'd really appreciate a quick look to see if I've missed something. Team 1, 2, and 3 are standard Yahoo leagues-1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Def/ST, 1 K, 10 teams Team 4 is a 12 team league-1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB/WR, 1 WR/TE, 1 DEF, 1 HC, 1K (standard scoring-HC is 2 points for a win, -2 for a loss) Ok, here they are: Team 1 QB: Palmer, Vick RB: Ronnie Brown, Dillon, Bush, Maroney, Mike Bell WR: Steve Smith, Holt, Horn, Burleson, Gabriel TE: Gates K: Scobee Def: New England Team 2 QB: Plummer, Vick RB: LJ, Dillon, Droughns, Jamal Lewis, Gore WR: Boldin, Wayne, Horn, Mason, Porter TE: Gates K: Akers Def: Washington Trade (Offered By me): Dillon+Droughns+Horn+Porter for Tomlinson+Watson Possible FA: Gabriel Team 3 QB: Mcnabb, Favre RB: Barber, Dillon, McAllister, Droughns WR: Steve Smith, Wayne, TJ Houshmanzadeh, Burleson, Rod Smith, Muhammad TE: Heath Miller, Witten K: Elam Def: Denver Possible FA: Doug Gabriel Team 4: QB: Manning, McNair RB: Rudi Johnson, Maroney WR: Boldin, Santana Moss, TJ, Horn, Bryant, Gabriel TE: Crumpler, Watson, Dallas Clark K: Tynes Def: Colts HC: Patriots, Broncos Offered Trade by me (Boldin+Horn for McGahee+Addai)

BTW, for those interested, Randall Simon just walked to give the Phillies 1st and 2nd 1 down against the Braves in the ninth-apparently he's 2 for 2 with a BB since gettting called up.

Excuse me, it appears to be a hit now by Reyes.

BTW, Oswalt's perfect game is over in the 7th on an Adam Everett error. The no-hitter continues.

Great job on the squeeze there.

Well, Soto has hit the ball about 120 feet combined in his two at-bats already-Schmidt is a very tough pitcher to face in your first game up this time, though.

just wasn't high enough-hit the wall on a line.

Murton has done a much better job of hitting that pitch down and in hard in his recent hot streak-nice job!

Nice job of hanging in there and driving that run in Jones.

When Alou is in the ballpark, the check swing groundout comes back-even if he's not the player to do it.