Speaking of the Cubs, they scored 12 runs for the second straight day. Rich Harden (aka gigglingone’s future husband) pitches for the baby bears on Friday against the Florida Marlins.

May I go to the wedding?

Club president Nolan Ryan confirmed Thursday night that the Rangers and the Blue Jays are having trade discussions about pitcher Roy Halladay, according to a report.

“We’ve had discussions with them, yes,” Ryan said after the Rangers’ 7-1 victory over the Mariners. “Nothing has been done. It’s been going on for a while and there have been names talked about. There hasn’t been a deal struck and it’s still premature to make a prediction whether it will happen.”

The Red Sox and the Indians were discussing a three-way trade on Thursday night that would send Victor Martinez to Boston, Clay Buchholz to Cleveland and prospects flying in all directions, according to clubs that spoke to both teams.

The Red Sox also would attempt to move recently acquired Adam LaRoche, either to a third team or in a companion deal, to make room for Martinez in their lineup, one source said, and reported by ESPN.

In addition to targeting the Orioles’ Mark Hendrickson as a possible second left-handed pitcher for their bullpen, the Rockies also are interested in Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson, according to Tracy Ringolsby.

Johnson would serve as a late-inning left-handed hitter off the bench.

The Giants have scouted Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Josh Willingham, Nick Johnson, Mark Teahen and Marco Scutaro, among others, though some of those players are no longer of interest after the addition of Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko.

They will instead turn their attention to adding a fifth starter due to the injury to Randy Johnson.

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo is available, but he has $17 million to go on his contract through the end of next season. The Diamondbacks’ Doug Davis and Jon Garland are also available.

Instead of meeting Toronto’s humongous price for Roy Halladay, the Angels could pursue a second-tier starter such as Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang, Arizona’s Jon Garland or Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn.

Late-inning relief is also desired, but the competition remains fierce for the likes of San Diego’s Heath Bell, Oakland’s Michael Wuertz, Baltimore’s George Sherrill, Toronto’s Scott Downs, Jason Frasor and Brandon League, and Arizona’s Chad Qualls.

“There are a lot of teams looking for a lot of the same pieces,” Reagins said. “It’s a challenge.”

I am bored, but I found this fascinating advertisement.

The Oakland Athletics were making steady progress late Thursday night toward a deal that would send veteran shortstop Orlando Cabrera to the Minnesota Twins, a source told ESPN.

The Twins have been looking for infield help of late, having spoken with the Pirates about Freddy Sanchez. Cabrera is hitting .280 with four homers and 41 RBI, and he’s batted .377 in the month of July. Cabrera, 34, is signed to a one-year deal, $4 million.

According to sources, the Red Sox and Padres were still talking about Adrian Gonzalez on Thursday night and likely would continue discussions up until the deadline.

According to the report, Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, Jed Lowrie, Ryan Westmoreland and Justin Masterson are among those being discussed.

Gonzalez’s name has also come up in talks with the Marlins, though their primary target is believed to be closer Heath Bell.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said Thursday that Lastings Milledge will be a “regular” when he is called up to the Pirates on Friday.

The Pirates will go with an outfield of Milledge, Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones, with Brandon Moss coming off the bench. It’s an arrangement that coincides with the club’s aggressive rebuilding efforts.

“We want to stop the cycle of losing, and we want to stop the cycle of trading,” Huntington said.

According to a report, the Marlins are “making a strong push” for Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson and may just be waiting for an answer.

The Marlins have reportedly offered a minor league pitching prospect for Johnson, who is batting .295 with six home runs and 44 RBI in 353 at-bats this season.

He’s a free agent after this season, so it’s imperative that the Nationals get something for him.

it sounds approximately like “Zhep-chin-skee”

To be more precise, say the “zh” sound with your mouth in an “r” position (ie, a voiced laminal retroflex fricative).

It’s somewhat likely.

The A’s are out of it for ‘09. Doc is a FA after the 2010 season, and you know the Yanks/Sux/Mets/Dodgers will try to bid on him when he hits FA, which means it’ll be tough for the Rangers to keep him beyond 2010. So only one legit year of dealing with the best pitcher in baseball intradivision.

If TX gets rid of Smoak and one of Feliz/Perez/Holland, not seeing these guys for a long long long time… do want!

they need to have there own separate section. Put the last three in between fanposts and fanshots and when a new one comes up, and old one drops off.

I’ve got 18/50 so far. How about you?

Faster than a speeding bullet, scored more runs (2,295) and stole more bases (1,406) than any player in history.

Including himself?

Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo wouldn’t be surprised if his name is on the list of 104 players that tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Arroyo had heard that a then-legal supplement he was using was tainted with steroids, according to a report.

The pitcher, formerly a teammate of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in Boston, added that he didn’t know if the two sluggers were using PEDs back in 2003.

The Yankees and Marlins are believed to be making a push for Kansas City’s Brian Bannister.

New York is trying to add depth to their starting rotation, but the Yankees are also trying to get the Royals to pay the remaining $650,000 on Bannister’s contract.

Toby: Don’t ever talk to me during The Jackal.

The link doesn’t have any info at all really, just this.

20th Century Fox has Ridley Scott back for a fifth Alien movie that is not a remake of the first or a sequel to the last, but a prequel to the entire Alien franchise.

Here’s a link that actually works. Want to help build a 2 story house out of legos?

Kanye’s Goldigger + Beethovan’s 5th
NSFW, lots of halk naked girls cuz it’s the Goldigger video. but you could use headphones and minimize the video.

But just to make sure everyone knows, you CAN take BART to the Coliseum tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, and probably for the next four years.

from A’s Ticket Services twitter feed:

ticketservicesGood question @cnaks . 2mrrw’s timeline: 66 Ave parking @ 10am. Stadium gates @ 4:05pm. Ceremony @ 5:30. FP @ 6:20. bit.ly/v3xZV @OaklandAs

Looking over at fan graphs and I noticed a few things.

The Blue Jays are the only team with single digit triples with 7. The A’s have 10 triples.
The A’s are the only team with single digit intentional walks with 9. (and they traded away almost half, Holliday had 3 and O-Cab had 1)

The A’s have 4 players with double digit steals and they traded two of them.