Opinion

What a week Cub fans!

Two weeks ago this was the most apathetic team I had ever seen, and now they are actually showing life! I think they actually want to win!

What a good feeling this is! I can’t stop using exclamation points! The Cubs are good again!

After last season’s dominance, I did not expect to be this happy to be two games over .500. But ever since Lou made some adjustments to the batting order, the team has shown signs of life.

Peter Gammons was on ESPN 1000 with Waddle and Silvy today, and the possibility of Roy Halladay to the Sox was a major topic.

Blue Jay's GM J.P. Ricciardi recently said that they'll have to at least listen to offers for their ace starter, and the Sox seem to make a lot of sense as a landing spot. They've already tried to acquire an ace pitcher once this season, and they seem to have the requisite young talent to make an offer.

Buy low, sell high.

It's a maxim that serves Wall Street investors well, and over the test of time, it has proven true in baseball as well.

When Mark Shapiro of the Indians traded Bartolo Colon and got Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Lee Stevens, he was bashed mightily by Indians fans. How could they give up on Bartolo Colon? He was coming off of two consecutive 200-strikeout years! And all they got were prospects?! They got hosed!

Or at least that's what the fanbase thought.

How do you think that trade looks to Cleveland now?

Since the end of the 2006 season, San Francisco Giants' general manager Brian Sabean has found himself on the hot seat.

In that time span, the Giants have not won more than 76 games, and have consistently been a non-factor in the National League West.

To make matters worse, it doesn't help Sabean's case that every team in the division has made a playoff appearance in that time span except for the Giants.

It has been a long seven years since the Giants were one inning away from winning a World Series title, and the fans haven't been too happy about it.

The Giants sit seven and a half games out of first place and hold the lead of the wild card.

They have 44 wins with seven games left before the All-Star Break.

Did anybody expect them to be here? If anybody says yes, they are lying to you and themselves.

Pablo Sandoval has been more than advertised and Tim Lincecum has been his Cy Young-self again. Not to mention Matt Cain has started to show the potential we all knew he had.

The New York Yankees have reached the halfway point of the season at 48-33, four games better than last season at this time (44-37), and have won 10 of their last 11 games entering their Monday afternoon tilt against the Toronto Blue Jays.

With the team at the exact midpoint of the season, now is a great time to assess how the players are performing this year.

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Every time I watch a baseball game I always have the same question: What is that thing on the hitter's thumbs? After being told, "I don't know" and, "Move your face off the screen" for the hundredth time, I took it upon myself to investigate.

As you watch some of your favorite hitters, check out their thumb on the hand closest to the end of the bat. Some of them are sporting a little tab of plastic that sits between the bat and the space between the thumb and the rest of your fingers.

BY DOUG RUSH

As the calendar turns to July, the Major League Baseball trading deadline looms. Most people are expecting the Yankees to be active players near the deadline.

They already made one deal, landing Eric Hinske from the Pittsburgh Pirates for two minor leaguers.

It gives the Yankees more depth on the bench and a chance for Alex Rodriguez to get a day off here and there like Joe Girardi planned.

The only problem is Hinske is another left-handed bat, as is their current starting right fielder, Nick Swisher.

On a weekly basis, I co-host a weekly sports-talk radio show called the Sports Zoo here in Las Vegas, with former Major Leaguer Rich Perez & former Minnesota Viking Great Joey Browner. We spend an hour talking sports like guys would at the bowling alley when their wives or girlfriends are not around.

On Bleacher Report, I try to write opinionated articles about things that I need to get off my chest—sort of like therapy.