Seeing as how CC (no more periods!) Sabathia grew up in California, when he becomes a free agent at the end of this season, odds are he's going to head out to the west coast to pitch somewhere. With that in mind, the Los Angeles Dodgers were interested in trading for Sabathia because they feel they'd have a good shot at re-signing him to a long term deal after the 2008 season.

They nearly had him too, but apparently team owner Frank McCourt just wasn't willing to pull the trigger on the move.

Shortly after the Milwaukee Brewers finalized a trade for reigning American League Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia on Monday, the Daily News learned that sometime in the days leading up to that deal, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt nixed a trade that would have brought Sabathia to Los Angeles, along with Indians third baseman Casey Blake and utility man Jamey Carroll.

McCourt's reason was financial, according to multiple industry sources. But that is a charge McCourt flatly denied.

"It's just totally false," he said. "The players didn't match up, and that's just the way it was.

"Trades are complicated, and (the Indians) weren't just going to give us three players. They were asking for something in return. The point being that in this deal, the give and the get just didn't match up."

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Florida Marlins (44-43) at Colorado Rockies (37-51) - 3:05 PM ET

As if 18-17 wasn't enough, the Rockies and Marlins played a 12-6 game proving once and for all that the humidor is dead Coors Field can still play host to some Nintendo games ... and that the Marlins pitching staff needs to step it up if they're going to hope to remain in contention for the N.L. East. The Marlins turn to Mark Hendrickson, who started out the season pitching like their ace but has been positively awful his last seven starts (37 earned runs in his last 34 innings). Not the guy you would expect to bounce you back from giving up 30 runs in two games. As for the Rockies, hey ... if they have another run in them, they're only six games back in the N.L. West so that division can still be had. Speaking of which ...

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Chicago Cubs (52-35) at St. Louis Cardinals (49-39) - 3:55 PM ET

It's sad to see a friendship go south as apparently the one between Tony La Russa and Jim Edmonds has now that Edmonds is with the Cubs and La Russa is playing ultra-sensitive. But in reality, La Russa and Edmonds are mere players in the larger war that is Cubs vs. Cardinals, with first place on the line and growing ever so further away from the Cardinals. Today, Kyle Lohse is going to have to continue his 2008 magic (remember when nobody wanted Lohse? Yeah, well now he's 10-2) against Ted Lilly.

As is often the case this time of year, the Los Angeles Angels have been toying with the idea of adding another bat to their anemic offense for the stretch run. General manager Tony Reagins has come out and said that he's happy with the team he currently has, but that doesn't mean he'd turn down the right offer if it was presented to him.

The general consensus being that since the Angels have a surplus in starting pitching, they could move an arm or two to bring a bat like Mark Teixeira in. The thought process was that once Kelvim Escobar returned to the rotation, the Angels would have more than enough pitching.

There's been a wrench thrown in the plans, though, because it doesn't look like Escobar is going to be coming back this season.

After suffering a serious setback in his rehabilitation from a shoulder tear, it appears doubtful the 32-year-old right-hander will pitch at all for the Angels this season.

"I woke up [Tuesday] and it was like, wow, it's painful," said Escobar, who threw three innings for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Monday night. "It's not the normal soreness you feel after you pitch. It's pain. It's hurt. And it's in the same spot."

Escobar chose to skip any surgery and just rehab the injury back in the spring, but he's likely to undergo an MRI on his shoulder again today. Considering the pain he's still feeling, I don't think anything on the MRI is going to come back very positive, and I wouldn't be surprised if he finally chooses the surgery option this time around. Doing so would obviously end his season.

Oh wait. Wrong American dream. The lesson though, kids, is that sporting events aren't about whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you can get. No, wait. There's some sort of moral lesson here, right? Or maybe not.

Just watch Homer throw out the first pitch as the Dodgers shill for Universal Studios try to generate a family atmosphere at a recent home game.



All jokes and ill-fitting Simpsons quotes aside, that was a pretty good freaking throw by El Homo. Certainly better than anything Carl Lewis has ever served up. And also, I find it fascinating that the Matt Groening's little world has evolved to the point that it's a nationally beloved iconic item, and no longer some d/f joke routine of which parents are terrified. Next up? South Park!

One case of Duff to Home Run Derby for the find.

With a rejuvenated Juan Pierre heading to the disabled list, the crowded Dodger outfield is suddenly pretty depleted. And Los Angeles, with Arizona scuffling at the top of the standings, could probably use some offensive help. They'll get it -- in the form of Rafael Furcal, Andruw Jones and Nomar Garciaparra -- but the best word to use might be "eventually".

Jones, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery May 27, is aiming to return for the start of the second half of the season, July 18 in Arizona.

Garciaparra said he thought he could be back by July 4 or 5. Furcal said he was looking at July 5 or 6 as possible return dates.

I'm going to spare you the routine of posting quotes from 'Druw re: "rejuvenation" and "time off" helping and whatnot, because none of that matters until he gets out on the field and actually performs up to his contract.

Lenny Dykstra is a savvy investor; a gentleman so refined as to have not only a Midas touch but the sensibility to use it only at the proper time. We all knew that long ago.

So, we must also presume that Nails is merely acting in a sage manner, investment-wise, when putting his ginormous house -- once owned and built by Wayne Gretzky himself -- on the market. Not that he would ever be in financial trouble.

The house -- 12,713 square feed, 8 bedrooms, 7 baths on 7 acres -- has now been listed by Sotheby's International in Brentwood.

Asking price: $24.9 million.

Bleacher Bums is MLB FanHouse's look at those oh-so-fun fan adventures.

I don't know what's more amazing: a) that this fan was in the right spot at the right time to catch a Torii Hunter batting practice home run; b) that his non-glove hand was steady enough to catch the whole thing on film; c) that he maintained the presence of mind to call "head's up!" and save that impressed Angels player from getting conked on the head ... or d) that this is the same fan who made a nearly identical video catching an Andre Ethier double back in May?

The Los Angeles Angels are in first place in the AL West, and are about to start a very important (okay, as important as a series can be halfway through the season) series with the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim tonight. They're only 4.5 games ahead of Oakland at the moment, and they're coming off a series against the Dodgers in which they lost two of three and couldn't hit their way out of a paper bag.

For goodness sake, Jered Weaver threw a damn no-hitter on Saturday and the Angels still lost. In the three games against the Dodgers, the Angels hit .161 and managed to score one run. That's why hitting coach Mickey Hatcher is going to be a little more assertive in today's hitters meeting.

"When we get home, we're going to have a meeting and figure out how many of these guys are trying to get me fired," Hatcher said.

"The last few days in that locker room, I don't know how to describe it, but it's not the same team. The energy level is real low. Sometimes that happens when you travel coast to coast. I don't know why."

Of course, I don't know that things will get much better against the Athletics this week. After all, the A's pitching staff does have the second-best ERA in baseball at 3.42 (just behind the White Sox who check in at 3.39), and they're not going to make it any easier on the Angels lineup.

General manager Tony Reagins came out last week and said he doesn't plan on making any changes come the trade deadline, but I have to wonder if he'll change his mind if his lineup keeps struggling to score runs. At some point the Angels will have to seriously consider sacrificing some of their pitching depth to add another bat to the lineup.

I remember when I was a kid I went to a White Sox game against the Yankees with my dad. It was a special game in history, because it happened to be the day that Andy Hawkins threw a no-hittter against the White Sox. Oh, and he also lost the game 4-0.

I was only nine years old at the time, so I didn't quite understand the significance of what I'd just seen, I just knew that the White Sox had one, and that it was a good thing. The idea of how Hawkins must have felt after the Yankees committed three errors in that 8th inning to lose the game never crossed my mind. Looking back on it now, though, I'll bet he was pretty pissed off.

Wouldn't you be? At the very least you have to figure Jered Weaver probably is.

Weaver held the Dodgers without a hit through six innings before being removed for a pinch-hitter and turning things over to Arredondo, who retired the Dodgers in order in the seventh and eighth innings. The game did not qualify as an official no-hitter because the Dodgers did not bat in their half of the ninth inning.

The Dodgers scored in the fifth on a pair of errors, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. Weaver committed the first error when he couldn't cleanly field leadoff hitter Matt Kemp's dribbler up the first base line.

Kemp would go on to steal second base and move up to third after Jeff Mathis saw a cute girl in the stands and wanted to impress her* by playing catch with Torii Hunter in center field (*this is my interpretation, anyway). Kemp would then score on a sac fly by Blake DeWitt, and the Dodgers would win 1-0.

All of which means that in his next start, Jered will give up 15 hits in 7 innings of work, yet the Angels will win the game 13-7. Baseball just has a way of balancing this stuff out, so it's important that Jered not let this bother him going into his next start. Things could be worse, after all, he could be Jeff Weaver.