Welcome to Chicago, Mr. Harden

While the Oakland Athletics were only six games behind the Los Angeles Angels when they traded Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs, I don't think many people were expecting the A's to actually catch and pass the Angels. Obviously, Billy Beane didn't think it mattered, or else he wouldn't have made the deal.

So when Harden came to Chicago, he was entering a whole new world as he became one of the newest knights of Cubdom's round table. Not only was he thrust into the middle of what could be baseball's most exciting division race, but he suddenly found himself pitching in front of 40,000 people, and they were all cheering for him.

That kind of stuff just never happened in Oakland...

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