Viva Las Vegas

Vegas baby! The Cubs are headed to Vegas.  It was a wild one today at HoHoKam park, with the Cubs and Brewers ending up in a 10-10 tie after 10 innings.  Ted Lilly had his start moved to tomorrow since he will be facing the Brewers in six days here in Chicago.  Corey Bailey pitched for the Cubs today (who? exactly), followed by Rocky Roquet, Sean Marshall, Tim Lahey, Matt Avery, Les Walrond, and Edward Campusano.  The person who had the most to win or lose was Marshall. With the 25 man roster nearly set, the only decision Lou has to make is whether to go with Marshall or Carmen Pignatiello to substitute for the injured Scott Eyre.  Marshall didn’t help his cause any, giving up one run on one hit and three walks in one inning of work.  You want to make Lou mad?  Be a reliever who walks people. 

”The way Pignatiello is pitching, it’s starting to make you review your choice a little bit,” Piniella said. ”Not that we don’t like Marshall. We do like Marshall, but boy, this young man has really, really pitched well this spring. And he’s done that role before.”

Now you’re speaking our language Lou.  Micah Hoffpauir hit two home runs, Soriano hit a three run blast, and Ronnie Cedeno also homered for the Cubs.    There were errors, 4 wild pitches, 2 players who were hit by pitches, and plenty of missed opportunities.  Both teams had plenty of chances to win this game, but they left it a tie.  Considering  the fact that the Cubs didn’t win the division until the last series of the year, would you expect it to be any other way?

Sports Illustrated Jinx

Anyone nervous that Sports Illustrated has picked the Cubs to make it to the World Series?  Baseball analyst Tom Verducci has the Cubs and Tigers meeting in the 2008 Fall Classic, with the Tigers winning the series. When told about SI’s prediction, Lou replied

"Let’s hope they’re right about getting to the World Series part — not the conclusion,"

If Si is right, it would be a rematch of the 1945 World Series, the last the Cubs appeared in.  The last time Sports Illustrated felt the Cubs were going to win it all was in 2004, with the infamous cover that said "**** Freezes Over", with Kerry Wood on the cover.  We all remember how 2004 ended!!

Fan Favorite

There are many reasons why Cubs fans love Kerry Wood.  One of the reasons I’ve always liked the guy is the way he respects the history of the Cubs and Wrigley Field.  The Trib was asking its readers to pick a song that would be appropriate to play as Wood came out to close games.  When asked about his preference, Wood said;

"Fans are so loud at Wrigley Field in the ninth inning I don’t think you’d be able to hear any noise on that sound system anyway. I’ve never really thought about what song I’d use."

Thank God someone in the orginization respects Wrigley traditions.  Whenever I watch the Cubs play in other stadiums, it reminds me how much I love the friendly confines.  You especially notice this during the playoffs.  When the Cubs were playing in Arizona, the noise was nonstop, lights were flashing, and it seemed more like a prosfessional wrestling match than a baseball game.  Call me old fashioned, but I can do without the mutlmedia experience at a ballgame.  Real Cubs fans know when to cheer, when the game is getting excited, and they don’t need to be prompted by flashing signs and loud music.

WGN and the Cubs Celebrate 60

The Cubs and WGN celebrate sixty years together this season.  On April 16, 1948, WGN aired its first Cubs game, which the Cubs lost.  To celebrate this anniversery, WGN will air a two-hour special called "Cubs Forever: Celebrating 60 Years of WGN TV and the Cubs" at 6 p.m. April 20.  Despite this successfull partnership, WGN will only be broadcasting only 71 games this season.  WGN TV, which is affiliated with the CW network.  The CW doesn’t want to carry night games because they interfere with their nightly programming, and the Cubs would rather have more games on Comcast Sports Net, which the Cubs partly own.  Unfortunately, the Cubs and WGN don’t realize the long term affect this has on the Cubs fan base.  When I was growing up in the early 80′s, I would run home to watch Harry broadcast the Cubs games.  And it wasn’t just me either.  In the 80′s, there were two teams that people could watch anywhere- The Cubs (on WGN), and the Braves (on TBN).  Since they were on cable, people could watch them anywhere in the US.  That caused the Cubs fan base to expand across the US.  Anywhere the Cubs go, you hear fans cheering for them.  People come from all over to see a game at Wrigley Field.  Now, you need to search through hundreds of channels to find the Cubs games.  My brother, also a huge Cubs fans, misses more than half the games because he now lives in Colorado.  If the Cubs aren’t on WGN, he can’t watch the games.  IUnless he decides to purchase the MLB TV package for over 100 dollars.  Squeezing every cent out of you

Friday Night’s Game

If you are not going to your local watering hole or having a wild night out, don’t forget that Friday nights game against the Mariners will start at 9:15 p.m. CT.  I will be chatting live, so if you have a flat screen, an old style, and a laptop, hop into the discussion.

Go Cubs!