"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, April 12, 2003 ::

Soak Up The Sun

That was about the best thing to do today, as the wind was howling off the lake (and blew a few clouds over for an hour or so), making the 45-degree day feel much colder.

The Cubs shut out the Pirates 4-0, as Kerry Wood showed signs of resuming the dominant form he showed as a rookie. He struck out 13, and of course many of the fans would have loved to see him finish, but 122 pitches after 8 innings is just about enough, so Dusty Baker pulled him for Mike Remlinger, who struggled, and Joe Borowski, who finished, and made a strong case that he should be interim (and maybe permanent) closer. Amazing that Borowski was supposedly "on the bubble" during spring training.

The Cubs will deny it, but it seems to me as if they must be selling more tickets to the bleachers. Capacity (as dictated by the fire department) in the bleachers is 3,950. It was very crowded in the aisles and on the back fence, especially considering it was a cold day in April. I have to believe they're selling more than the allotted number of tickets. That's one way to circumvent the city not allowing them the bleacher expansion. Say, this is one thing I could actually agree with Richie Daley on. But I'm still mad at him.

My friend Dave offered to buy me a frosty malt -- I asked him to look and see how many grams of carbohydrates are in them. SIXTY! And all of those are sugar carbs. No wonder I was getting fat. No more frosty malts for me.

:: posted by Al at 4:55 PM [+] ::
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Eerie

Those of you who've read this blog for a while will remember that every time I listened to a webcast of a spring training game, the Cubs lost.

Now it seems to be carrying over to televised home games that I can't attend, such as today's when I am at work. I watched most of the game on TV and the Cubs lost to the Pirates 3-2.

So, here it is: record in games I have watched on TV: 3-4. Record in games I have seen in person: 2-1.

Don't worry. I'll be at the ballpark tomorrow.

Oh, and yes, I'm STILL mad at Richie Daley.

:: posted by Al at 5:19 PM [+] ::
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Good For Roger Kahn

Noted baseball author Roger Kahn has cancelled a planned speaking appearance at the Baseball Hall of Fame in August due to the Hall's cancellation of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon's planned appearance later this month as part of a tribute to the movie "Bull Durham".

Good for him. Hope there are more cancellations like this. It'd be even better if Gary Carter or Eddie Murray, this year's scheduled inductees, would either cancel or make a statement decrying this kind of censorship during their speech.

:: posted by Al at 4:14 PM [+] ::
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Well, The Weather Was Nice

That's about the only good thing to say about today's ugly 7-1 loss to the Expos. The defense deserted the Cubs in the first, resulting in three unearned runs off Shawn Estes, who to his credit came back and shut the door after that. I got to see my friend Dave, who owns the Rockford Riverhawks of the Frontier League, and who it's always interesting to talk baseball with. Also showing up was Dave Geiser from the Cubs newsgroup, who was going to sit elsewhere, but I had an extra ticket that was going to go unused, so I invited him up for a couple innings.

The temperature was reported as 54 degrees, and with the bright sunshine and light winds it felt really nice out there. Oh, and the Cubs carted off all the snow that had been piled up on the sidewalk on Sheffield -- when I got there at 12:30, it was totally gone and someone was sweeping up the remains of the warning track.

That's all the good stuff, so instead I'm going to talk about the errands I had to run after the game. I needed to drop off a FedEx ground return box, returning a broken printer that HP just replaced. Found out you can't just do this at any old FedEx dropoff point, you have to go halfway downtown to one of their offices. Then I got stuck in a huge traffic jam trying to get to the post office, where while waiting in line, a woman walked in, looked at the line and said:

"Is this a line?"

What I wanted to say: "No, we're waiting for auditions to be an idiot, but you apparently got the job already."

What I did say: "Yes."

Anyway, I have to work all day tomorrow, so I'll be watching tomorrow's game on TV like everyone else.

:: posted by Al at 5:31 PM [+] ::
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The Hall Of Fame Is Run By Idiots

Of course, we knew this already when their "Veterans Committee" (and I use the term loosely) didn't elect Ron Santo, or for that matter anyone, a couple months ago.

Now, they have announced that a proposed 15th anniversary salute to the movie "Bull Durham" has been cancelled because of the political stances of the film's stars, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins against the war.

I mean, how freakin' stupid is that? It will come as no surprise that Dale Petroskey, president of the HOF, is a former Reagan administration official, and as such is representative of the party that wants to suppress any opposing views.

Rob Neyer, ESPN.com columnist and a man whose opinions and writing I greatly respect, is quoted on the above-linked page as saying:

"This isn't censorship, by its most technical definition. But you know, there are various forms of censorship. Here, the message is that if you say anything deemed offensive by the powers that be -- Petroskey, by the way, spent many years working for Republican politicians -- you will be disciplined. And if that's not censorship, whatever it is ain't pretty. Let freedom ring."

Amen, brother. Yet another reason the baseball Hall of Fame is, sadly, falling into irrelevancy.

:: posted by Al at 11:14 AM [+] ::
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What A Difference A Day Makes

Sunshine and ten degrees warmer made it feel almost tropical at the ballyard today, as Mark Prior served notice that he is going to dominate the NL this year, with a surprisingly easy 3-0 shutout win over the Expos, who aren't a slouch team, either. This is the first shutout of Prior's career, and only the second complete game shutout of the young MLB season (Hideo Nomo had the other).

Couple things stood out today, besides Prior's 12 strikeouts (Javier Vazquez of the Expos had 14 himself) -- Damian Miller put on his hitting shoes, went 3-for-3 including a HR into a pretty stiff wind; and Prior had a really nice little sequence in the bottom of the 8th where he squared to bunt, missed it, then kept staring down to Wendell Kim, who was gyrating through about 2 dozen signs. Finally Prior & Kim talked briefly, after which Prior faked a bunt and lined an RBI single to right. It looked like it was all a deke -- I think Prior knew exactly what he was doing and was just trying to fool the defense. What a smart player.

It's been said that you should look at the second home game of the season to find the real fans, since they'll still be coming out in cold weather, yet without the Opening Day hype. The Cubs are seemingly pulling attendance numbers out of a hat, since today's was announced at 29,966, more than yesterday. Obviously, there were far fewer in the park, perhaps 10,000 or so.

Human air-raid siren update: the fool who will not be named here is now being allowed in, apparently without paying. Luckily, it seems like something's happened to his voice; he doesn't project nearly as much as he used to, which is just fine with me.

On the Sheffield sidewalk outside the bleachers, piled about four feet high, is all the snow they plowed off the field -- along with about half the warning track dirt. Even with warm temps this could take about two weeks to melt.

In the 9th inning, a young lady in the CF bleachers was enticed to bare her breasts briefly. Not sure whether she was placed under arrest or not.

:: posted by Al at 4:28 PM [+] ::
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As Promised!

Click here for the recipe for "Beef Medallions in Beer Sauce", the dish favored by Harry Caray and cooked up by Chip Caray on the ABC-7 Morning News on Monday, April 7.

Great eats especially for those cold April nights!

:: posted by Al at 8:27 PM [+] ::
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Opening Day!

Or, at least it said so by the calendar; it was a nice day for December, as the game-time temperature was reported as 29 degrees, which tied the lowest temperature reading ever at Wrigley Field.

Still, the Cubs' easy 6-1 win over the Expos was certainly enough to warm up all of us, at least a little. It was great to have everyone back out there; Carole, Howard and Jon you already know from my spring training reports; we were joined by Jeff (who's there every day with me) and his girlfriend Krista; John, Kathleen, Sue and Brian, who will show up here from time to time; Bob the Baker (he's not a bread baker any more, but I still call him that), who shows up only a few times a year now, and my buddy Mike, with whom I am now starting my 25th season on our little bleacher bench. Cheryl from RF, who had such a bad sunburn in spring training, says it's OK now; she's also now a blonde (she was a redhead before).

At one point Mike said -- "Isn't that a new white line painted on top of the message board?" Um, nope. That was snow. There was also snow on the ivy -- or the ivy branches, to be more specific, since there are no leaves yet. That's also a first. There's a new souvenir stand downstairs in the bleachers, replacing a rarely-used concession stand, a new "party area" (read: "more beer sales") underneath the scoreboard, and two small video-type boards underneath the upper deck, which show flags during the national anthems, out of town scores, and also a pitch-speed meter, which is kinda cool.

Speaking of the anthems, the Canadian anthem was booed. This is absolutely classless, folks. Maybe the Canadians are staying out of the current conflict, but they're our closest friends, they're much like us, and yes, I know this may be in response to the booing of the American anthem in Montreal at a hockey game a couple weeks ago, but still -- let's show them we have more class than they do.

Biggest pre-game applause for players was reserved, of course, for Sammy Sosa; but after that it was Prior, even more than Wood. And loudest applause among coaches, after Dusty Baker, was for Gary Matthews. Attendance was announced as 29,138, which means a lot of people already turned in their tickets; it looked like maybe about 20,000 showed up, which isn't bad considering the postponement and that the weather sucked.

And how on earth did they get Ryne Sandberg to agree to appear in uniform in Chicago on a day this cold?

About the game: The club played well and you can see immediately the impact of Dusty Baker. These guys look like they want to play; they do all the little things right, and the Expos aren't a slouch team either. Today was a real good sign of good things to come, I think. They hit in situations, had many, many good at-bats, and the pitchers got the outs when they needed them. Clement looked terrific, though he started walking too many guys and finally had to be yanked.

Funny drunk story of the day: a few of the drunks behind us started singing "Choi to the World" (to the tune of "Joy to the World") when Hee Seop was hitting. Creative.

Stupid sight seen: Corey Patterson wearing a stocking cap over his baseball cap. What does that do? Keep your cap warm?

More tomorrow, when the weather's at least supposed to be sunny. At least one forecast has a possible high by Monday of 70.

:: posted by Al at 7:21 PM [+] ::
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Not So Fast, Daley

Every Monday, there's a transit-oriented column in the Tribune written by Jon Hilkevitch.

In today's column Hilkevitch writes that Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, whose committee does things like give transportation funding to cities, is very angry about what Daley did to Meigs Field, and that he may try to get his committee to totally revisit federal funding to O'Hare and Midway projects, as well as other airport projects dear to the heart of the Butcher of Meigs Field.

So -- Daley's arrogance may have met its match. Let's hope so.

:: posted by Al at 1:44 PM [+] ::
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Chip Caray

First, in case you haven't heard, today's Cub home opener has been postponed due to the approximately three inches of snow that fell overnight.

The Cubs made the right call, though they waited till early this morning. They could have called the game yesterday, like the Yankees and Indians did. It'll be played tomorrow; weather is supposed to still be cold, though at least it won't be snowing.

Why did I mention Chip Caray? Because he stopped by our channel 7 studios this morning to cook up what was supposedly one of his grandfather's favorite dishes -- beef tenderloin cooked in beer. OK, I admit the thought of Chip cooking at first really grossed me out, but I have to tell you -- not only did he make this dish really well, but I had some and it was terrific!

And beyond that, frequently our studio guests can't wait to dash out the door after the show. Chip not only stuck around talking to the crew for half an hour, but he kept cooking! He's a genuinely nice, personable guy; we talked about Sammy's 500th and some other Cub-related stuff. It was cool to meet him and nice to know that he doesn't have any arrogant air about him.

Will update this item later today once the recipe is posted on the ABC7 website.

:: posted by Al at 9:49 AM [+] ::
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Sunday Notes

There are full-page ads in both Chicago papers today from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, decrying the Butcher of Meigs Field's wanton destruction of the airport. They'll be pressing their case in court. I hope they win.

And, at this time, it appears that there will be several inches of snow on the ground here in Chicago tomorrow at game time for the Cubs' home opener -- and it may not melt in time for them to play even Tuesday. We await developments.

:: posted by Al at 11:47 AM [+] ::
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Movie Review: "Assassination Tango"

Before I review this film, whose title sounds like a code word you'd have used during World War II, I should admit that I nodded off asleep for a few minutes during the picture -- not because the movie was so bad, but because I've had trouble catching up on my sleep since returning from vacation to my normal lack-of-sleep routine. I did wind up missing the introduction of a character, whose appearance later thus confused me, though she turned out not to be central to the plot.

But anyway -- this film, which was both written and directed by Robert Duvall, who also stars in it as an almost-unrecognizable (with hair in a ponytail, no less) mob-style hitman, kind of downtrodden and out after a lifetime of doing this kind of work. He's finally found some happiness, marrying Maggie (the much-younger Kathy Baker of "Picket Fences"), and doting on Maggie's daughter Jenny, charmingly played with real-kid dialogue by newcomer Katie Miller.

Anyway, Duvall's character is sent on one "final" job to Argentina, to bump off a general. Here's where the script kind of fails us, because you never really learn the reason that the general is such a bad guy -- in the film, he seems like a doddering old man who loves to putter in his garden -- nor the motives of the group who wants to bump him off. In the meantime, Duvall has taken a liking to tango dancing, and of course, Argentina's a hotbed of it, and he winds up meeting and, mystifyingly since he appears to be happily married, romancing Manuela, a star tango dancer (Argentinian newcomer Luciana Pedraza, who speaks nearly flawless English).

The dancing scenes are terrific, but the film gets bogged down in the assassination plot and its being carried out, and as such never really decides what it's about. I liked it for the dancing, and also for the many gorgeous shots of Buenos Aires, a city you never see much of in films; it's shot like a real city, not Toronto substituting for Chicago as you see in so many current films.

"Assassination Tango" is in limited release, but if you have a chance to see it, it's well worth your time.

Just try to stay awake.

AYRating: ***

:: posted by Al at 11:40 AM [+] ::
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