"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, May 10, 2003 ::

Designated Winner

It's really good when players know their role on a team and then when their time comes, they fulfill it perfectly.

Alex Gonzalez is the Cubs' designated walk-off home run hitter. He hit his second in a week and third game-winner of the year, as the Cubs came back after blowing a lead to beat the Cardinals 3-2 in 10 innings today.

It's the third 10th inning HR for Alex this year (all in the last 10 days), and fifth walk-off (group-huddle-and-jump) home run he's hit at Wrigley Field since joining the Cubs last year.

This home run disguised the fact that the bullpen blew a lead for Kerry Wood, something he was used to last year when they blew no less than seven leads for him; that Corey Patterson ran the Cubs out of two different innings; and that the ballclub will be without the services of Sammy Sosa for two weeks as he is now on the DL with toe problems. This goes a long way toward explaining why he's not been hitting -- clearly, with foot problems, he hasn't been able to push off properly, and I think going on the DL is exactly the right thing, because trying to play your way through this could possibly lead to worse problems.

I totally disagree with calling up Todd Wellemeyer, a relief pitcher, to replace him on the roster. True, the Cubs have no days off for 19 days. But right now the starters are throwing well enough that there's hardly enough work for 11 pitchers, much less 12. It also reduces Dusty's flexibility off the bench, something he usually likes to do -- look at today, for example, when he did two different double switches.

I do agree with Dusty finally putting Mark Bellhorn in the leadoff spot. According to published reports one of Dusty's fishing buddies had to point out to him that Bellhorn had success there last year. Now, after Bellhorn went 0-for-4 today, let's hope Dusty gives him a few more days before he gives up on this idea.

May weather can be so variable -- I could not decide how to dress today. The forecast was for sunshine, temps in the 70's, and storms late. So instead the Weather Channel radar showed storms coming around gate-opening time, to last an hour or so. It was in the 50's. So I put on the following: t-shirt, shorts, sweatshirt, sweatpants and jacket. I used all of them; by 12:45 it was sunny, though only about 65, not 75 degrees, though it wound up being warm enough to wear the shorts. I also wound up wearing all the stuff back home, mostly because it's easier to wear all the stuff than to carry it.

I also bought a new cellphone today. No particular reason, just felt like it. Unfortunately, since it wasn't the same phone I had before, I had to input all my phone book numbers manually.

:: posted by Al at 6:47 PM [+] ::
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Round One

Today, the first day of this season's Cub-Cardinal rivalry, went to the Cardinals by a 6-3 score.

There seemed to be an unusually large number of people dressed in red (do Cardinals fans own any other color clothes?) for a series early in May, but with the Cubs and Cards both contenders this year, and the weather suddenly in the 80's, after yesterday's 40's, the largest crowd of the year so far (that is, until tomorrow, which will be larger) showed up.

Carlos Zambrano gave up two dink singles and a walk and then made one mistake pitch, which on an ordinary day would have been a routine out, but today, with the wind howling out to RF, wound up being Fernando Vina's third career grand slam. I hate Vina; he's been a pest to the Cubs since his days with the Brewers. There was one series in 1998 where he led off three straight games by being hit by a pitch.

And against Matt Morris, that was enough. The Cubs had Morris on the ropes a few times, but couldn't come through. Encouraging signs were Moises Alou hitting a long home run onto the street (say, maybe it's finally warm enough for him), and Corey Patterson homering and having three hits.

It was the first appearance in the bleachers this year for Jessica, my Cubs newsgroup friend from NY. She was supposed to come on Opening Day, but with the snowout couldn't make it. She says she's been to blame for all the bad weather, but today's weather was great. So instead, we'll just blame her for today's loss, pick up the pieces and hope Kerry Wood can stop the Cardinals tomorrow.

:: posted by Al at 6:10 PM [+] ::
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Quote of the Week

"I will not be having any disparaging remarks about him except I hate him." -- Former Maryland governor William Schaefer, on his successor, Parris Glendening

And here I thought politicians in Illinois were tough on each other.

:: posted by Al at 8:19 PM [+] ::
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I'm Bored

Say, if you click on that, you'll get the lyrics to the old Iggy Pop song.

Which pretty much describes my day. I was so bored I went and got the oil changed in my car. And didn't even have to wait in line, which I actually had time to do. Doesn't that figure? I know if I'd have been in a hurry, I'd have had to wait half an hour.

I even watched part of the Sox game. Well, it's baseball, right? The game's still going on; I may go back and watch some more of it.

I was very pleased to see that the Cardinals lost to the Reds 8-4 today, putting them a game and a half behind coming into the weekend series. I'm not worried about Cincinnati -- their hitters are indeed hitting (Aaron Boone hit 3 homers today), but their pitching staff is abysmal, and the Cardinals' isn't much better. Yes, the Cubs could probably use some offensive help, but the pitching has been, with a couple of exceptions, exceptional so far this year.

In fact, Aaron Boone would look pretty good in a Cub uniform. However, despite the bleatings of certain Sun-Times writers who seem to keep saying "a trade is coming sooner or later", maybe making a deal isn't the right thing to do. We were all sure that Fred McGriff was the final piece of the puzzle in 2001, but the Cubs went right into the tank after acquiring him. Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make.

The weather this weekend is predicted to be variable -- maybe cool, maybe warm, maybe stormy.

Finally, while I'm at being bored, I have to say that the absolute stupidest baseball story of the year is whether or not Rey Sanchez was getting his hair cut in the clubhouse during a game. I mean, WHO CARES?

Only in New York would they make a big deal out of something like this.

:: posted by Al at 3:54 PM [+] ::
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I Miss The 70's

Both the decade and the temperature, and for the same reason. Back in the '70s, we had spring after spring with long warm spells, with the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field and with high-scoring games. That's where Wrigley gets that reputation, by the way; and in the last 5-10 years it's proven to be just the opposite, with cold, drizzly, windy springs and even early summers with the wind howling off the lake every day, temps that struggle to get past 50 or 55.

I'm tired of freezing!

That said, the wind helped the Cubs today, as it kept fly balls in the park, and Shawn Estes threw another good game at home, and the Cubs held on to beat the Brewers 2-1 and salvage a game out of the 3-game series going into the big weekend showdown with the Cardinals.

Lots of good things happened today. Sammy Sosa broke out of his slump with two hits; Mark Bellhorn walked twice, including once with the bases loaded; and the bullpen redeemed itself, with Antonio Alfonseca throwing well for the third day in a row, and Joe Borowski putting two men on base, then striking out the side in the 9th for his seventh save.

Bill James, whose writings I respect a great deal, wrote years ago about the "Tommy John family" of pitchers -- a group of left-handed sinkerballers who were very similar, and some of whom had pretty good careers. The more I see Shawn Estes throw at Wrigley, the more I think he could very well be one of these types. His sinker worked really well today, and so did his breaking ball. He's already this year thrown much better at home than on the road, and if he could figure out a way to be even average on the road, I think the money spent on him could be considered well spent, since there are so few lefty starters in the NL Central these days.

Now let's warm it up!

Sight seen: about half a dozen clearly underage kids thrown out in the sixth inning for drinking. If the city Liquor Department ever sent any inspectors to the bleachers, the Cubs would lose their liquor license in about five minutes. This is why they will eventually have to adopt the wristband idea, and limit beer sales to one at a time, four total.

:: posted by Al at 7:44 PM [+] ::
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Group Huddle-and-Jump

That's what they're now calling the scene around home plate when a player hits a walkoff homer, as Alex Gonzalez did for the Cubs on Sunday.

It's happened twice in Cincinnati the last two nights.

First, it was Aaron Boone for the Reds vs. the Cardinals on Monday.

Then the Reds did it again last night, this time Barry Larkin in his first swing since coming off the DL.

I kinda like it, especially when it makes the Cardinals lose.

:: posted by Al at 9:04 AM [+] ::
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Small World

So I have another Jeff story today.

Monday, he told me that a friend of his that he grew up with, was bringing a bunch of people from his work, so we had to save extra seats. I said, fine, and last night a couple of them showed up early. After about five minutes, Jeff calls me over and says, "This is Doug. He's married to Sarah Schulte." -- who, of course, is one of my co-workers at ABC-7. So she came and sat with us last night.

Also, Jeff was one of the 500 winners of a Mark Prior autographed ball, which made me pretty jealous. Ron Hayden, another of the bleacher season ticket holders from LF, also won.

For a while during the game someone was smoking dope behind us, so we joked with Krista that she was going to fail her drug test, which is another of the requirements before she goes back to work next week.

And, just as the top of the 9th was starting, there was a power outage in the neighborhood that affected about 1800 ComEd customers, and blacked out about half the lights at the ballpark, in a weird pattern that kind of looked like the way the lights got shot out at the end of the credits on the old "Bullwinkle Show". The power outage also screwed up traffic on Addison; usually it's an easy shot for me to get home, but I had to detour around some traffic, which was obviously being caused by traffic signals being out.

It was much colder than I expected it to be last night, and although I did have three layers on, I was still freezing by the end of yesterday's dragged-out, badly-played 9-6 loss to the Brewers.

What is it about the Brewers, the NL's worst team, that brings out the worst in the Cubs? Seriously, Milwaukee has only one good player -- Richie Sexson -- and he didn't even do the most damage last night, their backup catcher, Eddie Perez did, with a three-run homer off Juan Cruz, part of his career-high 5-RBI night. Mark Prior pitched OK, but made a throwing error, something the Cub pitching staff has been doing way too much of. Moises Alou made about the weirdest error I've ever seen, rainbowing a shot about 100 feet in the air, allowing a couple of baserunners to advance in the 3-run Brewer 9th that sealed their win. Corey Patterson did hit a three-run homer into the teeth of the northeast wind.

The only thing that's kept this week from being a total washout is that the Cardinals are playing just about as bad. Now the Cubs have to count on the weak spot of the rotation, Shawn Estes, to avoid being swept for the first time this year.

Brewers. Get 'em OUT of here!

:: posted by Al at 8:39 AM [+] ::
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Jeff & Krista

... are two of my friends from the RF bleachers.

They're both flight attendants for "a major airline". No, I'm not going to say which one. Anyway, Krista's been off work for almost a year due to an injury she suffered on the job. Now she's fine, and has been undergoing job-related reviews, etc. in preparation for going back to work.

Why am I telling you this? Because last night she brought her in-flight manual to the ballpark; it's a two-inch thick dossier of everything a flight attendant is supposed to know at work. And we all spent some time paging through it. After the inevitable "is there a chapter 11 in that book?" jokes, I read that in an emergency you're supposed to tell the passengers "BEND OVER! HEADS DOWN!", which sounds remarkably like that old joke "Put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye".

There's some stuff in there that absolutely stuns you at being so obvious that a ten-year-old could figure it out, but Jeff told me that some of his co-workers are... well, let's say I know some ten-year-olds who are brighter.

Jeff & Krista and her sister spent yesterday afternoon at "Baseball as America" at the Field Museum, and they learned that the human air-raid siren has become a volunteer at the exhibit, to the consternation of all the full-time employees at the museum. At least he's learned something; when he saw Jeff, he ran rapidly in the other direction.

Seriously, why can't the Cubs put an end to this stupid act? The only people who like him are completely drunk; his only ability is to stand next to you and annoy you by screaming in your ear for an hour at a time, and if you ask him politely to stop, suddenly you are causing a problem. There's absolutely no reason he should be allowed to do this. Period. Fortunately, he did not show up at last night's game. Maybe the museum people put him in storage.

I also wanted to mention that something that's happened to me has begun to happen to a couple other season ticket holders. We are being approached by co-workers who don't care one bit about baseball, who suddenly want Cubs/Yankees tickets.

OK, I'll say this only once. IF I could get extra Yankees tickets, they'd go to my friends in the bleachers who can't get them on their own. IF any of you give me $1500, I will get extra Yankees tickets for you.

Otherwise, you're on your own.

Oh, you wanted to know about last night's game? Yes, I've been avoiding talking about the depressing 5-3 loss to the awful Brewers, which was [cliche meter on] not as close as the score indicated [cliche meter off].

Ben Sheets does seem to have the Cubs' number; now 6-0 lifetime vs. the Cubs, 19-29 otherwise. A couple of people pointed out to me that Sammy Sosa doesn't quite seem the same since his beaning, and I think they might be on to something here. The strikeout in the 8th, looking at three pretty much perfect pitches, was something we haven't seen from Sammy since before his big awakening in 1998, particularly in a game situation like that.

Here's where the young pitching staff could really step up. If Mark Prior is going to be the ace of the staff, and he may be already, tonight is the time to step up and stop this before it becomes a slide.

Sights seen: a couple of dozen Korean tourists in the bleachers, who were all absolutely thrilled when Hee Seop Choi homered. And, the mini-Tron scoreboards, which have been showing pitch speeds and out-of-town scores, were broken last night. Perhaps they blew up when they realized the Tigers were about to go on their first winning streak (two) of the season.

:: posted by Al at 8:20 AM [+] ::
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Forever Vigilant

Today, a Senate committee released some executive session transcripts of McCarthy-era hearings that had been sealed for nearly fifty years.

They are a reminder that we must constantly be vigilant to make sure that no one in government abuses the people's trust the way Joseph McCarthy did.

Well worth your time to read.

:: posted by Al at 3:44 PM [+] ::
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I'm Not British...

... and more than likely, neither are you.

But go ahead and take the BBC's online IQ test, which I think is pretty cool.

FWIW, I scored 136.

Flash 5 required.

:: posted by Al at 2:26 PM [+] ::
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All's Well That Ends Well

The Cubs didn't play very well today.

Kerry Wood started poorly and was wild, walking five (though he also struck out seven -- much like Nolan Ryan in his younger years). The bullpen started worse -- Alan Benes looked the way I saw him in Arizona. They didn't take advantage of baserunners -- stranding eight.

Yet when all was said and done, there was the entire team at home plate, mobbing Alex Gonzalez, who hit his second game-winning HR in a week's time, this time a walkoff HR in today's exciting 5-4, 10-inning win over the Rockies, keeping the Cubs undefeated this year (3-0) in extra-inning games.

There were some good things too. Mike Remlinger threw lights-out today. So did Joe Borowski (BTW, Happy 32nd Birthday today, Joe), and that gave Dusty Baker the chance to show another one of the moves he seems to have patented. He rested Gonzalez today, starting Ramon Martinez in his place. Martinez also homered today. Then Gonzalez came into the game on a double-switch. There's no rhyme or reason as to why these moves work. But somehow for Dusty, they do.

The Cubs did play good defense today. Mark Grudzielanek made a nice play on a Jason Jennings grounder (and then later made a silly error, letting a ball through his legs, though that didn't result in any scoring); and Moises Alou made a leaping catch against the wall in left, turning it into a nifty DP.

I don't know how they're doing it, but they're winning. EVERY series; the Cubs have lost only two series all year. At 18-13, they remain tied for first with the Cardinals, who are suddenly hot -- and this may set up what is the first really crucial series of the year, next weekend at home vs. St. Louis.

One note I forgot to mention over the weekend -- Tribune Co. splurged and bought a couple of fluorescent light bulbs, and for the first time since last August, all the lights are working in the men's room in the bleachers.

:: posted by Al at 7:12 PM [+] ::
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Movie Review: "Identity"

It's a dark and stormy night.

No, really. That's not just a bad opening line to a novel, it's the scene-setting for this film. It's somewhere in Nevada, in the middle of nowhere (of course), and a series of road mishaps and other accidents leaves 9 people stranded.

John Cusack is a limo driver, driving Rebecca de Mornay, a has-been actress (typecasting?); there's a family with a small boy who suffers a blowout, and then a terrifying accident; a hooker leaving Las Vegas (Amanda Peet); a young couple who just got married there; and Ray Liotta, a cop transporting a prisoner, and this prisoner seems to be the center of the film. And one by one they are murdered, or die in accidents, with numbered room keys left by the bodies. Or, in some cases, parts of bodies.

Or not. In some ways this film reminded me of "Memento", another thriller that told a story that didn't wind up being about what you thought it was about (though "Identity" isn't told backwards as "Memento" was). And if you think I've revealed too much, I've really told you almost nothing.

Is Cusack really a limo driver? Or is he a cop? Or does he even exist at all? Is Liotta a cop? Or is he a prisoner himself? Is John Hawkes really the motel manager?

There are interesting clues planted, and then ripped away from us as the film suddenly tells a totally different story, of a condemned prisoner whose lawyer and psychiatrist (Alfred Molina, looking very different than he did in "Frida") are trying to get his sentence reduced. And no, this isn't the same prisoner at the motel.

I can't really tell you any more without ruining the plot twists and surprises, so I'll just tell you to go see this film. It makes you think, which is rare among films these days, and though it ends, and the ending neatly sums up the plot, in some ways the ending is another beginning.

AYRating: ***

:: posted by Al at 5:34 AM [+] ::
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