"The Cubs will call up left-handed pitcher Rich Hill on Friday and wait until Triple-A Iowa finishes its season before bringing up 'two or three' more players, according to [Jim] Hendry," reports the Daily Southtown. Hill will start off in the bullpen, given that he has already thrown 150.2 innings this year. Iowa's last game is on Monday.

Here's a news release from the Pensacola Pelicans . Read it and ponder just why a standout pitcher like Edwar Ramirez did not attract the interest of the Cubs:

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Purchase Pelican Pitcher Edwar Ramirez

Joins Triple A Salt Lake City Stingers

The Pensacola Pelicans announced today the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have purchased the contract of Pensacola Pelican right-handed pitcher Edwar Ramirez. Ramirez will fly out of Pensacola on Friday, Sept. 2 and report to Las Vegas, NV to join the Salt Lake City Stingers, the Triple A affiliate of the Angels, to play a weekend series against the Las Vegas 51’s.

With the Pelicans in 2005, Ramirez was solely used out of the bullpen, finding his niche while becoming the team’s closer and go-to guy during the team’s playoff run. On the season, Ramirez finished with a team record 11 saves and a record of 2-2. In 62 innings pitched, he compiled a league leading 1.45 ERA, gave up only 37 hits, struck-out 93 batters and walked only 15. His strikeout to walk ratio was an impressive 6.2:1. For every nine innings pitched he struck-out 13.5 batters and Central League hitters hit a measly .170 against him this season.

Opening Day 2005 Cubs Trivia

Before the opening day game between on the Cubs and the Diamondbacks on April 4, 2005, former Cubs Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace participated in the first pitch ceremony at Bank One Ballpark.

How was this different than most ceremonial first pitches?

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Weblinks...

Photos from the Ryne Sandberg Jersey Retirement ceremony at Wrigley Field
http://chicagocubsphotos.blogspot.com

Ryne Sandberg's speech from his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and other interesting WGN radio moments.
http://wgnradio.com/shows/sp_central/aud...

Ryne's speech video, transcript, photos,
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org

TV listings for Cubs fans - September 2005

Next Game: Fri., September 2 @ 6:05 p.m. CT
Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
TV: CSN+ | Radio: WGN 720

Yep, its on Comcast Sports Chicago PLUS. Hope they've fixed the audio problems with the plus feed. This one doesn't show up in the Tivo listings, so I found it on the www.cubs.com page.

If you don't get in the Comcast plus channel, or if the audio quality really bugs you, the game is scheduled to re-air on Sat 9/3 2:30 AM. Let your Tivo catch this one.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
Sat 9/3 11:30 AM CSNCH

Cubs Special: A Change of Seasons With Len Kasper and Bob Brenly.
Sun 9/4 12:00 PM 9 WGN

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates"
Sun 9/4 12:30 PM 9 WGN

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals
Mon 9/5 1:00 PM 9 WGN , FSM