Here is the video of Felix Pie doing to Ken Griffey, Jr. what Griffey himself has done to others a few times over his career -- robbing him of a home run -- in the Cubs' 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last night.

As expected, the Cubs demoted Rich Hill to triple-A Iowa today, reports the Daily Herald. They called up Sean Gallagher to take his spot on the roster. Gallagher will go to the bullpen and Jon Lieber will go to the rotation. Sean Marshall remains in the bullpen, despite the fact that after last night's game Lou Piniella said, "I would think that if we did something, we'd put Marshall in the rotation, for now." Marshall has not thrown more than an inning in a game this year since being recalled, though, and in his last four appearances he has faced just five batters. It would take some time before he was fully stretched out. One of the strange things that occurred this spring was the Cubs not giving Marshall a chance to make the rotation.

The last time Hill was at Iowa, in 2006, he was utterly dominant in 100 innings.

TV listings for Chicago Cubs fans - May 2008

Go ahead and add this page to your bookmarks. I'll add to this page as I find new listings.

For daily games, visit this page, since it includes the schedule for WGN, Comcast Sports, WCIU, Fox, ESPN, etc.

http://wgntv.trb.com/sports/wgntv-cubsbroadcastschedule08,0,6548227.htmlstory

1984 NLCS, Game 4: Chicago Cubs at San Diego Padres
ESPN CLASSIC [Closed Captioned]
Airs Mon, May 12, 3:00p - 5:00p
Original date: From Oct. 6, 1984.
2008 | 120 mins
Click here for the boxscore
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN198410060.shtml
More about 1984
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Chicago_Cubs_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_National_League_Championship_Series

I tried to record the 2am showing of the Chi Cubs 19, Milwaukee 5 game, but it was carried by ESPN and they for some odd reason blacked it out. ESPN did air it live (we're way outside of WCIU's broadcast area) but for some reason they didn't air it again at 2am, even though it was in the tv listings as such.

Perhaps they just couldn't squeeze 24 runs into 2 hours. I don't know.

We just started getting in ESPN in HD. Wow!
I can see the player's faces now. They have emotions! Imagine that.
The players look a lot thinner in HD too.

Here's a link to a review of the game and boxscore.

You’re invited! Please join the Churchill Elementary Home & School Association at the Annual Churchill Elementary Gala and Silent Auction Benefit - An Evening at the Races - Saturday, May 17th at Whitetail Ridge Golf Club in Yorkville, IL - 7pm to midnight.

This year, we have been fortunate to receive autographed Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano Cubs jerseys to silent auction at our event. We are spreading the word to Cubs fans who might like to bid on a jersey and support a great cause at the same time.

Last year, the defensive play of the year came in late September when Sam Fuld made a catch against the ivy in right field and doubled-up a runner at first. This year, the play came early, and we can safely declare the competition over.

Reed Johnson, April 25, 2008, against the Washington Nationals, courtesy of Nationals TV:

The Sporting News' Sean Deveney writes that the Chicago Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series, which they lost 4 games to 2 to Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox. His source is a newly discovered affidavit that Chicago White Sox ace Eddie Cicotte provided to the Cook County, Illinois grand jury during the investigation over the 1919 World Series. Cicotte's affidavit states that the White Sox received their inspiration from the previous year's series.

As an admitted fixer, Cicotte is hardly the most credible source. He also did not, apparently, purport to have personal knowledge of the matter. There remains no competent evidence that the Cubs threw the 1918 World Series. In contrast, there is an abundance of evidence against the 1919 White Sox. (See Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out.) If the 1918 Cubs had thrown the World Series, it is likely that someone involved would have admitted the fix at some point. As it is, there are nothing more than rumors, as this 2005 article by Timothy Gay in USA Today notes. Something that big does not stay a rumor if it is real.

If you are throwing a World Series, do your top two pitchers pitch 50 innings in 6 games and allow only 6 earned runs? That's what the Cubs' Hippo Vaughn and Lefty Tyler did in the 1918 series. In contrast, the White Sox' top two pitchers--Cicotte and Lefty Williams--were both in on the fix in 1919. In Game 1, Cicotte didn't throw 4 innings before allowing 6 runs.

The discovery of Cicotte's affidavit is interesting, but it does not mean much in answering the question of the legitimacy of the 1918 Series.

Sabathia struggling to find out what's wrong
By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/dailypitch/2008-04-17-sabathia_N.htm

Interesting bits of info from this article...

(He is also a former Cubs manager)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_G%C3%B3mez

I renewed my MLB.TV subscription this year. Unfortunately, it is not the product it was last year. It is missing one of its best features: condensed games. Here is a copy of a letter I sent to MLB Advanced Media:

To Whom It May Concern:

This is my second year subscribing to MLB.TV. When I renewed my subscription this year, I was led to believe that the product would be the same as last year, if not improved. However, there are at least two aspects of MLB.TV that are not being offered this year or are not currently functional.

Fielder to protest sausage race with work slowdown

Published April 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

http://www.onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/fieldersausageaprilfools.html

Baseball Crank analyzes the NL Central according to Established Win Share Levels (EWSL). The report is not kind to the Cubs, who are hoping for a number of players to exceed normal expectations. Predicted wins: 78.

Chicago Cubs Opening Day TV Listings
March 31, 2008

WGN Morning News
Plans are for Opening Day coverage even this early.
Note: Not available for those who watch outside of WGN's Chicago area.
You may be able to catch some of those reports here:
http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/morningnews/

9 WGN
Mon, Mar 31, 5:00a - 9:00a
240 mins

-------

SportsRISE
037 Comcast Sports Chicago
Mon, Mar 31, 9:00a - 10:00a
Highlights, features and scores as well as a comprehensive look at the national sports scene.
60 mins

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Honoring Ernie
9 WGN (Hopefully available to the cable tv Superstation audience)
Mon, Mar 31, 10:00a - 11:00a
Coverage of the Chicago Cubs' unveiling of a statue honoring Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.
2008 | 60 mins

In the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, its 10th anniversary issue, Gene Wojciechowski revisits Game Six of the 2003 NLCS. In it, he quotes Paul Rathje, stadium operations director at the time, as blaming Moises Alou's jumping up and down for Bartman's infamy: "If [Moises] Alou had just jogged back to his position, Steve Bartman would have sat down and watched the rest of the game. Nobody would have ever known about him."

That is patently untrue.

Bartman, irrespective of Alou's reaction, still interfered with the play, and his interference was caught on national television.

That said, what I wrote initially holds true. Verbally and physically abusing him was much, much worse than anything Bartman did to interfere with the play.

The photo is accompanied by a nice photo showing at least six other fans reaching for the ball, two of them within striking distance over the wall.

Wojciechowski closes with a nice comment from Ryne Sandberg. "I would have liked to have met him [at his 2005 Hall of Fame induction]. I would have shaken his hand and thanked him for being a Cubs fan."

Hello,

I just wanted to let everyone know about a book I've written called THE COMEBACK SEASON. It's intended for young adults, but at its heart, is a story about what it means to be a Cubs fan, and about the way they teach us to hope. I love this site, and would really appreciate any help in spreading the word to everyone out there in Cubdom!

Here's the Amazon link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Comeback-Season-Jennifer-E-Smith/dp/1416938478/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205940925&sr=8-1

Cheers,
Jennifer E. Smith