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.

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.

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.

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."

It's as good of an excuse as any: "Lou Piniella plans to experiment with the Cubs lineup, dropping leadoff man Alfonso Soriano to No. 2 in an attempt to keep him healthy while inserting Kosuke Fukudome fifth," reports MLB.com. Soriano continues to have difficulties with his quadriceps and the move is designed to have him making fewer steal attempts, apparently. Whether that is a valid reason or not, having his free-swinging ways move down in the order is a move in the right direction.

Unfortunately, this now apparently means that the Cubs' worst hitter in the everyday lineup -- Ryan Theriot -- is going to be leading off instead of hitting second.

So who should be in the leadoff spot? Mark DeRosa appears to be the best option, absent doing something radical like putting Derrek Lee there or moving Fukudome to center and placing Matt Murton in right field and the leadoff spot.

All of this is, of course, subject to change, and to change quickly.

And it may change with a trade. As much as the Cubs like Theriot, I believe they would prefer a better hitter in the leadoff spot. Moving Soriano down may make a trade for Brian Roberts or a center fielder even more likely.

Cubs f/x thinks Soriano and Fukudome should switch in Piniella's experimentation. Perhaps. But the idea that Fukudome is an ideal #2 hitter is based on his Japanese numbers. I would like to see a couple of month's worth of performance before handing him the keys to a table-setting position in the order.

ESPN.com's Rob Neyer provides his list of the top baseball movies, stemming from this list:

1. Bull Durham
2. Eight Men Out
3. The Bad News Bears
4. Fever Pitch
5. The Natural
6. The Sandlot
7. 61*
8. Pride of the Yankees
9. A League of Their Own
10. Babe Ruth

I have not seen 4, 7, 8, or 10, so cannot comment on those. I will merely say that putting Bull Durham No. 1 is "the dumbest, most outrageous thing in the history of [sports movie lists], and ... I will not argue about this." Neyer criticizes Field of Dreams for making Shoeless Joe Jackson into a right-handed hitter, but ignores that Bull Durham features a star pitching prospect who throws like a girl. Bull Durham is not a baseball movie. It's a chick flick that thinks it's a comedy. And a bad one at that.

I have only seen two baseball movies worth seeing again: 1. The Natural (the book is terrible); and 2. Eight Men Out (the book is even better).

We finally have some mystery in the Cubs' spring training camp: Jason Marquis will make more than $16M over the next two years whether he's starting or in long-relief or he's cut. But his family will be affected if he's not starting? Really? And if you want a position, how does it help to inform your boss that you believe you are above competing for it? Here's Marquis' comments today, as reported by MLB.com and the Tribune's Paul Sullivan:


And here's Lou Piniella's reaction:

Well, if that's the case, he can go somewhere else. Win a spot in the rotation, you don't have to worry about it. ... I've got seven starters here for five spots, you know? It's a little bit too early to start talking about what he wants to do or not do.

....

You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does. I'm not pleased with that comment. We've had a good camp over here, everybody's getting an opportunity. Go out and win a spot in the rotation.

Marquis would do well to go to Piniella immediately and unequivocally apologize and state that he's ready, willing, and able to compete for, and win, a spot in the rotation. Who's Marquis afraid of? Ryan Dempster? Jon Lieber?

And must be stopped before he does too much damage to the Chicago Cubs. See CBSSports.com's Scott Miller for more. We are going to regret the day he obtained control of the Tribune Co. if he does not sell the Cubs soon and very soon. Here's one thing we think we know: Sam Zell will sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field and ultimately Wrigley Field itself, separate from the team, if he thinks it's in the best interests of Sam Zell, whether or not it's in the best interests of the Chicago Cubs.

If you send your kids to public school, how often are you sending them to this:

When asked about his substitute teaching experience during the off-season, minor-league baseball player Bobby Scales, currently in the Chicago Cubs spring training camp as a non-roster invitee, gave us the gist of his routine with his students:

"I'm Mr. Scales, for those of you who don't know me. Your teacher is not here today. Your assignment is on the board."

He then asks one of the students to take roll call.

He then asks another student to start a DVD.

"I'm going to be right here, reading the paper."

Says Mr. Scales about his off-season job, "It's so flexible, so easy."

Mr. Scales has been substitute "teaching" since 1999. During that same time period, he has played 871 minor league games without touching a major league diamond.

Lots of notes from the first day of camp, from the Chicago Sun-Times and MLB.com:

Jason Marquis, Jon Lieber, Ryan Dempster, and Sean Marshall are battling for the final two rotation spots, after Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, and Rich Hill. One gets the impression that the best of the four--Marshall--is the least likely to get a job.

The Cubs won't take any action against Aramis Ramirez for being "dedicated entirely" to his cockfighting roosters when he is home in the Dominican Republic. "It's understanding and respecting what's acceptable in their culture,'' said Oneri Fleita, player development director and head of the Cubs' Latin American operations. ''We tend to think we have all the answers in our country, but there are people in other parts of the world that think their [customs] are better than ours.'' Moral relativism is alive and well in the Cubs front office.

"Piniella said former Notre Dame football star Jeff Samardzija, who pitched his first full season of professional ball last year, will get a longer look in camp this year and could be ready to make his major-league debut this summer if his progress remains on pace." Samardzija pitching for the big league club this summer would be a miracle.

Angel Guzman might be pitching off a mound by July. Guzman almost became the Cubs' closer last May before going down with an elbow injury and having Tommy John surgery.

This is a good sign: "Eric Patterson was one of the early position players in camp. He has spent most of his Minor League career as a second baseman but will get some playing time in the outfield." That's a good sign because the last we heard from Patterson was that he was being demoted to double-A from the big league club for showing up late to the park last September. (That demotion resulted in Sam Fuld's promotion, which resulted in this, and after this, has Fuld fighting for the starting centerfield job this spring.)

Kevin Hart didn't have a job this winter other than working out, so he learned to cook mashed potatoes.