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.

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).

Maury Brown and Kurt Hunzeker at The Biz of Baseball write on Sam Zell's exploration of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field:

Sam Zell has said that he should be able to selling the naming rights to Wrigley for as much as $400 million over $20 years, a deal that would match Citigroup’s deal with the Mets’ new stadium as the largest payout for a naming rights in US pro franchise history.

As a secondary naming-rights deal, it would be unparalleled.

And therein lies the problem.  A $400 million secondary naming-rights deal?

. . . .

FOXSports.com's Dayn Perry lists the Dusty Baker-led Cincinnati Reds on top of his teams that could surprise in 2008. (Hat tip: Wrigleyville23.) It seems like people have the Reds as possible contenders every year, usually referencing their supposedly powerful offense. That offense finished 10th in the NL in runs scored in 2006 and 7th last year. True, the Reds finished first in runs scored in 2005, but they also finished 16 games under .500 that year. How are they better this year?

The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers says that the long-rumored trade for Brian Roberts "is almost certainly going to happen," perhaps yet this week. (Hat tip: Bleed Cubbie Blue.) The Cubs may have to give up Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher, and Ronny Cedeno. That's a steep price for a good player, but who has only been an above-average league hitter in two of the five seasons he has played at least 100 games. Especially since it eliminates the top competition for Ryan Dempster in the fifth starter's slot.

In any event, Rogers goes on to speculate that the lineup would look like this: Roberts, Ryan Theriot, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto and Felix Pie.

He does not explain why it would be a good idea to put the Cubs' best hitter (Lee) in the sixth spot and their worst hitter (Theriot) in the second spot. The much more likely scenario would have Soriano and Roberts hitting in the 1-2 spots.

Side question: If that ends up being the lineup, when is the last time the Cubs had a lineup that fast.

John Brattain writes at The Hardball Times:

Does anybody find it odd that Sammy Sosa has yet to be linked officially with anabolic steroids? The evidence of his juicing consists of: a corked bat (which by extension makes Billy Hatcher, Graig Nettles, Wilton Guerrero, etc. juicers as well), an odd performance in front of the Senate committee where he feigned a lack of ability to speak in English (while it was lame, I would not speak in such a situation unless I could in my mother tongue, either), an affidavit describing a conversation he had regarding amphetamines, and an extremely muscular physique.

And that is it.

. . . .

For the time being, I’m perfectly willing to state that Sosa’s four seasons averaging 61 HR and his career 609 are the genuine article.

Read the rest.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3062658

The Reds just got worse. I live in Reds country, and I work with a bunch of die-hard Reds fans. None of them are happy about this, and I can't blame them. I can't figure this one out for the life of me. It doesn't make any sense for either the team or Baker.

Why would the Reds choose Baker? They have a bright future. Jay Bruce is Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year, and their farm system is stacked from top to bottom. Baker won't play the kids if he has a veteran to play, and he is not interested in teaching the game to kids. If they don't immeidately perform like all-stars, they will soon be setting on the end of the bench to be forgotten, breaking their confidence.

The Cubs had losing streaks of three of more games eight times during the regular season. They happened to choose a bad time for their ninth of the year. Everyone has something to say:

Last week Cubs.com's Beat Reporter Carrie Muskat fielded a mailbag question about Ryan Dempter. "Without laughing, can you say Ryan Dempster is a good closer? I think this is our biggest weak spot and should be the No. 1 priority in the offseason." Here is a link to the article in question:

http://tinyurl.com/35q5my

In the article, Muskat defends Dempster, quoting his many saves. I really disagreed with the article when I read it, thinking instead of Dempster's 4.5+ ERA. That ERA basically means that he gives up an earned run in half of his appearances. Wow.

Following last night's 10-hit, 10-walk, but only 4 runs performance, the Cubs are now 16-22 since moving to a season high 8 games above .500 on August 1. And yet they are still just one game behind the division leading Brewers. During that same time frame, the Los Angeles Dodgers have gone 17-20 and have gone from 1 game back in the NL West to 6 games back. Just another way of confirming the mediocrity of the NL Central.

A few other notes:

I have written on booing before. See here, here, and here. As such, I won't go into it again other than to say that Carlos Zambrano was right when he called out some Cubs' fans for booing him. Others disagree with me. See here, here, here, and here. In any event, it was clearly a stupid public relations decision by Zambrano. Here's an important rule Zambrano needs to learn and learn fast: When you are good, give credit to others; when you are bad, put the blame on yourself. His quick apology was a good start.

After winning four straight games to close out July, then losing five straight to open August, the St. Louis Cardinals have won six of their last eight games, all against winning teams -- the Padres, Dodgers, and Brewers. The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 48-19 in those eight games. Combine that recent success with the Brewers' and Cubs' struggles, and the Cardinals sit just three games out of first place in the loss column, just two in the loss column behind the Cubs. This, despite a losing record and a pretty awful runs scored/runs allowed differential (the Pythagorean records would have the Cubs ten games up in the loss column against the Cardinals).

Count me among the worried. As the AP says, "the Cardinals suddenly are lurking."

And they have a number of good things going for them:

In the wake of the Mark Buehrle fiasco, Cubs GM Jim Hendry really should consider making all the trades with White Sox GM Kenny Williams that he can. Williams showed, one again, that he has problems making difficult decisions.

Many of us long for the day when a manager's management of the bullpen is not dictated by that nefarious of taskmasters: the save statistic. Since Cubs' closer Ryan Dempster has been injured following the game on June 22, Lou Piniella has been freed. The Cubs have won seven of eight since Dempster's oblique injury (in addition to the last game Dempster pitched in). Piniella initially announced that Bob Howry would be the closer in Dempster's absence, as the Chicago Tribune reported. During Dempster's absence, however, three different relievers have notched saves -- Howry (2), lefty Will Ohman (1), and bullet-throwing Carlos Marmol (1).

Read more below the fold.

The Daily Herald's Bruce Miles writes in today's paper that "there have been rumblings that Piniella is growing impatient with the roster given to him by Hendry." I'd be curious to know what Piniella wants.

The Cubs are currently 6th in the National League in runs scored, but there are certainly problems on offense. Three of the top four outfielders have slugging percentages below .400. Jacque Jones, Matt Murton, and Cliff Floyd have just four home runs between them. None of them have ever had slugging percentages that low over a full season, excepting Floyd's rookie year as a 21-year-old in 1994. Jones is hitting .245/.302/.335 as the starting centerfielder. Much more of that and the Cubs will be compelled to replace him with Felix Pie for good. The trouble is that Jones is signed through next season, and for $6.3M.