Blown call after blown call. We see them weekly, if not more often, and sometimes they can change the outcome of games.

MLB has inched toward replay review by instituting a review of disputed home runs, but, led by Commissioner-for-Life Bud Selig, the league has dawdled when presented with situations that could easily be reviewed and corrected.

Now, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, in an interview on radio Tuesday morning, MLB is ready to institute an expanded review system in 2013. It’s summarized by Cork Gaines at Business Insider:

A group of umpires will watch games from a central location

On plays that are “clearly wrong” the group would then signal the umpires at the game and let them know there is an obvious call that needs to be changed

MLB hopes to implement an introductory version of the system in 2013

The initial system would only review home runs, whether a ball is fair or foul, and whether or not a player caught a ball

The system would then be expanded “after a year or so” once the system is optimized

At that point, the system would be expanded “to all sorts of calls.” However, Stark says exactly what would be included would have to be negotiated

This sounds similar to the NHL review system, where disputed goals are reviewed in a central location. What’s proposed here is neither perfect nor comprehensive, but it’s a start, and it's something MLB should have done years ago.

Better late than never.

Before you get too excited about a baby two-game winning streak, which the Cubs are now on after a 5-3 win over the Padres at Wrigley Field Tuesday afternoon, please recognize that these two wins are in the books because the Cubs finally found a team that's worse than they are.

Seriously. The Cubs scored one of their runs on a balk and a wild pitch, and Darwin Barney hit two doubles, scoring both times. Joe Mather also doubled twice, but also fell down trying to catch what turned into a Padres double. Alfonso Soriano kept up with Albert Pujols by hitting his seventh home run (third in his last four games), sort of a poor man's home-run race. Soriano, incidentally, currently leads Pujols in the following categories: BA, OBP, SLG and RBI. (This won't last, so enjoy it while it's here.)

Soriano also made a nice diving catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of Chris Denorfia and turned it into an inning-ending double play in the sixth inning. Jeff Baker also turned a line-drive DP and also snagged a liner from Yonder Alonso that almost certainly would have scored a run in the eighth inning.

So the Cubs played nice defense, and also got nice pitching from Jeff Samardzija on his bobblehead day, seven-plus innings with eight strikeouts. Shark also singled and walked. It was just the second walk drawn by a Cubs pitcher this season in 102 plate appearances.

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Maybe.

Could there be another today?

A win yesterday!

Earlier in May, the Yankees’ Brett Gardner suffered a setback in his comeback from an elbow injury.

Monday, he took a step toward returning to action. From Marc Carig:

Brett Gardner’s latest attempt to finally come off the disabled list began today when the injured outfielder was allowed to swing a bat for the first time in nearly two weeks. He took only "dry swings," meaning that he didn’t actually hit baseballs, but it’s progress for the speedy outfielder who has been on the shelf since April 18.

Under the best-case scenario, Gardner could make his return to the Yankees in as little as 10 days.

The term “dry swings” makes one wonder what “wet swings” might be. But perhaps that’s a story for a different website.

The Yankees have missed Gardner’s speed in the field and on the bases. They hope he can go on a rehab assignment soon, but before that he’ll have to swing without aggravating the injury.

So is Ryan Dempster going to be traded? Or is he going to stay?

Last weekend, it sounded like he was resigned to leaving:

"I’m not an idiot. I know how things go," said Dempster, a two-time All-Star and the Cubs’ Opening Day starter the last two seasons. "I know how it goes with players in contract years and the team not necessarily doing like they’re supposed to be doing, there’s always a possibility of things. There’s a possibility of being traded anytime.

"But I don’t really think about it. I don’t really worry about it because I can just control doing my job the best I can."

But Monday, it sounded like management wanted to keep him:

But team president Theo Epstein was noncommittal when asked about Dempster on Monday, saying there has been an "open dialogue" between the two about his future.

Asked if Dempster might yet be signed to a new contract, Epstein said, "Long term, sure. We’ll have to take a realistic look at where we are."

My thoughts at this juncture: it's way too early to tell. The non-waiver trading deadline is two months away. The additional two wild-card teams might mean there will be more buyers at the deadline -- and fewer sellers, making someone like Dempster more valuable. He's off to his best start since 2008, when he made the All-Star team and finished sixth in Cy Young voting.

Dempster turns 36 next January. He's one year younger than his friend and former teammate Ted Lilly, who got a three-year deal from the Dodgers taking him through his age-37 season. If the Cubs feel Dempster can contribute on the mound and as a veteran clubhouse presence, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't bring him back for a couple more years.

And please, don't say, "Trade him for prospects and re-sign him as a free agent!" In real life, that doesn't happen. Most likely, if he is traded, he'd wind up signing with the team he's traded to, as Lilly did.

Now, on to this afternoon's contest.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus RF, Castro SS, Mather 3B, Soriano LF, Baker 1B, Johnson CF, Barney 2B, Hill C, Samardzija P

Padres lineup:

Venable cf, Denorfia rf, Alonso 1b, Quentin lf, Headley 3b, Baker c, Cabrera ss, Amarista 2b, Stults p

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The Milwaukee Brewers have had a parade of players on the disabled list this season, with injuries ranging from hamstrings to quads to obliques, but the one that happened to catcher Jonathan Lucroy has to top the list, given that it did not happen during a game, but when a suitcase fell on his hand in his Los Angeles hotel room.

The news went from wacky to worse. Tom Haudricourt:

The Brewers’ avalanche of injuries crossed over to the bizarre side Monday when it was revealed that catcher Jonathan Lucroy, one of the hottest hitters in the National League, suffered a broken right hand in an accident in his hotel room the previous evening. Lucroy will be out four to six weeks, becoming the seventh current player on the disabled list.

“It’s not going too well in that area,” said manager Ron Roenicke, who could barely enjoy a 3-2 nail-biter over the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Obviously, it hurts our team a lot. I feel really bad for him. And he feels really bad about it.”

The Brewers recalled Martin Maldonado, who was hitting .198 at Triple-A Nashville, to replace Lucroy on the roster. And he’ll be pressed right into action:

With backup catcher George Kottaras hobbled somewhat by a sore hamstring, Roenicke said Maldonado will do most of the catching for awhile.

Lucroy was one of the NL’s top hitters in May with a .388 average this month. Insert “when it rains, it pours” cliché here.

For more on the Brewers, please visit Brew Crew Ball.

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Last week, it was reported that Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn might be getting involved in a group looking to buy the San Diego Padres.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he is not the only famous San Diego athlete looking to do this; now golfer Phil Mickelson could be forming a group to buy his hometown team:

The second-leading money-winner in professional golf history has joined four of the grandchildren of former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley and provided the out-of-town partnership with an iconic local investor.

Three years after resisting the ownership overtures of Jeff Moorad, Mickelson says he’s now ready to take a stake in San Diego’s major-league baseball franchise.

“I’ve had the opportunity to invest in other sports franchises, and I’ve turned it down in the past,” Mickelson said Monday morning. “This was a unique opportunity with families that had done this before and know how to do it right and want to get involved in the community.”

Mickelson and the O’Malley family could form a potent combination to bring the Padres back to contention. And Mickelson says he’d welcome Gwynn into his group:

“If we were able to get control, (Gwynn) would be the first person we’d want to get involved,” Mickelson said. “He’s such an icon with the team. Hopefully, it won’t be combative."

Current majority owner John Moores might be looking for more than the $530 million he had hoped to get three years ago, given the recent sale of the Dodgers for more than $2 billion.

Those are huge dollar amounts, almost too much to wrap your mind around. But they are happening, and likely will continue as baseball franchise values soar due primarily to big-money TV deals like the one the Dodgers have, and the Padres recently signed.

For more on the Padres, please visit Gaslamp Ball.

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If you are of "a certain age", you will remember days like this during the 1970s, when Cubs hitters and their opponents regularly blasted baseballs into the Wrigley Field bleachers and onto Waveland and Sheffield Avenues when the wind was blowing out.

It was a day like that on Monday afternoon -- hot, humid, wind blowing straight out -- and the Cubs and Padres combined for eight home runs. The Cubs got the best of that deal by having three of their four homers with men on base and had their biggest offensive output of the season in an 11-7 win over the Padres, snapping the 12-game losing streak that seemed to sap the energy out of just about everyone associated with this franchise, from players to management to fans.

If you watched or attended this game, you have witnessed 18% of all the home runs the Padres have hit this entire season -- four out of 22. Meanwhile, the last time as many as eight home runs were hit in a game at Wrigley Field was July 2, 2006, when the Cubs hit five and the White Sox four in a game the Cubs wound up winning 15-11.

These kinds of games are fun! Let's count up all the scoring and offensive production by the Cubs, shall we?

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The San Diego Padres are in Chicago Monday to begin a short three-game homestand for the Cubs. Let's look at them, shall we?

They are 5-15 in road games. That's six three-game series and one two-game series. They have won exactly one game in five of those series and were swept in the other two.

They have 18 home runs this year: nine at home, nine on the road. The next-fewest number of home runs by a team is 30, by the Mets and Giants. The leader is Chase Headley with five; no one else has more than three. Some baseball people thought Yonder Alonso's home-run power might be affected by Petco Park -- they appear to have been right. He has 16 doubles -- tied for second in the NL -- and one home run. At Petco he has 11 doubles and no homers.

They scored a run in the first inning on Friday against the Mets. That's the last run they scored -- they're on a streak of 26 consecutive scoreless innings.

Their first two starting pitchers in this series are a 37-year-old journeyman who posted a 4.78 ERA in 2011 -- in Triple-A -- and a 32-year-old journeyman who, before this year, last started a major league game in 2009, and wasn't very good then.

The Cubs will probably get swept, the way things are going.

In case you are interested, Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times has a list of the most recent 12-game losing streaks by all teams. There has been one other 12-game loss streak this year, by the Royals. A loss today, and the Cubs have the longest 2012 losing streak all to themselves.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus RF, Castro SS, Mather CF, LaHair 1B, Soriano LF, Stewart 3B, Barney 2B, Lalli C, T. Wood P

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UPDATE, 9:15 p.m. CDT: All of this was fun, but none of it was true. Here is what actually happened.

Source: Anthony Rizzo left Iowa Cubs game with right wrist soreness after a swing and miss. It's not a sign he's about to be promoted.

— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) May 28, 2012

After the jump, here's the rest of the story as I originally posted it at 8:32 p.m. CDT (took only about 40 minutes of rapid-fire tweets to get the whole story):

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