Ok, this is a quick and easy poll.  Did you win the rights to buy NLDS tickets?  I'm curious the ratio of die-hard fans (which would include BCBers) that won. I personally did not. win 

If you didn't sign up, don't vote.

In other news, I'm curious about how many times you signed up.  (answer in the comments) Seeing as how I have to come up with 75 words and all for this poll to go through, I might as well add that I signed up with 3 email addresses.  Do the brokers just have 1000 emails and then paid some junkee/flunkee to register 1000 times?  Who knows.  All I know is I didn't get tickeets and I'm bummed.  Not pissed, because I knew it was a longshot anyways, but I'm bummed.  Personally I like the VWR better because I knew how to scam the system.  So with that in mind, I probably didn't deserve tickets anyways.  That's GOTTA be 75, on with the poll!

Poll

Did you win playoff tickets?

11%

Yes

33 votes

88%

No

252 votes

285 votes | Poll has closed

Did anyone see the latest on David Weathers and the Reds?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080505&content_id=2648545&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Sound familiar?  It's Kent Merker and Steve Stone all over again.  "Us against the World."  Way to run your clubhouse, Dusty.

I'm so glad Dusty's in our division again.   Now if we could only beat them. 

That's all.  Go Cubs.  Seventy five words and I can be done writing.  Out.

Cubs.com is selling an odd retro jersey:

http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1825794&cp=2776267

Eckersley wasn't on the team in 1978, nor did he ever wear this (ugly) jersey.  He didn't get here until 1984, when they were wearing the blue softball tops.  

They also have the same '78 jersey for Santo, Sutter, and Sandberg.  Only Sutter of these three was around at the time.  The rest of the retro jerseys on cubs.com appear to be legit.

So I ask, if you want a retro pajama jersey, why would you get one for a player that wasn't even on the team?  Is it too much to ask for a Buckner or Kingman jersey like that?  

Weird.

Did anybody see the "Ask Paul Sullivan" feature in today's trib?  

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/askthewriter/cs-070412askpaulsullivan,1 ,6225049.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines

Dear, Paul, for the past few years, Carlos Zambrano has always worn the blue jersey top rather than the road gray or the home pinstripes. In his first two starts of 2007, I see him in the road gray jersey. Are the Cubs no longer wearing the blue jersey or does the starting pitcher no longer select the jersey to be worn for the game? --Vince Doyle, Elk Grove, Calif.

The Cubs are no longer wearing the blue jerseys, a nod to traditional gray road uniforms of the past. They will also wear exclusively white at home. I'm not a fashion aficionado, but I thought the blue jerseys made them look like a 16-inch softball team from Albany Park. I'm happy the Cubs ditched the blues.

I didn't know this was happening.  Great news!

Deadspin had a post about MLB's Look Again Player of the Year award.  An award that goes to...

Behind every great team on the diamond, lurking in the shadow of baseball superstars, live the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort. Which of these role players' best deserves recognition for their contributions as the Holiday Inn Look Again Player of the Year?

Yes, it's shamelessly sponsored by Holiday Inn, and Deadspin is "dead on" in noticing that the nominees comprise the whitest ballot since the 1946 all-star game.  It's unbelievable that MLB would be so blatant about rooting for the scrappy white guy.  "Scrappy" being a word, of course, that is never used to describe a minority.

But check out the Cubs nominee.  John Mabry, are you freaking kidding me?  He was horrible and the only thing he should be nominated for is "worst bench signing of the year."  

If I had to choose a Cub that did his job well with minimal recognition, well, that's actually a hard choice to make.  Nobody was hard-nosed and did the little things well.  But if I had to choose, I'd actually choose another white guy, though his whiteness is purely coincidental.  

Bobby Howry, come on down.  Solid middle reliever, led the team in appearances.  Pitched well.  Unless you're a diehard you probably didn't know who he was.  (Anybody here at BCB, of course, is a diehard.)

In second, I'd choose Hank White.  Who is, of course, not white, but he fits the description of solid role player that did their job better than could be expected.

In 2005, I'd choose former punching bag Neifi Perez for the award.
2004, resident punching bag Glendon Rusch.
2003, Randall Simon or Mark Grudzielanek

Race aside, those would be my choices.  I guess the whole point of this is a) the award is a joke but an interesting topic of conversation, and b) John Mabry sucks.

ESPN had an article today that's sort of the antithesis to MLB's Hometown Heros promotion: the Hometown Bums.  They also have a full ballot with all 30 MLB teams as well.  

I'll save you the click and let you know that the Cubs five were Ernie Broglio, Steve Bartman, Leon Durham, Corey Patterson and Todd Hundley.

I disagree with several of these choices, and add a few choices of my own at my blog.  Yes, a blatant plug.  Check it out:

http://chicagosportsblogs.com/mikej/archive/2006/09/13/7492.aspx

thanks!

Al usually posts a ticket exchange diary about upcoming homestands, but I thought I'd post one on an upcoming road trip.  I have two tickets to Tuesday, 8/8 for Cubs at Milwaukee (7pm start).  I don't want to trade them so much as I want to sell them.  They're pretty good seats:

Section Row Seat
DB 210  4 13
DB 210  4 14

see the seating chart

I paid $45 each for them, but I'll take best offer.  If you want to trade them for seats at Wrigley, I can do that too.  I can meet you at the park for the exchange, as I'll be at the game as well.  mjohnson5@hotmail.com

thanks.