Archive - Apr 18, 2008

This is semi-ancient baseball history, but for those of us who haven't thought a whole lot about Cincinnati Reds play-by-play man Marty Brennaman until the last 48 hours or so, we can enjoy this as if it were fresh and new.

In late April, 1988, the Reds were hosting the New York Mets in old Riverfront Stadium. Umpire Dave Pallone, who had a long history of conflict with the Reds in general and Cincy manager Pete Rose in particular, was working first base. In the bottom of the third inning, Rose and Pallone got into a chest-to-chest confrontation over a disputed play on the bases. Rose and Pallone got their fingers in each other's faces, Pallone told Rose, "Get your fucking finger out of my face," Rose shoved Pallone with his forearm and then, after Pallone had given Rose the official heave-ho and turned to walk away, Rose shoved Pallone a second time, in the back.

Here's where Marty enters the story.

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I've been informed that indeed, the Cubs brass do read this website and have promoted Matt Murton. No word on who is getting sent down. Kidding about the Cubs brass reading this website, but our pal Steve Holley at Inside the Ivy is the one giving me the news and he's with the team currently in New Orleans. We can only assume it's Eric Patterson being sent down.

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- As one astute reader noticed - replacing the big bat of Alfonso Soriano with Mike Fontenot has all the makings of replacing Derrek Lee's bat in 2006 with Neifi Perez. After today's showing, it's hard to see if Eric Patterson is much better.. But with two lefties scheduled after today, I think it's time to (wait for it)....Free Matt Murton!

- A quick shout-out to a new member of the Cubs Blog Army. One of our readers has started Harry and Hawk, which covers both Chicago baseball teams. You can stop by and read half the articles.

Some site notes after the jump...

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Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

Ian Snell goes for the Pirates and the early returns suggest this might be the year that he figures it all out. Cubs fans hope that today is the day that Rich Hill figures out where the strike zone is. The sequel to Patterson leading off for the Cubs starts today as well, hope it's better than the original.

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As reported by Phil Rosenthal in Friday's Tribune:

(Tribune Company Chairman and Chief Executive Sam) Zell said in a conference call with creditors Thursday he now expects the confidential Cubs figures to be released to potential buyers in the next 10 days or so and a sale to be completed "sometime this year," regardless of what happens in ongoing negotiations with the state over Wrigley, or whatever the park winds up being called.

"You ought to read the latest newspaper because it's all out there," Zell said, noting there continues to be "steady progress" in talks for a ballpark deal. "We're trying to do what is the optimum transaction with the Illinois Sports Authority while simultaneously running with a book on the Cubs going both ways, with or without the sports authority."

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