Jon Kerr

With Alfonso Soriano looking like the Soriano of the 1st 6 weeks of the season, Cubs manager Lou Pinella is giving him the night off. Theriot hits leadoff, Fukudome moves to the two hole. Call up Micah Hoffpauir (French? Welch? All I know is it’s a name with letters that are not normally strung together) gets the start in left. If you are as curious as I am about Hoffpauir’s nationality, this should help…

http://www.genebase.com/

This is why we like Pinella- he likes to stretch his lineup. As I’m writing this, Derrick Lee just cranked a 2-run jack to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead (this after Fukudome walked). Expect to see more of Kosuke hitting 2nd for just this reason. Plate patience. Speaking of Kosuke, in less than 2 months, his US baseball bio is close to surpassing his decade-long Japanese accomplishments. We predict this will happen no later than July…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosuke_Fukudome 

The early lead better have a calming effect on Sean Gallagher, who needs to go 5 or 6 innings tonight. Otherwise, I have a suggestion for his first post shower phone call…

http://www.greyhound.com/home/

 The 1st bus to Des Moines leaves Houston just after 7:00…

Hey, everybody! I thought I would check in from god’s country. Weather is spectacular, can’t say the same for the dollar. Asking a merchant here if they’ll take American dollars is like asking a chef to recook your steak- not to be met with sympathetic eyes.  When I tried to place a $20 bet with a pit bookie at the Irish racetrack we attended last night, you would have thought I had asked him to remove a boil from my middle toe. This guy was about as charming as Tony Soprano after losing at the track (which I did, going 0-8).

http://www.irish-racing-results.com/racecourse/limerick/

I’ve discovered a tasty local brew.

http://www.bulmers.ie/

It’s one of many served just about everywhere out here. Vegas has it’s slot machines, Ireland has it’s beers.

I leave you with a fun factoid…the sheep population has dropped almost in half in Ireland in 10 years. Something about the price of wool dropping dramatically. I know Liz asked me to hug a sheep, but’s not so easy!

I’ll check in a bit later! An empty pint glass is calling my name…

I TIVO’s Bob Costas’s lastest special last night, saving for weekend viewing. Too late. The blogosphere is in an uproar today over an exchange that took place between two guests. The combativeness was between Buzz Bissinger, author of “Friday Night Lights” and Will Leitch, author of the popular blog Deadspin.com. One a traditional journalist. The other a cutting edge, modernized, opinion-driven writer. The topic was the future of journalism. Leave it to the crumudeon Bissinger to verbally rip Leitch, saying guys like him, “whether we like it or not are the future…the future in the hands of guys like you is really going to dumb us down to a degree that I don’t think we can recover from.” I like Bissinger’s work, his book “Three Nights in August” is a must-read baseball book. But he sounds like a fool. If he’s read Deadspin at all, Leitch is not trying to compete for Bissinger’s audience. He provides content in a whimsical, satirical way and has carved out a loyal, niche audience.  Taking anyting Leitch publishes in a daily basis and comparing it to anything Bissinger does is like comparing Kanye West with Tim McGraw- sure both are musicians, but that’s as far as the comparison should go. Like West and McGraw, there is plenty room in today’s consumer-driven universe for both Bissinger and Leitch to carve out a place. As long as they provide content that is smart and authoritative, someone will read, someone will listen.

As popular as it is to bash Alfonso Soriano these days, if you watched any of this weekend’s games, it is obvious the Cubs need him. Whether he bats leadoff or 6th in the order (I prefer somewhere in between 3rd and 6th), the Cubs are not nearly as potent without him. Held scoreless over the final 16 innings vs the pathetic Nationals (when is Cooperstown breaking ground on the John Lannan wing of the Hall of Fame?), anyone who believes the Cubs are a better team without Soriano is as nutty as the Huffington Post. How many more fastballs would Lee or Ramirez have seen with the threat of AS? If Thursday is his first day back, it can’t be soon enough for me. We can debate where he should hit in later postings. This team might be able to win the Central without a healthy Soriano, but another 1st round flameout is likely if he’s not playing. And in honor of Lee Elia today- “You can print it!”

The Cubs were delayed a few minutes by rain Sunday afternoon so I flipped over to ESPN. Day two of draft was on, which means viewers get lower round analysis from lower level anchors and analysts. The familiar sound and hair gel of Tony Reali was on, as he was leading a round table discussion. Originally derided as Stat Boy by PTI host Tony Kornheiser, Reali has carved out a nice career for himself. In a business littered with sameness, Reali has managed to separate himself from the ESPN war chest of monotonous talking heads by embracing the Stat Boy character. It is proof that transparancy- mandatory for achieving success in the entertainment business- can be achieved by accepting that which makes us different, even if it means taking on a derogatory nickname like Stat Boy.

Not that he’s askin’, but my only advice to Reali? Take the voice down a notch. He was in full “Around the Horn” shout mode when yuking it up with the draft media randoms.

I like Jerry Angelo. He seems to be an earnest guy who cares about his job. But it’s not a stretch to say I, along with most Bears fans, were scared he would screw this up. By selecting Vandy’s Chris Williams in the 1st round of Saturday’s draft, Angelo appears to have taken an important step to a life of enlightenment. Counterintuitiveness. By ignoring his instinct to take some random defensive tackle or a running back (hey, Mendenhall is good, but you know if he came to Chicago, he would have no choice but to succumb to the Bears RB curse and flame out in a puff of Rashaam Salaam’s exhale) he chose what the Bears truly needed, an offensive lineman. Now Hunter Hillenmeyer will have someone in the locker room to share stories with of all those legendary Vanderbilt victories over Western Carolina.

Is one of the best punk songs of all time. It is also a question 3 North Carolina Tar Heels have been debating for weeks. Today, it was decision time. Tyler Hansbrough, everybody’s all-american, is staying. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington are going, but may return. They are taking advantage of a rule that allows players to declare, yet pull back as long as they don’t hire a Jerry McGuire type. Not big news in Big Ten country, but if you follow college basketball even tangentially, you know who Hansbrough is. Aside form ‘Heel fans, the only other person on the planet more excited about this news. Dick Vitale. We’ll be subjected to another year of glowing, dripping, beaming, partisan Tyler love. And not just from Vitale, but pretty much everyone in the mainstream sports media.

In a story that has more shelf life than peanut butter, the Trib’s Dan McGrath reports this morning we are one step closer to resolving the Cubs ownership saga. Tribune tyrant Sam Zell is releasing financial reports to prospective buyers, whom as of now, don’t have any idea how the Cubs make money. The idea is, by analyzing the franchise’s numbers, they’ll be able to determine what the franchise is worth, then make an offer. Of course, this is all window dressing until Zell and company decide what to do about Wrigley Field. Not knowing if the ballpark is part of the deal would be like buying the rights to Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd and forgetting to include the parking lot. The Cubbies strong start makes this a page 5 story but expect this to extend well into the summer.

Far be it from me to be the skunk of the Cubs spring party. 15-6 is heck of a lot better than 6-15. Every hitter is contributing, Lou Pinella has found some real chemistry with the lineup. But we need more out of Rich Hill. His pitch count was at 84 when Lou took him out in the 6th. Pinella said nothing was wrong with Hill’s stuff- at least physically- telling the Tribune he wanted Hill to leave with “a nice, positive effort”. That sounds like something you tell your 5-year-old after they get throttled in T-ball. I’m excited as the next Cubs fan about the start, don’t get me wrong. But if these 5 inning efforts continue from Hill, the next call from Lou shouldn’t be to the bullpen, but to Dr. Phil.