Off-Day Musings

* After nine hours at the ballpark, I came home to learn that I had to go into work an hour early because one of my co-workers took the weekend off and got stuck in an airport unable to get back in time due to the storms. Oh well -- all part of the job, not a problem!

* This week, since the Cubs are on the Left Coast, I won't get to see most of the games. Waking up at 3:30 kind of takes a lot out of trying to stay up till midnight to watch 9 pm CT starts. So Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll see the first couple of innings; should get to see most of Thursday's game; Friday, since I'm off Saturday, I'll catch all of that one (if I can stay up!)

* Peter Gammons says that the Cubs might still get Rafael Palmeiro. Frankly, I hope not. Not because they can't use a left-handed bat -- they can -- but Palmeiro seems to have a really bad attitude about coming here, and I sure don't want to see this turn into another McGriff dog-and-pony show. If he really wants to play his career out on a bad last-place team, let him go right ahead. Plus, from the Cubs' point of view, they can't hide him at DH. I'd like to think that Hee Seop Choi's good game yesterday would get him some more starts, particularly against the three righty starters (Lawrence, Eaton, Jarvis) that San Diego is throwing. Unless, of course, the rumored Padres/Pirates deal is made and Jarvis may be part of that deal. It'd be just the Cubs' luck to have Brian Giles arrive in SD in time for the series. Giles wears us out.

* Bobby Hill is due off the DL Wednesday. Iowa finishes a series at Tucson tomorrow -- if Hill is with the club, it'd be a short hop over to San Diego. Iowa has Wednesday off.

* You can tell I'm bored if I'm browsing the Iowa Cubs' website, especially since I'm on a dialup line -- my DSL line has been down since Saturday. They promised to send someone out to fix it tomorrow.