Well, That Was A Complete Waste Of Time

TWO complete wastes of time, actually, and not Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time, either.

The Cubs had their first split-squad day of the spring today, and actually the radio game surprised me, because I knew they were playing the Giants again, but WGN radio covered the Mesa game against the Royals... when I first tuned in I was wondering if Matt Stairs had suddenly become a Cub again.

It didn't matter in either case, as the Mesa squad tied the Royals 4-4, and the half-team that headed over to Scottsdale tied the Giants 6-6.

This isn't uncommon in spring games, especially with split-squad contests, as the team is spread pretty thin, and generally this early there aren't enough pitchers to go extra innings.

Just about everyone got to play today, and no one did anything notable, except for Todd Hollandsworth's three-run homer in the first inning of the Mesa game, which helped the Cubs to a 4-0 lead. Greg Maddux threw two uneventful innings and then it was off to Double-A-land. It's fun to see the kids play when you are there and from the Hughes/Santo description, it was a gorgeous day in Mesa, but when you are hearing the exploits of Casey Kopitzke and Brian Dopirak on the radio, I have to be honest with you, it gets a little boring. Dopirak is actually someone I saw play in a Fitch Park minor league game last year; he's a first baseman with some power, but obviously will be buried in the Cub organization behind Derrek Lee. He'll play at either Daytona or possibly West Tenn this year.

The only pitcher who threw against the Giants who has even a slight chance of breaking camp with the major league squad was Sergio Mitre, and he gave up one run in his two innings. Big deal.

So the only thing I can report of real interest today is how I had to fight with my new A/V receiver to even listen to this game. Like you, I don't have an actual radio in my room with the computer, so I went upstairs to listen. I wanted to put WGN on a preset button on the receiver, but -- and listen, I am NOT a technophobe by any means -- I had to pull out the manual to figure this out, and by the time I had done so, I missed most of the first inning.

Man, I'll be glad when these games are on TV again.