This & That...

... on today's off day.

No word on any roster moves yet, but I have to believe that Jim Hendry's cellphone battery is running down constantly today. We shall see.

Kerry Wood's suspension, from his tirade on April 17, was upheld today.

The Cubs, of course, outsmarted themselves on this one. Wood had already served this suspension when he hurt himself in May, the club thinking he wouldn't be out very long and it wouldn't matter. Then, when they retroactively put him on the DL on May 12, they had to reinstate the suspension, and now, unfortunately, it has to be served in its entirety.

Fortunately, thanks to the timing of the announcement (Wood must sit out the Milwaukee series and the first two games of the Houston series), it only pushes him back two days, rather than "missing" a start. If not for the suspension he'd have started on Friday in Houston. Instead, he'll start the Sunday game in Houston, with one of the following scenarios for the other two games:

Mark Prior on four days' rest Friday and Glendon Rusch on Saturday
or
Glendon Rusch on Friday, and Mark Prior on five days' rest on Saturday

Doesn't really matter, I suppose -- this also has the effect of giving the three starters in the Milwaukee series (Carlos Zambrano tomorrow, Matt Clement Wednesday, Greg Maddux Thursday) an extra day of rest each, by slotting Rusch in what amounts to a "spot" start (rather than replacing Wood completely).

At this stage of the season, I imagine most starting pitchers wouldn't mind an extra day off. Wood gets one too, so the effects of the suspension will be minimal.

Now, let's go out there and win.

Incidentally, the Cubs will miss Roger Clemens in the weekend series -- he throws Wednesday against the Phillies. If schedules hold, Clemens might face Greg Maddux, in a matchup of 300-game winners, on Sunday, August 29.

Also, at the August 8 Cubs/Giants game in SF, there was a promotional giveaway (playing cards, given to kids) sponsored by United Airlines. They also passed out a card pointing us to a website where you could get a discount certificate.

Click here, enter a valid e-mail address (must be HTML-capable), and you'll get a number which can be used as an electronic certificate for 15% off of various flights if you book them by September 20.

You're welcome.