In Phil Rosenthal's column in today's Tribune, some interesting new facts about the upcoming sale of the team were revealed. Salient points:
- Sam Zell says Tribune Co. intends to keep a "minority interest" in the team after the sale. This implies, to me, that they'd probably want to keep their hand in the broadcast rights; Rosenthal confirms:
Tribune Co. would realize some tax benefits in such an arrangement, but the small stake would protect its TV and radio assets' long-standing—and financially beneficial—links to the team.
- Zell says there are nine potential owners waiting for the official books to be released to them, rather than the four-to-six bidders previously discussed here and elsewhere. This hints that maybe Don Levin isn't out of the running after all.
There! That ought to keep you awake till gametime.
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Maddux got hit pretty hard on May 15 at Wrigley Field, giving up 11 hits in 4.1 innings, as Ryan Dempster nearly finished a CG shutout. He has pitched much better at home (1.84 ERA) than on the road (5.01 ERA), although he has allowed more HR (4) at home than on the road (2), despite throwing more innings on the road (41.1) than at home (29.1). So the bottom line is, who knows?
The day before Maddux' appearance at Wrigley, May 14, Lilly gave up four ER in 6 IP, but that was good enough for a win. He has never lost to the Padres as a starter (4-0, 1.84).
Assuming you can stay up, you can see the game on cable in San Diego, on WGN nationwide, and for those outside WGN's areas, on ESPN. Also see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)
MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Today's overflow comment thread will post at 10:15 pm CT. No, really, it will! The 2nd overflow thread will post at 11:30 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.