NL Central

It’s not often we talk about college baseball here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham , but I thought we would today. Yesterday, the NCAA announced its College World Series legends team.

The 25 players and three coaches were selected from a list of 95 nominees picked by the NCAA, the Omaha World-Herald and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Members of the team who can attend will be honored at the CWS this year, in the final season of Rosenblatt Stadium.

Here is the list of the players that were selected.

Expert handicapper ESPN rates the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 favorite over the Pirates in PNC Park tonight.

But the Pirates' Charlie Morton can beat the Cubs' Ted Lilly. Because Morton already has. Last year, in Chicago.

It won't be easy, of course. Recent history suggests that Lilly will go about six innings against the Pirates, giving up about three runs, more likely than not for a quality start.

Basically, the Pirates figure to score against him, but not run up the total. He is aged 34, which is to say that he figures to decline with each passing year.

Dusty, does this Cairo guy have an incriminating video of you smoking crack à la Marion Barry?  A Dusty Baker sex tape à la Paris Hilton?

We're fans.  We will understand and forgive your past indiscretions.

Seriously, why is this guy on the team?  And why do you keep using his weak stick to pinch hit?

Take Monday night for example: men on the corners, and you pinch hit Cairo for Mike Leake in the Reds half of the sixth?

Anyone who is a fan of the 1994 Kevin Smith film Clerks has probably seen – in any number of its dozens of video releases – the film’s original ending.

Cut before the film was released theatrically, but included on subsequent Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray releases, the original ending features the shocking twist of store clerk Dante being shot and killed.

New York Mets (14-11)  at Cincinnati Reds (12-13) 7:10 p.m.

Oliver Perez (0-2 4.35) versus Mike Leake (2-0 3.25)

TV: SNY, Radio: WFAN

What To Watch

After looking at the merits of the Boston Red Sox trading for Milwaukee Brewers first baseman, Prince Fielder, there could be another team with colored socks in the mix for Fielder's services, the Chicago White Sox.

GM Kenny Williams isn't afraid to bring in a big-name player to his organization, as evident by his acquisitions of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios last season.

Fielder would just serve as the latest player to come to Chicago thanks to one of the most aggressive general managers in baseball.

The Cubs begin May 3 with an average—at best—record of 13-13 and find themselves 4.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (17-8) in the National League Central.

Starting pitching remains the team’s strong suit. But if you haven’t noticed, the Cubs—outside of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez—are starting to hit.

The Cincinnati Reds' starters are pitching like we thought they would going into the season, including, yes, Aaron Harang. 

But the Reds have an unexpected problem. The bullpen, more specifically the middle relievers, are pitching like kids dropped on their heads as babies.

The back-end is fine. Coco Cordero is lights out. And if Arthur Rhodes keeps it up, he may be the first eighth-inning guy to win a Cy Young Award.

Daniel Ray Herrera has been fine for the two or three batters he faces, and Micah Owings is doing alright in the mop-up role.

In case you missed it, Lou Piniella had a little back-and-forth jabber with a reporter after yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals.

It’s good to see that Sweet Lou still has a little baseball life left in him. I was beginning to think he had lost all of his passion, kind of like the Cubs’ offense against the Nasty Nats pitching staff.

Eric Gagne's April of 2008 was an epic failure. Heartbreak after heartbreak he let the organization down with blown saves and an embarassing ERA.

Trevor Hoffman's April of 2010 has been an epic failure. Heartbreak after heartbreak he is letting the organization down with blown saves and an embarassing ERA.

This is a short, bitter comparison of the two, with some pretty appalling statistics.

Begin Slideshow