Reason number 12,345 why you need to read our Cubs Live! GameCasts. Who was the first guy to actually figure out that Michael Barrett got thrown out of last night’s game because the ump threw the tempter tantrum having Kent Mercker out, and Mercker was standing behind Barrett. Barrett thought he got tossed so he threw his helmet, and when he threw his helmet he got thrown out.

For his part, Mercker took the blame for Barrett getting tossed and for losing the game. That’s nice. We like stand up guys. But we like them a lot more if they occasionally get a batter or two out.

What can we say about Gabor Paul Bako II? It does seem absurd to blame a loss on the backup catcher and it’s true that a lot of stuff had to happen for the Cubs to blow a 9-5 lead in the sixth. But the fact remains that Gabor just didn’t catch a high fastball from The Farns and allowed the winning run to score. This came 24 hours after he just didn’t catch a throw from Corey Patterson that would have easily nailed Hector Luna at home plate. At the time that was the go-ahead run for the Cardinals.

Let’s just say that Gabor has had better weeks.

Part of me wants to go off another Bako rant, but instead, we just calmly adjusted the Bak-o-meter to an even newer low. Karry Ling is in St. Louis to interview Bako and we’ll have that for you later on this morning.

So, let’s move on.

These Cubs-Cardinals games are just plain nutty. In the span of two hitters, Moises Alou dropped a flyball to allow Tony Womack to reach and then caught a fly ball and threw Womack out at third trying to tag up. Hector Luna played left field like he was trying to drive and read a road map at the same time. Julian Tavarez tried to get The Genius to take him out of an inning, only to have The Genius refuse, and then Steve Kline flipped The Genius off from the bullpen.

This Steve Kline guy, he’s just a load of fun, isn’t he? He wipes with his hat, wanted Mark Prior to die on the field, he gives his own manager the finger and yet he’s first in line in the DK 57 pomposity. I think in reality, Kline feels threatened. He’s insecure. Last year he put a lot of work in to become the fattest pitcher in St. Louis. He at Krispy Kreme’s by the dozen. He went on an all-carb diet. And what do the Cardinals do? They trade for Ray “Burger” King and Kline spends the season in his formidable shadow. It’s sad. We should feel sorry for Kline. But we don’t.

Things fell apart for the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth when Frank Beltran came in and continued his amnesiac efforts to throw strikes. Does he ever not walk the first guy? Does he think it’s a rule?

Then, Dusty brought in Mercker to pitch to the lefties. Dusty gets a stat sheet every night, right? I’ll bet Cubs stat nerd (and former Sharon Panozzo eunuch) Chuck Wasserstrom prints one off for Dusty. What part of this, does Dusty not understand?

Kent Mercker, Batting Average Against
Right Handed Batters: .162
Left Handed Batters: .357

How is this possible?

Am I the only one who thinks that Chip Caray sounds most excited when the Cubs are about to surrender the lead? It doesn’t matter who the Cubs are playing, but if the other team starts to come back, Chip sounds like a six year old, mainlining Pixie Stix in the back seat of a minivan on its way to Disney World. He gets so excited it’s like his words all run together into one huge unpronouncable recitation.

“HerecometheCardinalsdownbyonlyonenow! WhenwegetthereI’mgoingtoridePiratesoftheCarribbeanandthengoonTestTrackIheardit’ssofun!”

I don’t think you need a Mensa card to figure out what area the Cubs need to improve. It starts with bull and ends with pen. The Cubs starters don’t normally flame out as early as Glendon did last night, and it was frightening to see what happens when they have to pitch more than two innings.

On a good note, Jimmy Anderson is getting his pizzas delivered to Des Moines. Man, you know things are bad when you are happy that your team still has the rights to Jimmy F. Anderson. Guh.

And yes, the Cubs need a more competent backup catcher. That’s more than evident. I never understood why the Cubs didn’t just trade with Montreal for Barrett and keep Miller instead of trading him to the A’s and then working a second deal to get Barrett from Montreal via Oakland. Damian’s no great shakes, as we know, though he is having a decent year for the A’s, but he’s a bona fide catcher. We can’t say the same for Bako.

It can’t be that hard to find a catcher who can play once a week and not kill you. Can it? How about Jim Hendry and his legion of scouts go find one?

—

The NBA Draft is tonight and after Karry finishes his interview with Bako, he’s going to fly to NYC to help us cover it. We’ll have wall to wall coverage of the event tonight. If you need a refresher as to the kind of lunacy you can expect…here’s our coverage of drafts past.

2003

2002

2001

I will admit that I just re-read the 2003 Draft coverage and laughed out loud about nine times. I’m apparently very easily amused.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, I am sending Potekan an e-mail and inviting him back for tonight’s draft. How can you not love that crazy Spaniard?

Don’t you love how much we hated the Kirk Hinrich pick? All he did was 12 points, 7 assists, three boards and nearly 1.5 steals per game. But, to be fair, the guy we wanted was Dwyane Wade.

Wade: 16.5 points, 4 assists, 4 boards, 1.5 steals and .080 better field goal percentage.

But we love little Kirk now. OK, we like little Kirk now. Let’s not get goofy.

The Bulls traded their first second rounder (#31 overall) and three million bucks to Phoenix for the seventh pick in the draft. The Suns also get the Bulls number one next year if it’s not top three or in 2006 if it’s not numero uno.

The Bulls are currently trying to trade Eddie Robinson and the #7 pick to Indiana for Al Harrington, and there’s some discussion that the Pacers want another contract so they can trade Ron Artest back to Chicago. If that happens, I’m going to start preparations on the Ron Artest Murder Trial in early 2005.

You don’t think Larry Bird is a little annoyed with Ron for elbowing Rip Hamilton in game six and costing the Pacers a Finals trip? Then, when you consider that the Pistons dismantled the Lakers to win the title, that might have made Larry even a little bit more upset? However, how much pressure gets put on a very pasty Luke Jackson if he indeed is the guy the Pacers use their first rounder on? Hmm?

The trade gives the Suns more than $16 million in cap room. They’re going to go hard after Kobe and then Steve Nash. But somewhere, you just know that Erick Dampier is making plans to add a sunroom onto his manse.

The Mavericks traded Antawn Jamison to the Wizards for the fifth pick and the two most annoying guys in any room, Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner. Mark Cuban thinks he can use the fifth pick to sweeten the offer to the Lakers for Shaq. If not, Don Nelson’s got an even bigger mess on his hands next year. Honestly, what the hell do you do with Stackhouse, Walker, Finley, Dirk and Laettner? I guess they could start touting “every Wednesday is Mavericks Player Fistfight Night!”

It looks like Luol Deng is off the draft radar for the Bulls. If they keep both picks, they’re likely to take Ben Gordon at three and Luke Jackson at seven. Gordon is 6’2 and a tremendous player, but it means Jamal Crawford has to go away. How can you have a three guard rotation of Hinrich, Gordon and Jamal? Hinrich can guard people, but Gordon and Jamal play defense like the object is to have a teammate pull the made shot out of the basket as quickly as possible.

The Gordon comparisons to Dwyane Wade seem a little off. Gordon can shoot it, but he’s 6’2. Dwyane’s 6’4 and is a headache for his defender every time he touches the ball. Can you tell I love Dwyane Wade?

As for Jackson, I’d take him. As a senior at Oregon 21 points, seven boards, four assists, shot 49 percent from the field, 45 from three and 88 from the line. Hello. He’s like Austin Croshere with a better hairline.

OK, maybe I just unexcited myself a little.

Is unexcited a word?

How much of this has been out loud?

Did Luke make this dunk? What are the odds? Looks like it’s popping out to me.

The dunk that is.

Anyway, we’ll be on around 6 p.m. with the start of our coverage. Join us, won’t you?

—

With concentration like this, how could Bako have missed it?

Sometimes the bullpen sucks. Last night it was an Electrolux.

Kerry Wood hints he’d like to do some work out of the Cubs pen instead of going to Iowa on a rehab assignment. Some guys will do anything to avoid Des Moines.

Dusty says the Cubs are starting to change their lovable loser image, but then games like last night make it a little tough to shake.

KC and the Sunshine Band discuss the trade with the Suns.

Groucho on the draft. It’s going to be interesting.

The Sox are starting Sunday games later. It just gives the fans more time to not go.

Mariotti obviously put down the doughnut to write this when the Cubs were ahead and didn’t have the energy to rewrite it.

Tuft McGraw on the Suns trade.

Peter Vecsey on the draft.

The Astros were close to getting Carlos Beltran yesterday. They still might.

Danny Ainge says he never almost traded Paul Pierce to the Bulls.

The Dallas Morning News on the Mavs’ hunt for Shaq.

Chat with the Shaved Possum! Oh, he’s such a wank.

Ian Thomsen on the draft.

Maybe Tommy Lee can DJ at weddings, too?

Is Bubba having an affair? Ooh, it’d be shocking. Or not.

America’s finest news source says that the Coalition is happy that most Iraqis are still alive.