Who didn't see this coming? Not even halfway through the first year of a 3-year, $30-million contract with the Cubs, the beleaguered Milton Bradley finally came face-to-face with Sweet Lou.

"Words were exchanged" in the purely verbal altercation that followed Bradley's latest temper trantrum in the dugout. Sweet Lou sent Bradley home for the day.

"It's something I promise won't be happening again," Cubs GM Jim Hendry said of Bradley's tantrum to MLB.com. Without recounting Bradley's extensive history of outbursts, tantrums, ejections, mysterious injuries, et al, suffice to say that this will be happening again.

Bradley's teammates are also at the ends of their respective ropes with Bradley. Alfonso Soriano on Bradley: "We don't need him. We have 25 players, we have to be on the same page. If he's not 100 percent to help the team to win, we don't need him. If he's 100 percent and he comes and wants to play, he's more than welcome."

Milton Bradley has never been 100 percent anything in his big league career. The only question now is if there is how much of Bradley's contract the Cubs will have to eat when they cut ties with him for good.

...during the WBC. While this doesn't impact his MLB playing time, he will be barred from international play for two years.

I hope this puts to rest the talk of his "slow start" being due to the WBC (or should that be the "Wake-and-Bake Classic?).

Some Cubs fans think that some of the guest conductors for the 7th Inning Stretch - most recently actress Denise Richards - are ruining a sacred Cubs tradition and that it is about time that real Chicagoans take back the 7th inning stretch before it is too late.

William Kelly, of "Sportsaholic," on Comcast Sportsnet has officially thrown his hat into the ring to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and is taking singing lessons to show his true commitment.  He will be recruiting other Chicagoans to step up and show these guest conductor "outsiders" how it is done.

"Sportsaholic" will be tracking Kelly's unruly 7th Inning Stretch campaign and his Chicago sports fan recruitment successes and failures at www.sportsaholictv.com. Interested Chicago Cubs fans interested in showing what it takes to sing the 7th inning stretch and making Harry Caray proud can email Kelly at sportsaholictv@gmail.com.

Video of Conan O'Brien running through Wrigley Field in a taped segment from his "Tonight Show" debut:

 

ESPN needs to begin airing this one on ESPN Classic ASAP--this is Cubs baseball. The Cubs' 11th loss in their past 15 games is an early contender for "game of the year" for a team that's slipping from first (in '08) to worst (in '09) in the NL Central.

Injured Milton Bradley?

Check.

Soriano homers...and then goes cold for his remaining five at-bats?

Check.

Marmol enters in a key spot and walks two?

Check.

A no-hitter through seven turns into a loss?

Check.

Kevin Gregg turns in his best LaTroy Hawkins impression?

Check.

Pitching to the reigning NL Batting Champion with first base open?

Check.

In a post-game interview, Wells said, "It stinks not getting the win. But stuff happens. That's baseball." No, Wells, that's not baseball--that's Cubs' baseball.

The Nationals have just sent the ex-Cub down to the minors. Patterson, who was 5-for-40 in March, batted only .205 last year for the Reds. (Cincinnati also demoted Patterson to AAA at one point in 2008.) The Nationals and the Reds are the bottom of the barrel in the National League, so it doesn't look good for another team to make an offer before the season starts.

Cubs fans don't have the fondest memories of Patterson. In six seasons with the Cubs, the former 1st-round pick never lived up to expectations. He was frequently praised as being "gifted with tools", but lacked the drive to utilize those tools to their fullest.

Lee just hit a home run against the Oakland Athletics. It's been a while since we've seen a homer (or any offense, for that matter) from the Cubs' everyday first-baseman. The last time that Lee connected for a long ball was almost six months ago, on September 22nd against the Mets.

Not to be outdone, the Man Who Would Be Cubs' First-Baseman, Micah Hoffpauir, hit his second double of the day following Lee's homer. Hoffpauir is hitting .273 with four home runs this spring.

Since returning from a wrist injury in 2007, Lee has hit fewer than 22 home runs in each of the past two years--just half of the total of his career high 2005 season, when he hit 46 home runs.

Kosuke Fukudome, who's batting just .235 in the World Baseball Classic, sat out last night's win over Korea. He may have to get used to being on the bench if his offensive numbers don't improve once he eventually joins the Cubs in Mesa.

Last April, Fukudome was the Cubs' offensive MVP. He brought a new style of playing to the team: patience. He led the majors with most pitches seen per at-bat. He looked the best $48 million that Jim Hendry had spent. As the year dragged on, however, his performance sagged, to the point Piniella effectively benched him for the last few months of the season.

Commentators pointed fingers at the "long US baseball season" for Fukudome's slide. That explanation always struck me as condescending, like American baseball is uniquely difficult and grueling compared to the "baseball lite" that is played in Asia. Whatever the reason for the downward spiral, Fukudome ended the season with a dreadful 1-for-10 performance in the Divisional Series.

"He probably learned a lot last year," Piniella has said. Let's hope he's right. Unfortunately for Piniella and Cubs fans, Fukudome is a question that may not get answered until the season starts.

This time, his "wife was in labor". Uh huh. Yeah. How many times will we hear this particular excuse for sitting out this season?*

* The correct answer is: Twelve times.

Cubs' ownership is considering installing giant Jumbotrons at Wrigley. Not to see the action close-up, mind you, but to cater to fantasy fans who require up-to-date stats from around the league. The current scoreboard, you see, just wasn't built with today's fantasy baseball fan in mind.

Please, Kenney--rather than destroying its beauty bit by bit, just bulldoze the field and completely rebuild it. Let's just get it over with quick.

From a Cubs.com story:

"The element of preserving the scoreboard and yet giving the fans more information about the game, there could be an argument that that's a positive," Kenney said. The Cubs would have to get the city of Chicago's approval to install large video scoreboards.

"On the one side, you have a great number of fans who are fantasy players who crave statistical information," he said, "and our hand-operated scoreboard doesn't provide much, particularly about the other games that are occurring, and there's no replay capability."