Oh, so this is what the MLB Network is for

[Andy]

On Sunday night at 8 p.m. the MLB Network is showing a classic game from its archives.

Cubs at Pirates, April 21, 1991

http://mlbnetwork.mlb.com/network/schedule/?ymd=20090111

Huh?  I mean who wouldn't die for the chance to see Mike Harkey v. Randy Tomlin? 

Check out the Cubs' starting lineup:

Jerome Walton, cf
Ryne Sandberg, 2b
Mark Grace, 1b
George Bell, lf
Andre Dawson, rf
Shawon Dunston, ss
Gary Scott, 3b
Erik Pappas, c
Mike Harkey, p

Other Cubs' luminaries who appear in the game: Luis Salazar, Doug Dascenzo, Dwight Smith, the now dead Dave Smith, Chuck McElroy, Heathcliff Slocumb, Jose Vizcaino, Paul Assenmacher and, of course, the StyleMaster Mike Bielecki.

The Pirates are at their Bonds-Van Slyke-Bonilla best.

Why this game?  It ends 13-12 (you can probably guess who wins).  Dawson does most of the heavy lifting, but if you miss the final inning (the 11th, you'll miss a five run Cubs rally in the top of the inning wiped out by a six run rally by the Pirates.) 

I will not watch this.  It's lame.  (I'll DVR it instead.)

[Tank]

And it's an away game for the Cubs, so you won't even get to see the legendary Dave Cihla with his legendary sign.

[Mike Douche]

And it's an away game for the Cubs, so you won't even get to see the legendary Dave Cihla with his legendary sign.

Clarified for people who don't spend all day in the ShoutBox'd.

[Brownie]

Not a good game for those who read FJE! as the guy they hate most won't be in charge yet.

[Tank]

And it's an away game for the Cubs, so you won't even get to see the legendary Dave Cihla with his legendary sign.

Clarified for people who don't spend all day in the ShoutBox'd.

Or reading some site called Desipio?

http://www.desipio.com/messageboard/index.php?topic=6518.msg163690#msg163690

[Kermit, B.]

Not a good game for those who read FJE! as the guy they hate most won't be in charge yet.

But the folks at HJE are eager with anticipation.

[Internet Apex]

Is it a Harry Caray broadcast? Those didn't suck. I'd watch that.

[Mike Douche]

Is it a Harry Caray broadcast? Those didn't suck. I'd watch that.

If you want to hear Harry bitch and moan and grumble a lot--which was usually pretty often and happened a lot more frequently after his stroke in '87--you're sure to want to watch this game.  I'm kind of interested to watch it myself, if only to remind myself how genuinely disgusted Harry could get (it's an attribute I wished Pat Hughes expressed more when the Cubs sucked).  Remember that this was the second game in three days that Dawson had a 9th-inning-or-later, go-ahead grand slam washed out.  It was also the second of a three games in a  four game stretch where the recently departed Dave Smith--one of the 3 big free agent signings that would sink the retarded Frey organization once and for all and continue to set the organization back--would blow a game, basically killing the season before summer.

This game also placed #19 (with the other two aforementioned games at #20 and #18) on HJE's famed "Top 20 Blown Saves for the Cubs" in early '08.

[Pre]

It's depressing, but this makes me wish I had MLB network.

[Joe]

Just turned this on for an inning...noticed that tHom hadn't quite developed his BOOMING FM DJ voice quite yet.

He did refer to Mike Harkey as "Harkster" though.

[5laky]

They showed an ad for World Series classics: 2005.

How can they show highlights of a cancelled event?

[Brownie]

Where's the gamecast, Andy?

I think this Gary Scott and Erik Pappas characters will work out quite well for the Cubs.

[CT II]

Where's the gamecast, Andy?

I think this Gary Scott and Erik Pappas characters will work out quite well for the Cubs.

I bet that no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-it-is, renegade TV analyst Steve Stone agrees with you.  He's the smartest man in baseball ever, you know.

[PenFoe]

You been seein' this?
You been hearin' this?

My initial impression is that the access they have is excellent - they were right to the Texas game last night as Kinsler was going for the cycle so we could watch him get the triple, but the personalities are pretty weak.

Harold Reynolds is good enough, doing his BBTN thing, but Barry Larkin and (as much as it pains me to say it as a fellow Richmond Spider) Sean Casey are pretty horrid. Casey looks like he has some kind of hybrid of Tourette's and Parkinson's, which is sad, because he knows his stuff. 

Billy Fuckface Ripken is actually one of the best guys they have, and I saw them dig up the corpse of Joe Magrane and put him on TV the other day.  It's about as random a mix of former major leaguers as you could find.

[LoneStarCubFan]

Is it a Harry Caray broadcast? Those didn't suck. I'd watch that.

If you want to hear Harry bitch and moan and grumble a lot--which was usually pretty often and happened a lot more frequently after his stroke in '87--you're sure to want to watch this game.  I'm kind of interested to watch it myself, if only to remind myself how genuinely disgusted Harry could get (it's an attribute I wished Pat Hughes expressed more when the Cubs sucked).  Remember that this was the second game in three days that Dawson had a 9th-inning-or-later, go-ahead grand slam washed out.  It was also the second of a three games in a  four game stretch where the recently departed Dave Smith--one of the 3 big free agent signings that would sink the retarded Frey organization once and for all and continue to set the organization back--would blow a game, basically killing the season before summer.

This game also placed #19 (with the other two aforementioned games at #20 and #18) on HJE's famed "Top 20 Blown Saves for the Cubs" in early '08.

I remember watching that train wreck live on WGN.