{Piniella to Cooperstown: “I’m busy.”}

“It’s something that we really didn’t need,” Lou Piniella told Bruce Miles of The Chicago Daily Herald. “But we’re going to bring up about 15 kids (minor-leaguers), and they’re going to play … It’s something we didn’t need, but what are you going to do about it? We didn’t ask for it.”

Pinieilla isn’t talking about the upcoming city series with the Chicago White Sox, but rather the Hall of Fame waste-of-time game that the Cubs will play against the Padres on their day off, Monday. Unfortunately, the Cubs got stuck with the last one of these headaches to ever be played, and during Our Year, too. Piniella’s plan is to field a team of minor leaguers, and give the rest of the Cubs about three hours to get there from Toronto. It prompted the following anonymous article from Hall of Fame magazine, the writer of which should quit Monday and make some real cash spinning for Obama or McCain:

Piniella, Cubs Asked to Please Show Respect for National Pastime

“It is disappointing to read the recent comments made by Cubs manager Lou Piniella regarding the upcoming celebration of the national pastime in the sport’s celebrated home,” said savethefamegame.com creator Kristian Connolly. “The Hall of Fame Game is about something much bigger than the 2008 Chicago Cubs, and I hope that they understand and respect that on Monday. It is also disappointing to learn that the Cubs are intentionally making the trip to Cooperstown as logistically difficult as they possible could on themselves, and I hope that that they don’t expect sympathy from baseball fans because of their poor planning.

“All baseball fans — especially those who are true Cubs fans who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to see their beloved team play if not for the 2008 Hall of Fame Game — want the Cubs to please respect the game and enjoy the event for what it is meant to be: a celebration of baseball on baseball’s home field in baseball’s hometown.”

It continues at length, here.