Maddon big fan of Saturday's Cubs-Blackhawks doubleheader

Saturday night was a strange one at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs and Reds were interrupted by a rain delay of nearly three hours. All the while, the new videoboards treated the fans to the telecast of the Blackhawks defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.

"The rain delay could not have been more fortunately timed," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "Impossible. The fans got to see a doubleheader here. They had a great TV to watch it on. Concessions. The romance of being here at the ballpark with the rain going on is something to talk about years from now. It was a pretty cool venue last night."

And oh, yes, Kyle Hendricks became the first Cubs pitcher to lay down a successful sacrifice bunt this season.

"We wanted the ball; we were calling for the ball," Maddon said. "Part of it's my fault for not really (sacrificing) all the time. We've actually hit-and-run with the pitchers. We've done different things. Hammel's done a nice job of just hitting. Some of the guys we ask to bunt, they're not really good at it yet.

"I'd like for people to understand, thinking it's an easy thing to do, when they play only once every five days, and they do practice it. But when a pitcher's throwing really hard, it's not that easy sometimes."

Hendricks seemed to get a kick out of the hoopla over the bunt.

"We had to get on the board eventually," he said. "Everybody was going crazy in the dugout when I came back. So that was kind of funny. We've been working on it. I know Joe isn't a big sacrifice guy to begin with and there haven't been a ton of opportunities, but when we do get the opportunities, we have to get them down. Hopefully we can start getting more down."

Parity factors:

Joe Maddon was asked about the increased parity in the major leagues today and whether it's good for baseball.

"I think in a sense of more fan bases being involved deeper into the season, I think that's what the second wild card is all about," he said. "I think that's a good thing, obviously, too."

He brought up another factor perhaps influencing parity.

"The parity, I think, is driven by better drug policy," he said. "I think that's part of it. I think that's leveled the playing field to where baseball is purely baseball. Nothing's inflated. You have to really earn what you're doing out there.

"With that, I've always felt that teams with more money can't just go buy 40 home runs or this extraordinary pitcher. It just doesn't exist anymore. With a level playing field as it is, you're going to see parity."

Cubs make roster move:

With the bullpen being taxed by Saturday night's rain delay, the Cubs on Sunday recalled reliever Brian Schlitter from Class AAA Iowa and optioned outfielder Junior Lake to Iowa.

This will be Schlitter's third stint with the big club. He was 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in his first two stays. He is 2-0 with 5 saves and a 1.13 ERA in 14 relief appearances with Iowa.