With a 9-19 record, you can be sure MLB’s national TV partners aren’t going to go near the Houston Astros. When was the last time the San Diego Padres got any love?

Yep, different rules apply for different teams. Especially the Cubs.

America’s favorite losers (already on way to 95 losses or more at 9-17) still will get the national treatment this weekend. Saturday, Cubs-St. Louis will be one of two regional games on Fox Sports 1.

Then ESPN is going all in for Sunday night’s game. Dan Shulman and John Kruk will broadcast the game from the rightfield bleachers.

ESPN also is bringing its Baseball Tonight studio show to Wrigley. Karl Ravech and Barry Larkin will work from a set located at Clark and Addison.

For ESPN, the hook is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. You’ll hear plenty of stories about the old ballpark.

However, the Cubs got the same treatment last year and will again next year when Wrigley turns 101. The networks love doing games from Wrigley, and the Cubs still have national appeal, especially when they are playing the Cardinals.

Here is Tom Hoffarth’s annual recap of what’s new on the baseball bookshelf. Each April, the Los Angeles Daily News reviews 30 new books on the game, one per day.

It is a huge project. Last year when I asked why he does it, he said, “mostly the result of loving baseball literature, find it to be a pleasure rather than work, and realizing there were so many baseball-related books that seem to come out every spring that it wasn’t possible to give them all their proper due.”

Many thanks to Tom for including a review of my book, Babe Ruth’s Called Shot, and for placing it in the “long shelf life” category.

The list includes many other books worthy of your attention, including:

“Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball” by John Feinstein.

“Nolan Ryan: The Making of a Pitcher” by Rob Goldman.

“Up, Up & Away: The Kid, The Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, Le Grand Orange, Youppi! The Crazy Business of Baseball, & the Ill-Fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos” by  Jonah Keri.

“Bring In the Right-Hander!: My Twenty-Two Years in the Major Leagues” by Jerry Reuss

“1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever” by Bill Madden

I just did a post on GolfDigest.com that squashes any speculation about Johnny Miller retiring.

Considering Kevin Durant is in the midst of a Hall of Fame career with Oklahoma City, labeling him “Mr. Unreliable” in a blaring headline seemed way out of line.

After his phone and computer surely blew up, Oklahoman sports editor Mike Sherman issued an official apology. He wrote:

In 2000, Franz Lidz did a Sports Illustrated cover story on Donald Sterling, labeling the Clippers the worst franchise in history.

At SI.com, Lidz told the rest of the story:

Shortly after the Clippers made Danny Manning the top pick of the 1988 NBA draft, team owner Donald Sterling invited the player and his agent, Ron Grinker, to talk contract in Beverly Hills. It was recounted to me how Sterling lounged around his mansion in a bathrobe open to his navel, wearing nothing underneath.

At one point Sterling’s preteen son wandered in and was chastised for skipping Hebrew school. The owner commanded the boy, “Go to your room and get undressed.” The child slouched upstairs. Sterling followed. The next thing Manning heard was a belt thrashing and the boy wailing, as Grinker bounded up the stairs yelling, “Stop! Stop! We’ll sign.”

I heard this in the course of reporting a profile of Sterling (owner of THE WORST FRANCHISE IN SPORTS HISTORY per the cover) that I wrote 14 years ago for Sports Illustrated (April 17, 2000). Except that much of the anecdote didn’t appear in the magazine. The profile did include Sterling’s hiring a former model to be an assistant GM. And his placing newspaper ads for “hostesses” interested in meeting “celebrities and sports stars.” The women were interviewed in Sterling’s suite. But so much of his behavior — extreme parsimony, discriminatory practices, wild sexual escapades — was deemed too weird, too cruel, too contemptible. An editor told me, “You’ve demonized him.”

The hype machine definitely is turned on.

Also, for those asking why Sports Illustrated didn’t put the Donald Sterling on the cover, the quick answer is that it was a matter of timing. The magazine closes on Monday. With the uncertainty of what Adam Silver was going to announce on Tuesday, SI risked looking outdated with a Sterling-related cover.

Plus, they had a Johnny Manziel cover in the works.

I know golf is being played somewhere. Just not in Chicago, where spring remains a rumor.

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Fox golf debut: We will get a sneak peak of how Fox Sports will cover golf with the the Franklin Templeton Shootout. Greg Norman’s tournament will air on Fox and Fox Sports 1 from Dec. 11-13.

Obviously with Norman’s new Fox connections, it was a natural that the event would land on the network. Norman will team with Joe Buck in the 18th tower. By then, we all will know how Fox will fill out the rest of its golf team.

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Begay recovering: Sorry to hear the news about Notah Begay, 41, who is recovering from a heart attack. According to a report at GolfChannel, Begay’s family has a history of heart disease.

Begay issued a statement: “I’m extremely grateful for the expert care I received from Dr. Jenkins and his staff,” Begay said. “I anticipate a full recovery and feel lucky to be at home resting with my family. I appreciate the outpouring of well wishes I’ve received from family, friends and fans and I will be back covering golf once I’m fully recovered.”

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Big month: Who needs Tiger? The official release:

Golf Channel scores most-watched April ever, continuing the viewership momentum built upon three consecutive years of record audience growth since becoming a part of the NBC Sports Group in 2011. For 24-hour Total Day (6AM-6AM), 130,000 average viewers per minute were tuned into Golf Channel in April, representing a 2% year-over-year increase compared to April 2013 (128,000), according to data released today by The Nielsen Company.

Golf Channel April Viewership Comparison:

2014                130,000

2013                128,000           +2%

2012                115,000           +14%

2011                101,000           +29%

2010                86,000             +51%

This record month is especially impressive given that April 2014 did not feature Tiger Woods competing at the Masters. Golf Channel’s Masters Week coverage remained the network’s most-watched week of 2014 (160,000) and was surrounded by an average of +30% increase in viewing for the three other weeks in April. Overall, 16.5 million unique viewers tuned into Golf Channel in April, which is a 7% increase over March (when Woods last played) and the most since August 2013 (16.9 million).

Now that Adam Silver has excised the evil Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers could be huge for ESPN and TNT.

A deep run in the playoffs likely will mean big ratings for the networks. Instead of being the object for scorn, the Clippers now become a symbol for persevering through blatant racism. They could become the De facto “America’s Team” during the playoffs.

TNT will go all in for tonight’s Game 5 in the Golden State-Clipper series. Both of the NBA’s partners will be pulling hard for the Clippers to win the series.

This story resonates more on a basketball court than in the courtroom. Triumph over adversity always is the most compelling angle. Nothing gets the country more pumped up than rallying for a team or athlete that is trying to get up off the floor.

Also, this story now is so big, it likely will attract non-traditional viewers who hadn’t heard of the Clippers prior to Saturday. They will push the ratings even higher.

So yes, TNT and ESPN would like Doc Rivers’ crew to take care of business tonight and eventually prevail against Golden State.

The dream NBA Final for ABC/ESPN: How about Clippers vs. Miami and LeBron?