CHICAGO -- I've received several inquiries today via e-mail as to why Eric Gagne was a no-show in all the stories (and presumably, radio and TV reports) on the Brewers' Opening Day victory over the Cubs.

There is no great conspiracy tale to tell. He simply blew us off with a message indicating that he will speak to us Wednesday prior to the game with the Cubs.

So how can he so easily blow off the media? It has to do with the less than luxurious arrangements in the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley and the large number of reporters who swarm to Opening Day festivities.

The Brewers' PR folks didn't let the media crush into the clubhouse simply because there would be no room to move. They brought manager Ned Yost and players down to the bottom of the staircase leading from the clubhouse to talk to reporters after the game. I requested Gagne for an interview and that's when the horde was advised he'd speak Wednesday. 

When the media swarm evaporated into the group that regularly covers the Brewers, we were let into the clubhouse and Gagne was not to be found. How did he get away without walking down the stairs past the media? He used a clubhouse exit that opens to a ramp inside Wrigley. It's the door the clubbies use to load and unload equipment during a visit here.

Gagne's reputation is as a stand-up guy who faces reporters after his performance. That's how he seemed to be, too, during my few encounters with him during spring training. 

At the risk of over-analyzing this, perhaps he was gun shy not only because of his poor performance in the ninth inning but because of all the unwelcomed publicity he has received since last December when he was named in the Mitchell Report.

Normally in these kind of circumstances, Gagne would go on my dung list, which means I'd go to him on a very strict need-to-know basis. After 30 years on this job, there is nothing worse to me than an athlete or coach who will talk when things are going well and disappear when things are going bad. Usually, that means they are not worth talking to. But I guess I will have to track him down Wednesday morning before the game just to get his analysis of what happened in allowing Kusoke Fukudome a three-run homer in the ninth inning of the game the Brewers eventually won 4-3 in the 10th inning.