"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, April 03, 2004 ::

Tuning Up

PHOENIX, Arizona -- Honestly, the most interesting thing about today's 8-7 loss to the Diamondbacks at the BOB was the fact that my son Mark (the kids are now here in Arizona) spotted Mark Prior on the field, doing throwing motion drills with a towel in his right hand instead of a baseball. This went on for several minutes in the right field corner before the game, and then Prior, Larry Rothschild and a couple of the training staff who I didn't recognize, discussed what had transpired. They seemed satisfied with the results, and Prior's next -- well, whatever they want him to do -- will come at extended spring training sometime during the week.

Other than that, Mark enjoyed his first game of the year, especially since his friend Jake from school was there along with his dad (who is also their baseball coach during the summer), and Mark cajoled me into buying a $6 (!) bag of cotton candy that was as big as his head, and he's outside whipping around golf balls right now with all that extra sugar energy.

Matt Clement got the start and looked shaky again, giving up a monster home run to Richie Sexson in the first inning (OK, so he's not the only pitcher to have ever done that), and the only thing that gives me hope about that is that Clement pitched poorly in spring training last year as well. The D'backs took a 4-0 lead and suddenly Elmer Dessens, who had breezed through the first three innings, couldn't throw a strike, and he walked three people who almost never walk, Moises Alou, Aramis Ramirez and Paul Bako, and then Jason Dubois, pinch-hitting for Clement, singled in two runs, and by the time the dust had settled, the Cubs were up 6-4.

Someone wearing Sergio Mitre's uniform pitched three very efficient innings and made a couple of nice defensive plays, too. Seriously, this at least gives me some hope that Mitre won't be a complete disaster when he makes his first start next Saturday in Atlanta. I had heard that Carlos Zambrano was also going to throw today, but did not, and so he will rest on the laurels of a very good spring before he makes his first start Thursday in Cincinnati.

LaTroy Hawkins worries me -- he again seemed to lose focus and it didn't help that Todd Walker made an error on what admittedly would have been a tough play, and then somebody named Brito, a D'back catcher who won't make the major league squad, slammed a 410-foot double off the center field wall for two runs. I hope Hawkins has his head together once Monday comes, because he is one of the most important parts of the bullpen.

I also worry about Michael Barrett. He's had a decent spring (.296, 1 HR) with the bat, but his defense helped lead to the winning run, as a D'back scrub stole second and Barrett threw the ball into CF, allowing the game winner to score on a sac fly.

The Bank One Ballpark scoreboard was a little off, too, as for a while it had Julio Ramirez playing both LF and RF for the D'backs, and also they claimed a "technical problem" while trying to have a fan play the attendance guess contest, and they never did announce the attendance (29,182, about the same as last night), but they did give the guy a prize anyway. It was odd, after two weeks of being at ballparks with capacities around 10 or 12,000, to be in a big major league stadium again, with a scoreboard that actually showed the lineups, and the PA announcer was audible, and we were actually surrounded by Cub fans in our section (seemed to be about 1/3 Cub fans overall). The only thing missing was a program for the game, as I guess the D'backs didn't feel it worth selling one for these two games. The game was officially an event sponsored by the Diamondbacks Charities, and they raised $100,000 from this series.

After the game the Phoenix police had all the traffic from the lots adjacent to the stadium forced everyone to drive west, which of course was exactly the opposite way that I wanted to drive. As it turned out they did me a favor, because this did route me away from most of the traffic and I was able to get on I-10 eastbound quickly and it was about the fastest route home from any game I've been to this spring.

Tomorrow I'll post some thoughts about the season to come.

:: posted by Al at 6:00 PM [+] ::
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Back To The Drawing Board, Part Trey

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- This time, the "drawing board" has nothing to do with the Cubs, but with the Diamondbacks' TV broadcasting team of Little Thommy Brennaman (and the distaste I have for him has been well documented on this blog) and former Cub and D'back Mark Grace, who made his season debut as the Diamondbacks' TV analyst tonight.

Maybe it's just Brennaman bringing out the worst in any of his partners, but I didn't like Grace at all on TV tonight here in the Phoenix area. He seemed smarmy, he was way too flip and his analysis of the game was Ron Santo-like ("He didn't make the play, Tom"). The two of them spent almost the entire ninth inning making fun of the D'backs radio broadcasters. I wound up listening to them for part of the game, and they're pretty good, actually -- the play-by-play guy, Greg Schulte (who for some reason the smarm-masters were calling "The Gub'nah") calls a game credibly and the rookie color analyst, ex-Seattle Mariner Ken Phelps, is a promising new broadcaster who will probably get better.

I used to feel this way about Brennaman and Ron Santo in the eight years they were teamed in the WGN booth. Thommy used to sit there baiting Santo with what he thought were cute and clever remarks, but were really insulting not only to the listener, but to Ron, and poor Ron had no idea what to do with them. Santo still has little idea what to do in the booth, but at least Pat Hughes is nice to him.

Grace also did a very self-serving interview with Kerry Wood, who was sitting in the dugout with an earpiece and a microphone. Grace has to let go of his "buddy-buddy" with the players and realize his job is different now. The interview was pretty worthess for its content, but the remarkable thing was to confirm what I'd noticed about Wood during his spring appearances -- he really has lost a lot of weight, you can see that in his face, and he's in absolutely terrific shape. I really think Wood is poised to finally have the breakout year that we've all hoped he would have for several years now.

Anyway, all of this has nothing to do with tonight's game, which the Cubs won easily 8-1 in front of a smallish crowd of 29,988 (in the two previous years these games had been scheduled, the attendance was in the mid-30,000 range).

The Cubs started out quickly in the first inning, scoring three unearned runs off Arizona's #2 starter, Brandon Webb, and once again, everyone was hitting; the biggest hits tonight were a pair of RBI doubles by Aramis Ramirez and another double from the bat of Michael Barrett, who appears to be finding his hitting stroke, and not a moment too soon.

By the third inning it was 6-0 and as has been Dusty Baker's habit, he pulled most of the starters early and put in players that most of us have never heard of -- I think the Professor from Gilligan's Island was playing third base by the end of the game, or maybe that was just somebody else named Russ Johnson.

It appears official that the Cubs will start the season with 12 pitchers -- they purchased the contract of Michael Wuertz (who had a great spring, 20 strikeouts in 15 IP) from Iowa and optioned Jimmy Anderson to Iowa. Frankly, I'd have done just the reverse, as I wrote yesterday, and I fear a week from Saturday, when Sergio Mitre starts (and for some unfathomable reason, Mitre was awarded the Ron Santo/Billy Williams Award for being the best rookie of training camp), the result will be a similar blowout to his last two spring training appearances.

In good pitching news, Greg Maddux threw only three innings (no runs, one harmless single), but I know Maddux doesn't need that much time to get ready for the season. Oddly, despite pitching very well, this was Maddux' only victory (two losses) of the preseason. Both Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement will throw tomorrow, and I'll report tomorrow afternoon after the game at the BOB. I'm not all that fond of domed stadiums, but hey -- it was pouring rain all day in the area and with the roof, you can play baseball.

:: posted by Al at 10:52 PM [+] ::
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How To Get Rid Of A Jinx

In reading some of the blogs of my fellow bloggers in the Cubs Blog Army, I noticed that a couple ("Eat at Joe's" and "Aisle 528" -- and incidentally, I have added some new CBA listings on the sidebar; we are now up to 29, myself included) had posted the current Sports Illustrated cover, featuring Kerry Wood.

That gave me an idea. Let's all do it. Let's all post this photo and maybe with the combined efforts of the CBA, we can defeat the jinx!

That said, here it is:

:: posted by Al at 5:48 PM [+] ::
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Al's 2004 Major League Baseball Predictions

It is absolutely pouring rain here in the Phoenix area and has been all day, after two weeks of above-normal, picture-perfect, sunny weather. Luckily for the Cubs and Diamondbacks, tonight's game is in the BOB, a domed stadium, so they'll play with no interruption.

And with this brief interregnum in the schedule, I will take this opportunity to post my annual predictions, in the form I've been using for the past few years, a one-word or one-phrase comment on various factors for each team.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
1) PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Offense: Powerful
Defense: It's there
Pitching: It's there
Intangibles: Spiffy new stadium

2) FLORIDA MARLINS
Offense: Lacking
Defense: Good
Pitching: Josh Beckett
Intangibles: Lousy old stadium

3) ATLANTA BRAVES
Offense: Gone away
Defense: Useful
Pitching: Gone away, too
Intangibles: Will Leo Mazzone ever stop that infernal rocking?

4) MONTREAL EXPOS
Offense: Gone to Anaheim
Defense: On artificial turf? Who are you kidding?
Pitching: Gone to New York
Intangibles: Well, at least this year the San Juan trips are over early

5) NEW YORK METS
Offense: Turning Japanese
Defense: Ordonez gone! WOO HOO!
Pitching: Slow and old
Intangibles: Well, they're the Mets. Who needs intangibles?

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
1) CHICAGO CUBS
Offense: Improved
Defense: Improved
Pitching: Improved
Intangibles: Improved

2) HOUSTON ASTROS (Wild Card)
Offense: In this park? Are you kidding me?
Defense: Acceptable
Pitching: Supposedly improved, but you're gonna have to show me
Intangibles: Roger Clemens

3) ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Offense: Potent
Defense: Outstanding
Pitching: Impotent
Intangibles: I bet LaRussa quits after this year

4) PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Offense: Mediocre
Defense: Good
Pitching: Terrible
Intangibles: Could finish 20 games out of third place

5) CINCINNATI REDS
Offense: Griffey hurt again
Defense: Average
Pitching: Who are these guys?
Intangibles: None

6) MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Offense: Horrid
Defense: Putrid
Pitching: Awful
Intangibles: Could be worse than the Tigers

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
1) ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Offense: Old
Defense: Older
Pitching: Oldest, but getting younger
Intangibles: Had better win now

2) SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Offense: Arrogant
Defense: Missing important parts
Pitching: Injured
Intangibles: Great manager

3) LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Offense: Lost
Defense: Useful
Pitching: Excellent
Intangibles: Spiffy new ownership

4) SAN DIEGO PADRES
Offense: Improved
Defense: Improved
Pitching: Improved. No, really!
Intangibles: Spiffy new stadium

5) COLORADO ROCKIES
Offense: You have to ask?
Defense: OK
Pitching: Shawn Estes is the Opening Day starter. Nuff said.
Intangibles: Best 5th-place team in baseball

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
1) BOSTON RED SOX
Offense: Injured
Defense: Improved
Pitching: Excellent
Intangibles: Want it really bad this year

2) NEW YORK YANKEES (Wild Card)
Offense: Expensive
Defense: Even more expensive
Pitching: You can't afford it
Intangibles: Fear of death

3) TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Offense: Can they keep Delgado?
Defense: Old
Pitching: Good
Intangibles: Wish they were in a different division

4) BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Offense: Old
Defense: Nonexistent
Pitching: Who needs pitching?
Intangibles: Idiotic ownership

5) TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS
Offense: Look! Here's Jose Cruz Jr.!
Defense: Look! Here's Jose Cruz Jr.! ... oops!
Pitching: Who needs pitching?
Intangibles: Lou Piniella

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
1) KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Offense: Will hit for food
Defense: Speedy
Pitching: Better!
Intangibles: Tony Pena

2) MINNESOTA TWINS
Offense: Good
Defense: Better
Pitching: Win some, lose some
Intangibles: Someday, this low payroll thing is going to fail

3) CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Offense: Tradeable
Defense: Horrendous
Pitching: Good and bad
Intangibles: That chip that's always on their shoulder, from management on down (and not in a positive way)

4) CLEVELAND INDIANS
Offense: Young
Defense: Average
Pitching: Back to the drawing board
Intangibles: Wishing for the days of all games being sold out

5) DETROIT TIGERS
Offense: Couldn't possibly be worse
Defense: Couldn't possibly be worse
Pitching: Couldn't possibly be worse
Intangibles: It couldn't possibly be worse... could it?

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
1) ANAHEIM ANGELS
Offense: Amazing
Defense: Not so amazing
Pitching: Great depth
Intangibles: Remembering 2002 and wanting it again

2) OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Offense: Starting to fade
Defense: Who needs defense?
Pitching: Superb
Intangibles: Worst ballpark in the majors

3) SEATTLE MARINERS
Offense: Old
Defense: Old
Pitching: Old
Intangibles: Could win this division; any of top three could. Best race in baseball

4) TEXAS RANGERS
Offense: Lots of home runs! Fun!
Defense: Who needs defense?
Pitching: Who needs pitching?
Intangibles: Buck Showalter longing for his old job at ESPN

NL PLAYOFFS: Cubs over Diamondbacks, Phillies over Astros; Cubs over Phillies in NLCS

AL PLAYOFFS: Red Sox over Royals, Yankees over Angels; Red Sox over Yankees in ALCS

Yes, I have predicted the apocalypse here, the World Series that should have happened in 2003, Cubs vs. Red Sox, and further...

Cubs win it in 7.

There, I said it.

Now go get 'em.

:: posted by Al at 4:05 PM [+] ::
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And Death Is Not An Option

MESA, Arizona -- OK, let's say you're Dusty Baker and Jim Hendry.

And your choice for temporary replacement for Mark Prior is between Sergio Mitre, who has sucked bigtime ever since he was anointed, or Jimmy Anderson, who had his sinker working very well today and allowed only one unearned run (due to his own fielding error) in five innings in a 12-2 blowout of the Diamondbacks.

So who would you pick? Yeah, I know, it's pretty obvious who the best choice is -- Anderson. Or just about anyone but Mitre. But what are they gonna do? Yeah, they're going with Mitre. And why?

Oh, you're gonna love this. Because Mitre is on the 40-man roster and Anderson isn't.

Now seriously, how hard is this? There isn't one player around who couldn't be outrighted to Iowa? Yes, I know Jimmy Anderson looks like this sometimes and sometimes not (he especially used to look like this throwing against the Cubs when he was a Pirate), but going off the recent performances, this should be a no-brainer, and given that Anderson's a lefty, that should make it even more obvious.

Or maybe Mitre has inherited Lenny Harris' collection of compromising photos of Dusty Baker. I can't think of any other reason to keep him on the major league roster.

Well, if the Cubs can hit like this every time Mitre starts, maybe it won't matter. They bombed Randy Johnson, who doesn't look like the Johnson of old (he hit two batters and threw a wild pitch); Sammy Sosa homered and Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez both hit 410-foot doubles off the hitters' background in CF. Then Dusty cleared the bench again and the reserves chimed in; the Todds (Walker and Hollandsworth) also both homered.

The Cubs signed Glendon Rusch, who had been in camp with the Rangers, and Damian Jackson, who had been in camp with Colorado, to minor league contracts today and both saw action. Rusch threw an effective scoreless inning and he has been successful in the past, though not in the last two years. He'll be assigned to Iowa and who knows? Lefties often turn their careers around late, and though Rusch isn't young -- he's 29 -- this is a good, low-risk signing. The club's other recent acquisition in the Cruz deal, Richard Lewis (no comedy jokes, please), also got into today's game for the last couple of innings. Finally, Michael Wuertz, who has apparently made the team as the 12th pitcher, at least for the first couple of weeks, threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Kent Mercker also threw an efficient scoreless inning.

There were three enterprising young girls who were spritzing people with water bottles (it wasn't even that hot today, only in the 80's and partly cloudy) and somehow collecting dollar bills from some of the people sprawled on the lawn. I couldn't tell if that was payment for being spritzed or for not being spritzed. Meanwhile Krista helped fill the girls' water bottles up and Jeff worked on his tan (he says that once we get back into the bleachers, the tan is "front only" and besides, when will it be this warm in Chicago? June?).

I got stopped in the aisle at one point by a guy who liked the T-shirt I had on (a 2004 Cub spring training shirt that I bought at Maryvale on the 20th, but which they do not sell at Mesa), and told him where I got it, and then I realized I was in earshot of one of the Ho Ho Kams, so I said loudly, "They have the highest souvenir prices here in the entire Cactus League!" Seriously, you can get nicer stuff elsewhere and for better prices. They even mark up stuff like the Cub media guide ($15 in Mesa, $10 in Chicago). There's really no excuse for this. I understand the contract with the current concessionaire and the city of Mesa has two years to run. After that I trust they'll make themselves a better deal.

Today's attendance of 12,838 brought the Ho Ho Kam Park season total to 189,692 (11,856 per date for 16 dates), as mentioned yesterday, an all-time record not only for the Cubs, but for any team in spring training.

I will not be at tomorrow night's game at the BOB (one BOB exhibition at regular season prices is enough for me, thankyouverymuch), but it will be televised locally here (as well as televised in Chicago on WCIU), so I will report on that game late tomorrow or Saturday morning.

:: posted by Al at 6:23 PM [+] ::
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A Note From Yesterday

Mark Grudzielanek apparently either forgot or lost his uniform shirt, because he spent the game wearing #17.

:: posted by Al at 7:28 AM [+] ::
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Spring Training The Way It Used To Be

PHOENIX, Arizona -- Twenty years ago, I went to spring training for the first time. You could walk up to the window, buy the best seat in the house for $3 and sit anywhere you wanted.

That's the way it felt today at Maryvale Baseball Park, which was less than half full -- 4,031, the smallest crowd I've been a part of so far this spring. In fact, when I arrived, I was literally the only one sitting on the right field berm. It's the first time I've been on the berm at Maryvale and it's very steep, the steepest one I've seen, so I sat near the back. The steepness is good because then no one's blocking your view, but then, there wasn't anyone sitting in front of me anyway. I kept thinking, why couldn't they have built a park this lovely in Mesa? It's open and airy and they still could have had as many seats, without the too-crowded atmosphere they always seem to have at Ho Ho Kam Park.

It was fun. The guy next to me sat doing his crossword puzzle, kids played catch and rolled up and down the hill (a wet-blanket security guard who couldn't have been older than 19 chased a kid away from the wall, but I think he was trying to impress his girlfriend), and on a lovely afternoon (they announced the game-time temperature as 92, then said it was 39 in Milwaukee and 46 in Chicago, a nice touch), the Cubs dismantled the Brewers 12-4, and the game wasn't really that close.

Ben Sheets, who's been a thorn in the Cubs' side for a long time, had nothing today. Michael Barrett smacked his first homer of the spring, a monster shot to left, followed in the next inning by a similar bomb from Derrek Lee, and the rest of the Brewer staff (including Dave Burba, trying to hang on for dear life, and he gave up four runs to a bunch of Cub minor leaguers) wasn't any better. Aron Weston, a Cub farmhand, homered off Adrian Hernandez, and the ball was caught on the fly by a guy sitting about 20 feet away from me.

Meanwhile, Kerry Wood breezed through four quick innings, and I found myself surprised to see him yanked so early, but then I saw him walk off the field, smiling and joking around, so I'm sure there's no problem. Kyle Farnsworth threw two good innings as well.

In the box score, you'll see Todd Wellemeyer's line as 3 runs in 1.2 IP, but he gave up two infield singles that would have been turned into outs by major league infielders, and both runners eventually scored. Same with LaTroy Hawkins, who's shown an alarming tendency to lose focus without the game on the line -- he came in for the 9th, gave up a bleeder hit, got two quick strikeouts and then gave up two line-drive hits which scored the Brewers' last run. Want to feel old? That RBI went to the substitute right fielder... Tony Gwynn, Jr., who at the plate looks like a clone of his dad, the younger version, at least, not the heavyset Gwynn Sr. of his later years.

Sammy Sosa got razzed when he dropped an easy fly ball, but the next three batters made out.

I love the park at Maryvale, it's in a nice setting in spite of the out-of-the-way location and the most expensive parking in the Cactus League ($7 -- Howard and his family, who spent the morning touring Taliesin West didn't have to pay by the time they arrived), and by the time we left some angry-looking dark clouds were blowing up to the south, and there are some scattered rainshowers in the area, the first I've seen in two weeks here.

Tomorrow is the final day of the regular Cactus League season, and it was supposed to be Randy Johnson against Greg Maddux, but now I hear that Jimmy Anderson may be given the start as the Cubs try to find any alternative to Sergio Mitre as Mark Prior's temporary replacement.

:: posted by Al at 6:17 PM [+] ::
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Back To The Drawing Board, Part Deux

MESA, Arizona -- Today was "Pitch Your Way Off The Team" Day at Ho Ho Kam Park, as pretty much everyone on the staff got pounded around in a 16-4 loss to the Mariners.

I still do not understand the infatuation Dusty and the brass have with Sergio Mitre. He just doesn't have very good stuff. All his pitches are flat and everyone on the Mariners (and it was hardly their "A" squad today with Boone, Martinez and Ichiro sitting out) hit him hard. The Cubs website article on the game says that he had his last two innings scoreless. Well, big deal, after giving up eight hits and he only got out of the third because Aramis Ramirez speared a line drive and turned it into an unassisted DP.

I should have known things weren't going to go well when I walked to the concourse behind the plate to get the starting lineups. I do this because the Cubs are actually nice enough to post this on a board there, and besides, as I've mentioned, you cannot hear the PA on the left field lawn. Anyway, as I was writing down the lineups, a small boy came by and said, "Dad! Sammy's not playing! Let's go!"

That's pretty sad.

The Cubs did try to make a game of it, tying it up in the bottom of the first on Moises Alou's first home run of the spring, an inside-the-park job that scooted away from both the LF and CF and ran along the base of the wall long enough for even the slow-footed Alou to circle the bases. That's the first time I can remember an inside-the-park HR in a spring training game. Aramis Ramirez followed with a bomb that bounced once on the sidewalk near us and out into the parking lot.

But that was about the extent of the Cub offense, and as has been Dusty Baker's wont the last few home games, a few players bused over from the minor league complex at Fitch Park finished up the game.

The pitching today was... well, it was awful. Gary Glover relieved Mitre, and picked up where he left off on Friday (5 runs in 1 inning vs. the Rangers), and allowed three runs including a monstrous center-field HR to Hiram Bocachica, his fourth of the spring (and he may not even make the Mariners' roster); Andy Pratt came in for the second day in a row and struggled and wound up getting charged with two runs when Mike Wuertz allowed a double to Dan Wilson. Even Joe Borowski had nothing today, giving up doubles to the first two batters he faced, after Kent Mercker had been pounded pretty hard (although a generous scoring decision to give an error to substitute 3B Donny Leon made all Mercker's runs unearned) ... well, you get the idea.

The rotation is now set -- Kerry Wood will go tomorrow and then Opening Day, then Greg Maddux on Thursday, Carlos Zambrano Friday and Matt Clement Saturday.

But that leaves the question -- are the Cubs really going to send Mitre out there every fifth day to get pounded like this? With Sports Illustrated picking them to win it all this year (and thanks a lot for jinxing Kerry Wood by putting him on the cover), the Cubs need a major league quality pitcher for that slot and it's not Mitre. I hope Jim Hendry is on the phone right now trying to make a deal. There's one guy out there -- Mark Guthrie, who just got released by the Pirates -- who might be helpful in the bullpen until Mike Remlinger comes back. Why not call him, and try him out for a couple of days?

Enough preaching. Today, Jeff & Krista pretty much just laid out and worked on their tans, and Howard tried to keep score but gave up in the sixth, and I guess I can't blame him, and despite the fact that he hasn't seen a win yet here, I won't blame him for today's loss either. There's enough of that to go around.

I was about ready to give up scoring myself after not for the life of me being able to figure out Bob Melvin's double switches, especially since there were four players with numbers in the 90's playing for Seattle today. It got so bad that Pat Borders, who is nearly 41 years old and among whose rookie year teammates was Mike Flanagan, pinch hit for the Mariners in the 9th (he popped out), and Todd Dunwoody played half the game in right field, and... well, you get the idea. We spent part of the game talking sports with a real intelligent-sounding 12-year-old from Calgary, who says that of all sports, he'd much rather be playing baseball. Smart kid!

The near-sellout crowd of 12,058 pushed the spring season attendance to 176,854 for the season, breaking not only the Cub club record (set in 1999) but the record for any team in spring training (the 1996 Yankees had held the previous record of about 173,000), and with one home date left Thursday, the total will be about 189,000.

It was also 97 degrees today, the hottest day since I've been here, though it really was fairly pleasant with extremely low humidity (10%) and a nice breeze. I cannot remember a March when it has been this consistently above normal temperatures (average this time of year is the upper 70's).

:: posted by Al at 6:40 PM [+] ::
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Comments From John A.

Got an e-mail just now from John, who, along with Howard, shared today's game from the lawn at Tempe, and I wanted to share some of his comments with all of you:

Well, thanks to Al, I took in my first ball game of 2004 and I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful cloudless day, a mite warm, but not uncomfortably so, and the company was good -- a couple of true baseball fans.

It's a shame the Cubs didn't generate some offense, but as Al pointed out,Escobar was really tough and any team would have have had a hard time scoring on him today. He went 7 innings. And to make it even tougher, the Angels brought in Troy Percival, their All-Star closer, for the 9th. Really the best shot at scoring was the 8th against Rodriguez, who threw a couple to the backstop (one on a third strike to Bako) and also hit a batter.

All in all...a really fun day, though. The halter tops and bikini tops were nice...I'm afraid I can't report on the shirtless men as I try to avert my eyes away from that stuff. I wouldn't want to suddenly go blind and have that be the last image I remember seeing.

I know this is starting to get old from me, but I still think the Cubs miss Lofton. I know Corey Patterson is great and was having a breakout year before he got hurt, but he does not seem to put the same kind of pressure on the opposing defense that Kenny does. Lofton gets on by a walk or a slap hit or a bunt and it changes everything. The middle infielders have to cheat towards the bag, the pitchers have to throw more fastballs and the catchers have to worry about getting off a throw. Then he steals 2nd, goes to third on a groundout and scores on a sac fly. It just changes everything.

John and I talked about Lofton during the game, and while his points are good ones, unfortunately, there wasn't really a spot for him on this year's team, and he still wanted to play every day. Today, incidentally, Joe Torre announced that Lofton will bat 9th, at least for the season opener in Japan, which is an unfamiliar spot for him. We'll see how he reacts.

:: posted by Al at 6:40 PM [+] ::
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The Blame Game

TEMPE, Arizona -- It can't be Ernie's fault any more because he and Carole left here yesterday. I was thinking about blaming my new friend John from the Cubs newsgroup, but I don't think that's fair since I just met him and this is the first Cub game we attended together, and besides he lives here so he winds up rooting for the Diamondbacks (when they're not playing the Cubs).

So instead I'm going to chalk this one up to Howard, though I certainly won't ban him. For one thing, he just arrived yesterday, so I have to give him at least one more chance as well.

This is my way of saying that the Cubs better step up and take some responsibility themselves, because they looked pretty pathetic in today's 3-0 loss to the Angels.

I suppose I should give credit where credit is due. Kelvim Escobar, who slammed the door shut on the Cubs last June when he was a Blue Jay, picked up right where he left off in a 7-inning, three-hit, seven-strikeout performance (his first win of the spring). So I'm thinking, good thing he's in the other league where we don't have to face him -- oops, yes, we might, because the Cubs travel to Anaheim this June, same weekend, second weekend of June, in fact, where the Cubs were in Toronto last year. At this point let's just hope the Angels rotation is such that the Cubs won't have to face him.

Matt Clement pitched for the first time in nine days and it showed. He was wild in the first inning and that helped lead to two Angel runs; after that he settled down pretty well and threw four decent innings. Obviously, he had to sit out this long because Dusty is setting up the rotation for the start of the season. Kerry Wood will pitch tomorrow, then not again till Opening Day. Greg Maddux will go Thursday (against Randy Johnson, incidentally), Carlos Zambrano on Friday, and then whoever is to replace Mark Prior will face the Diamondbacks on Saturday, then have his first turn skipped due to the off day next Tuesday.

This article implies that Dusty has already chosen Sergio Mitre to fill Prior's slot and all I can say is, I hope not. Mitre threw poorly in his last outing and frankly, I don't see what the Cubs see in his stuff. I don't necessarily have another choice (Andy Pratt, just acquired from the Braves, had a shaky, two-hit, one-walk, though scoreless inning today), but maybe Jim Hendry can acquire someone before the weekend.

There was some good that came out of today's game. LaTroy Hawkins, who had not thrown well at all before today, had a 1-2-3 inning which included two blow-em-away strikeouts.

Unusually again today, Dusty didn't pull any of the starters, except Michael Barrett, and then Todd Walker after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth (I presume, simply as a precaution).

After Barrett was pulled he was running in the outfield and someone was yelling encouragement at him ("Hit 40 homers this year, Michael!") and Barrett smiled and pumped his fist and you can tell he's so excited to be a Cub; he's already been quoted as saying there are more people and more excitement at these exhibition games than at most of his home games in Montreal.

Goofy defensive plays of the day: Derrek Lee was charged with an error on dropping a foul popup, a play he should make in his sleep. In his defense, the sky is very "high" here and I have seen many good fielders mess up this easy play. That batter, Jose Guillen, eventually struck out. Also, Todd Hollandsworth dropped an easy fly ball in left with runners on first and second, but had the presence of mind to throw to third after the runners held up, and got an unusual 7-5 force play.

Finally, after years of coming to Tempe, I figured out the way to avoid traffic -- there are private parking lots across the street which charge the same as the official lot and are much easier to get out of.

This game had another significance -- it is the tenth game I have attended this spring and the first one that was not sold out. That's absolutely amazing. The entire Cactus League has already set an attendance record with four days to go, and the Cubs will break their own attendance record tomorrow, and will set an all-time record for any team at spring training with the expected sellout on Thursday.

Incidentally, I have kept track of the Cubs spring record and the papers are incorrect -- they had it as 12-13 coming into today, but 13-13 is correct, and after today it is properly 13-14, with the two ties.

:: posted by Al at 5:41 PM [+] ::
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NOT Ernie's Fault!

MESA, Arizona -- Ernie's sitting right here saying, "The Cubs don't seem ready for this season", and he repeated that during the game, saying he just didn't have the same feeling he had this time last year.

No matter today, though, as Carlos Zambrano pitched through some wildness (four walks) and induced three double plays and the Cubs came from behind to beat the A's 3-2.

Finally caught up with Eric Margheim from the Cubs newsgroup; here's what happened to him last night as he reported in e-mail to me this morning:

I got a call 5 minutes after sending you [an earlier] email that our flight was delayed 2 hours and we wouldn't make or connection in Denver and wouldn't be to Phoenix until 8:30, unless we could make it on the earlier flight. I turned a 2:30 minute drive into 2 hours and we just made it.

We didn't get to the game until first pitch and I forgot your phone number in the room so that's why we didn't call. We were just a few sections over from you in the bleachers.

Okay, that explained that. After pleasantries and meeting Eric's dad, Eric seemed much more interested in talking to the woman in the bikini sitting in front of us. Me, I was focused on the game. And the Cubs did nothing offensively until Eric left to get some food and drink in the fifth, and by the time he came back they had scored all three runs, using four singles sandwiched around a popup, all off A's starter Barry Zito, who we have dubbed "The Bachelor" because last week recruiters from that reality show were here in Phoenix and found him at Fox Sports Grill and thought he'd make a perfect addition to the show.

After that Dusty pulled all the regulars and they must have sent a bus around to Fitch Park, because everyone who came in was someone who played in the very low minors last year -- Felix Pie, Micah Hoffpauir, Adam Greenberg, among others.

The bullpen did a good job keeping the Oakland scrubs from scoring after Jimmy Anderson allowed an unearned run after an error by Scott McClain (and the scoreboard operator was consistently bad in posting errors, having a number off by one from each position -- E2 for the uncharacteristic error on Derrek Lee, and E4 for the McClain miscue). LaTroy Hawkins posted a save, but frankly, he didn't throw very well, issuing a walk and giving up a couple of well-hit fly balls to finally nail down the win. Perhaps Hawkins is one of those players who simply doesn't do well in the exhibition season. Let's hope so. There's only a week left to get everything together.

Eric Karros didn't start today for the A's but came into the game late and when he came to the plate (the PA announcer was even further behind today than usual) he received yet another warm reception from Cub fans who remember how much he contributed last year and how much he seemed to understand what it means to be a Cub fan.

I was the only one scoring among our group today -- Jeff & Krista decided to work on their tans, and Carole decided to give up on scoring until Opening Day. She and Ernie are returning to Chicago tonight and Howard and his wife and daughter will be arriving soon, to share the final week of spring training.

Once again today they made us wait till nearly noon to get into the lawn, because the A's apparently never told the Cubs whether they would take BP or not (they didn't). I do understand the reason for this (trying not to get kids trampled out there running after baseballs), but someone should have found out earlier, rather than keeping us waiting 45 minutes.

On a positive note, I have found it is actually easier to get out of the north parking lot at Ho Ho Kam Park than almost anywhere else in the Cactus League, as long as you position yourself near the exit gate when the last out is being registered.

:: posted by Al at 5:54 PM [+] ::
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