Jon

The quality is pretty good. There was some popping earlier, but that seems to have stopped. The voice quality is good, but there's a bit of a background hissing noise. I can't recall what it was like last year, though. Still, it's pretty good.

Dope limped into third base and is leaving the game. :( And they leave the bases load without scoring once again. :(

Reyes' RBI groundout makes it a 2-1 deficit.

Marquis Grissom also stopped at 38. Not as impressive, though.

The 3-6 spots in the order all have OPSs over .900 against Suppan. Hopefully that's a good sign.

Ooh. A scuffle after the baserunner trips and lands on Rojas or EPatt. Fun fact of the day: Northwestern scored 4 earned off of Mathes in 3 IP back in 2001 when he was with Western Michigan.

It's in late April on a Saturday (probably the 22nd), I believe. They're going to sell old bricks and sections of bleacher seating that were removed during the renovation. Not sure what else or what the prices will be.

Maddux is also going to need some offensive support on average.

Well, on second look, it does look like there's room behind the bleachers to stand. They originally said there wasn't going to be room.

Haha. Neifi is on pace to finish with a .666 OPS. Oh, wait. His career OPS is .681. That's not so funny.

I'm pretty sure nobody's going to be allowed to stand in the bleachers and still see the field. They got rid of the standing area in the back to put in those stairs. The wheelchair seating looks to be in a pretty sweet location. And they covered it.

Pictures are up on Cubs.com. -That bleacher entrance is going to take some getting used to. It's really different. But, there doesn't appear to be any Bud Light advertising in the ballpark. -We'll have to wait to see how the extra bleacher seats look on TV with people in them, but they're supposed to paint the gray concrete and the benches green once the weather gets warm. That'll look better than it does now. The railings and everything look pretty nice, though. AND there are more stairs to get up and down instead of just the ramp. -I wonder if the new camera well is going to change the camera angle at all. -The batter's eye should look okay, but I doubt I'll like it as much as the bushes. Probably better than the tarp, though.

The number of people who hear about this story is going to be lower than the number of people who read Mariotti (it's sad that it's greater than zero), I'd imagine. I don't think it's going to give him too much free publicity. Afterall, he's on ESPN spewing garbage every day.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/downloads/y2006/soxcubs.pdf Check out the last line.

I'm about to leave, as well. Thanks for the PBP. Here'sthe gameday link, if anyone wants it.

Thanks, Nathan. Good luck tonight. And hopefully the rain stays away.

4 ER on 5 hits and a walk in 0.2 IP for Brownlie. That's not a good start to the season.

I would rather have Prior sit out a couple extra weeks to guarantee his health than have him get rushed back and get injured again. I just hope this "acceleration" doesn't lead to a setback. I would think that they're still being cautious, though the article doesn't imply that. We'll see.

This was from before the MRI: That was the quote that worried me originally. If the soreness wasn't normal, would anyone here not have been outraged if they didn't get it checked out? From after the MRI: Again, would anyone here not have been outraged if they didn't get it checked out? Lo and behold, the tests showed that the injury was something that required Prior to be shut down.

Gameday now tells you if a runner was going on a foul ball. Nice to see them continuing to improve it. How 'bout an XBH?

Oh. Then I suggest we ignore Walker's lifetime .294 BA in 34 ABs against Suppan and his 1.250 OPS on the young season. Maybe it was that Walker only has 1 walk in 34 ABs while Neifi has 1 in 12. Or that with the wind blowing in from left, Neifi would be more versitile if the wind decided to start blowing out later in the game when a lefty came in from the 'pen ('cause TLR would be using matchups against Neifi).

Matchups, dude. Of course, Neifi is 3 for 12 against Suppan with a walk and no XBHs, but Ronny is 0 for 2 with a walk. So you can see that...you know...matchups...or something. Let's not condemn Dusty just yet. Save that for tomorrow when we find out that Neifi's batting 2nd.

Despite a diagnosis by a medical doctor and several statements from O'Neal saying otherwise? Everytime Prior goes down for no apparent reason, he as everybody thinking it could be a torn rotator cuff or something and it's either A.)nothing B.)strain No apparent reason? An injury doesn't have to be a torn rotator cuff. There are other things that can keep a pitcher out and have to be seriously monitored. I don't think anyone on the medical staff would argue that this wasn't something that required Prior to be checked out and shut down, even in hindsight. I'm not going to rehash the old argument, but what the doctors found wasn't very minor. It was "mild" compared to what injuries to the rotator cuff muscles could be, but it wasn't something to just push aside. If Prior hadn't told Rothschild about this and they tried to pitch through it, they could have turned this into something much, much worse. Let's not forget that such an injury can really throw off a pitcher's mechanics and screw things up even further. And it is definitely not safe to assume that he's healthy right now. The Cubs know that. He's healthier, but it's still an issue that could very well come back and needs taken seriously. They're increasing the pace right now because he's responding well. That doesn't really say anything about the severity of the injury.

Pie strikes out on curve outside that was foul tipped into the glove after a decent AB. There is a wide strike zone, though, with the replacement umpires (I think). Ryu survived a single and a double in the first.

Despite a diagnosis by a medical doctor and several statements from O'Neal saying otherwise?