Play Ball!

At last, time for baseball! Before a couple of particulars about today's contest, a few notes:

• The naming rights "controversy" (and I put that in quotes because nothing's happening yet and isn't likely to for a while) has reared its ugly head again. Jay Mariotti suddenly decides this is all-important. Yeah, right, Jay. Go away; this ain't your soapbox. Will the Wrigley Company buy the rights? Well, they'll probably be asked, if they haven't been already. The Sun-Times put this on their front page today.
• And, I got quoted in USA Today on the subject. Try to ignore the writing about the individual quoted right after me.
• Further to the subject of naming rights, 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney says the Cubs have put "everything" back on the table, including the idea of more night games and more concerts at Wrigley, with the possibility of concerts even this summer (question: on that brand-new field?).
• There's a long and interesting feature article on Len Kasper in today's Tribune Tempo section -- featuring the photo in that link in a MUCH larger size.

Now, on to today's game, which features the newly-buff Ryan Dempster (I say "buff" because he has apparently taken to running up Camelback Mountain, one of the area's toughest hiking trails, for his workouts) facing the Giants' Noah Lowry. The starting lineup will read:

Ryan Theriot, ss
Ronny Cedeno, 3b
Kosuke Fukudome, rf
Derrek Lee, 1b
Matt Murton, lf
Geovany Soto, c
Alex Cintron, 2b
Felix Pie, cf
Ryan Dempster, p

Which should worry no one; Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano are simply being given an extra day to continue to make sure that their injuries from last year are completely healed.

The game can be heard on WGN radio in Chicago, KNBR in the Bay Area, and at the MLB.com Mediacenter. No, they're not giving any ST games away free this year. So, if you can't access any of those, here is today's MLB.com Gameday link.

Discuss amongst yourselves.