Daryle Ward will return from his sore glute (bruised butt) today -- I presume Lou will probably DH him, since the Cubs are playing in an AL team's home park. Aramis Ramirez is expected to play both tomorrow and Saturday. Alfonso Soriano threw from the outfield yesterday but may not be taking BP anytime soon.
Bruce Miles wrote today about the non-roster players, the Les Walronds of the world, who know they have little chance of cracking a major league roster, but keep going every year mainly because they love the game. Interesting perspective.
Jason Marquis makes his first start since his comments about wanting to "go elsewhere" if he can't start for the Cubs. Carlos Marmol was supposed to pitch the 9th in a save situation yesterday, but bad 8th inning work took that chance away (Lou apparently wasn't happy that he dragged Marmol two hours down I-10 for nothing). I'd expect Marmol to throw today. The A's counter with Gio Gonzalez, who was one of the three players they acquired from the White Sox in the Nick Swisher deal.
Check out this completed eBay auction -- a Carlos Zambrano rookie card went for $102. (Maybe Z bought it himself?)
Lineups via Gameday:
Today's game is available via MLB Audio at the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Discuss amongst yourselves.