If all is going well, I'm at the ballpark, and you're continuing the discussion of today's game here. Hope the Cubs are winning!

Today, with the hoopla of Opening Day gone, the Cubs get down to the day-to-day business of winning ballgames, and will try to even this three-game series.

• Gordon Wittenmyer tells us a little about Kosuke Fukudome's interpreter, Ryuji Araki.
• The new surface at Wrigley Field is playing very fast right now, almost like artificial turf, say some players.
• Yes, the missing apostrophe on the Ernie Banks statue base will be placed there, probably by the next homestand.
• More on the proposed sale of Wrigley Field to the state. Looking less and less likely all the time.
• WNUA radio's Rick O'Dell, a huge Cubs fan, gave BCB a shout-out on his site today. Thanks, Rick!

Today's Starting Pitchers

T. Lilly Cubs vs.  J. Suppan Brewers 15-8 W-L 12-12 3.83 ERA 4.62 174 SO 114 55 BB 68 28 HR 18 vs. Mil -- vs. Cubs

Stats are 2007 season stats

While I obviously wasn't around during the game discussion on Opening Day, I am well aware of the problems all of you had in getting the thread to load, and thanks to sue369 for posting the extra thread and to Trei for putting it on the front page.

Here's how we're going to handle this problem, at least for now, and in the future there may be other options: at 2:45 this afternoon, probably about the fifth inning or so, an "overflow thread" will automatically post. So, keep checking the front page around that time for the new thread, and you can move the discussion there.

I'm also going to ask those of you who like to post pictures in threads to please refrain from posting large photos in game threads. They really slow the servers down. You can still post them in LESS-busy threads.

Part of the problem on Monday was that it was Opening Day, a busy day, and there were several games going at once, really burdening the servers. There are only three day games today, so things ought to be a little easier. Let's see how this goes and we'll make more adjustments later as necessary.

Batter matchups today: Derrek Lee is .444/.556/.833 lifetime vs. Suppan, with five doubles, three HR and nine walks in 45 lifetime PA. Ted Lilly handled the Brewers pretty well last year, though Ryan Braun was 3-for-6 with a HR, and Jason Kendall, who obviously didn't face Lilly last year, is 3-for-10 lifetime with a double.

Today's game is on CSN, on the usual radio sources, and at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version - this link has pitcher stats and splits up)

Discuss amongst yourselves.