Cubs win!

And so what, really. The Cubs beat the A's 8-7 today. That's meaningless, because the seven runs (and three HR) were off Bryan Corey, who has absolutely zero chance of making the major league squad. And even the winning run was generated by people (Dopirak, Pagan, Reyes) who won't be in the majors this year.

Mike Wuertz threw a scoreless ninth for the win. That's good. Felix Pie hit a triple. That's good. Carlos Zambrano threw two scoreless innings and now heads off to the WBC. Attendance was 7,717 -- rather small by Ho Ho Kam standards over the last few years.

And I wasn't listening during the seven-run A's fifth inning. This goes along with what I wrote three years ago about me not listening to spring training games on the radio, resulting in wins. We'll see if tomorrow's game is different, as there is no WGN broadcast.

About the bleachers, they will open five weeks from tomorrow... I sure hope they're done!

Actually, given some nice weather the next few weeks, they should be done, although the entranceway hasn't been started, the sidewalk areas are still mud, and as you can see in the last photo, there are no benches in yet.

For a different perspective, I decided it was worth $1.75 to go up to the Addison L stop to take a photo... you can't see much from there, but you can see that there have not yet been any benches installed.

Top: workman placing plastic sheeting over new wall; back fences behind both seats and walkway; closeup of wall on Waveland; another view of wall on Waveland

Middle: closeup of gap in wall in photo above; this is where the entrance will be; wall on Sheffield; work on Sheffield wall (location: south of previous photo)

Bottom: another view of work on Sheffield wall; wider view of entire structure; view behind CF to where "private box" will be; view of construction from Addison L stop (note: LF padding still not replaced)

Photos by Al