Today's 3-2 Cub win over the White Sox was the first televised game of the spring.
A few random observations:
* It sure is good to hear Steve Stone's voice again. Yes, he actually does make Chip more palatable. They ran a piece of video from 20 years ago, Stone's first year with the Cubs, featuring Harry Caray introducing him to the Chicago audience. Great piece of TV history.
* I hate the new scorebox. The word "WGN" is as big as the rest of the box; the lettering is too narrow, and the color scheme is atrocious. The WGN people also misspelled Jackson Melian's name on a graphic.
* Corey Patterson looked in midseason form. This isn't necessarily a good thing.
* The pitching was outstanding -- just two mistakes (solo HR) by Carlos Zambrano. Both Angel Guzman and Rod Beck looked terrific.
* Mark Bellhorn hit and fielded well; Hee Seop Choi has nice range and soft hands at 1B, and that's already a distinct improvement over last year.
* (note added Sunday: Spent one of the inning breaks shoveling the snow that had fallen over the first hour or so of the game)
All in all, this was a satisfying game; the overall play looked solid, the things you want to work on in spring (getting the pitchers appropriate work, seeing some of the backups play, etc.) were accomplished, and Dusty Baker spent an inning on the microphone with the WGN people. He probably spoke more in that one inning than Don Baylor did in 2 1/2 years.
I'll be down there to report in person beginning with Friday's game.
A few random observations:
* It sure is good to hear Steve Stone's voice again. Yes, he actually does make Chip more palatable. They ran a piece of video from 20 years ago, Stone's first year with the Cubs, featuring Harry Caray introducing him to the Chicago audience. Great piece of TV history.
* I hate the new scorebox. The word "WGN" is as big as the rest of the box; the lettering is too narrow, and the color scheme is atrocious. The WGN people also misspelled Jackson Melian's name on a graphic.
* Corey Patterson looked in midseason form. This isn't necessarily a good thing.
* The pitching was outstanding -- just two mistakes (solo HR) by Carlos Zambrano. Both Angel Guzman and Rod Beck looked terrific.
* Mark Bellhorn hit and fielded well; Hee Seop Choi has nice range and soft hands at 1B, and that's already a distinct improvement over last year.
* (note added Sunday: Spent one of the inning breaks shoveling the snow that had fallen over the first hour or so of the game)
All in all, this was a satisfying game; the overall play looked solid, the things you want to work on in spring (getting the pitchers appropriate work, seeing some of the backups play, etc.) were accomplished, and Dusty Baker spent an inning on the microphone with the WGN people. He probably spoke more in that one inning than Don Baylor did in 2 1/2 years.
I'll be down there to report in person beginning with Friday's game.