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Open Thread: Split-Squad Day, Cubs vs. Brewers and Cubs vs. Athletics, Saturday 3/19

By Al Yellon

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Today is the final split-squad day of the spring; the Brewers game at Mesa will be started by Carlos Zambrano and televised on WGN. At Phoenix, Glendon Rusch will face the A's.

I'll be at the Mesa game. As of now (10:20 am MST) it is not raining and it looks like it may actually clear out later.

I have received comments in other threads asking me why I won't "face reality" regarding Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

First of all, I've never been a "sky is falling" type of guy. I know the history, yes, I know the Cubs were not forthcoming last year, but I also know not a single regular season game has been played, and this item in today's Arizona Republic is cause, I think, for at least a tiny bit of optimism:

RHP Mark Prior was able to play catch, and Kerry Wood may throw a simulated game today. Prior (elbow) threw long toss in Mesa, and could be on the mound in a few days. Wood (shoulder) played catch.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Finally, I present Mike's thoughts on all this (and note, this cartoon was drawn BEFORE Prior's injury:








(click on cartoon to view full-size in new browser window; if you are using IE, you may have to click the lower-right corner of the image to expand it to its full size; in Firefox click anywhere on the image)

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