So I'm picking up my daughter Rachel from school today and I'm listening to the game on the radio, and what's the first thing she says when she gets into the car?
Um, nope, I love my daughter, but a Cubs game on the radio? Sorry, no way, particularly since this is the first time there has been baseball on the radio in Chicago since last fall, and though bright and sunny today it was about 35 degrees (come to think of it, pretty good Opening Day weather), and baseball can warm your heart any time, as you all know.
In past years I have had the strange experience during spring training, of discovering that whenever I listen to the game on the radio, the Cubs lose. That didn't happen today -- but oddly, I only had the game on in the car, as I don't have a radio where my computer is and I'm not buying MLB audio this year, and even in the 40 minutes I was in the car I heard all the scoring in the Cubs' 2-1 win over the A's at Phoenix.
That scoring consisted of an RBI double by old Cub nemesis Jason Kendall (man, am I happy we don't have to face him this year!) and a two-run homer from Aramis Ramirez, which prompted Ron Santo to say of him, "Stay healthy!"
As is typical of early spring games, both managers played their starters for about three innings and their starting pitchers (Carlos Zambrano and Dan Haren) for only two, so there's not really anything we can judge from today... other than it's always nice to win. Always.
Tomorrow is the home spring opener at Mesa vs. the Giants, and it'll be interesting to see the attendance figure. Cub ticket sales are supposedly running even higher than last year's record pace. Attendance today at Phoenix was 4,738, about half capacity.