It was hardly worth the trip to Tucson today -- the Cubs lost to the Rockies 6-2, and no one did much. They managed only four singles and two doubles. Of course, only two of the projected starting eight (Matt Murton and Jacque Jones) played today. Jerome Williams got pounded. That's not good news.
The other interesting thing about today's game was the attendance -- only 3,734, less than half capacity at Hi Corbett Field. When I went to Tucson last March, the game drew a sellout of 8,587. Yes, that was on a weekend, and the Tucson weather (63 and cloudy) wasn't so great today. But I do believe this shows that attendance is down in general for the Cubs in the Cactus League.
Also, Mark Prior faced hitters today and is still in line to start a Cactus League game next week.
Now, what you have been clamoring for -- new photos of the bleacher construction project! You'll note some significant changes in the last week, including a staircase at the western edge of the LF bleachers (last photo in 2nd row). And the reason there wasn't an extra update last weekend was -- David has been sick, and couldn't get his photos to me. He promised to send me some this weekend.
The timeline has also been updated. (If you looked last week, it wasn't -- I forgot! But it is now updated with both last week's and today's photos.)
Top: walkway behind CF & top of new elevator; view of what will be entranceway (note: no work has been done on lower level restrooms yet); wall on Waveland (in background, the restaurant); scoreboard & walkway in LF. This photo is significant because of the clock -- for several months it was stuck on 7:55, but 10:28 is the time this photo was taken, and the clock did move while I was there. This indicates that power has been restored to at least part of the bleachers.
Middle: photo taken from Kenmore at the request of one of the Waveland ballhawks. Note that although the new structure is large, it isn't all that tall. I doubt it will make much difference at all in the number of balls reaching the street, either in BP or during games; LF walkway showing new green/white paint job; this stairway in LF has gone up in the last week. Not sure where it is going to lead to; concrete work on Sheffield
Bottom: more wall work on Sheffield; wide view of entire RF structure; the "knothole" (this view is likely to vanish soon as they complete the wall); the far south end of the structure on Sheffield
Photos by Al