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Open Thread: Cubs vs. Angels at Tempe, Monday 3/26, 3:05 CT

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Time to do a little more shameless self-promotion; the website Sports Media Challenge has today issued its ranking of the ten top baseball blogs; BCB ranks fourth, based on their criteria, which are:

Influence, Fan Engagement and Quality. These criteria combine quantitative aspects, including the number of incoming links that connect to the blog, number of fan comments as well as qualitative measurement by Sports Media Challenge analysts.

Hey, sounds good to me, and that's also a compliment to all of you ("Fan Engagement") who make BCB the great community that it is.

Their entire top-ten list is:

  1. Athletics Nation
  2. Baseball Musings
  3. MetsBlog
  4. Bleed Cubbie Blue
  5. Viva El Birdos
  6. Lookout Landing
  7. USS Mariner
  8. Minor League Ball
  9. MLB Trade Rumors
  10. Baseball Analysts
So thanks, you guys! Full disclosure: Sports Media Challenge's Director of New Media Strategy and Fan Engagement is Dexter Bustarde, the SB Nation Padres blogger at Gaslamp Ball.

Oh, and while I'm pimping for BCB -- you can still vote for us in the Sports Illustrated online poll.

Now, on to today's Angels-Cubs rematch, which will feature Jason Marquis throwing against Joe Saunders. cwyers has all today's headlines as usual.

Today's Mediacenter availabilities are MLB.TV, and the Angels' radio team via KSPN. It's also on CSN Chicago.

MLB.com Gameday -- yesterday's didn't work, as you may have noticed, because I had put (logically thinking, which never works with MLB) "laa" as the abbreviation for the Angels. Their computer database never got updated -- the proper one is still "ana". Today's should work fine.

While I'm waiting to head out I'm watching the start of the Reds/Red Sox game on ESPN, featuring Daisuke Matsuzaka throwing for the Red Sox. In the early going, he wasn't throwing strikes; his pitching motion is somewhat deceptive (he's got a Hideo Nomo-like hesitation at the top of his windup), the same whether he's throwing a fastball or one of his variety of offspeed pitches. His command seemed a bit off, in the first inning, at least, but he got out of it with no trouble, and looked better in the 2nd.

And you can discuss Kerry Wood's future -- starting with his DL stint -- in this diary.

Discuss amongst yourselves.