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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- Oddity in this spring's schedule: the Cubs played the Reds three times, all in the Valley. They played the A's four times (including the pair in Las Vegas), and will play the Diamondbacks four times, once they finish this weekend's action at Chase Field.
Today, though, is the first and only meeting between the Cubs and Giants this spring. Usually, teams in the Cactus League play at least one home-and-home set, so you see all 14 other teams no matter which is your favorite team to see at home if you go to all that team's home games. But the Cubs didn't visit Scottsdale Stadium this March. Maybe next year.
Here are the particulars for today's only spring matchup with the defending World Series winners.
Cubs lineup:
Fowler CF, Coghlan LF, Soler RF, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, La Stella 3B, Ross C, Hendricks P, Baez 2B
Getting closer to an Opening Night lineup.
Giants lineup:
Aoki LF, Panik 2B, McGehee 3B, Sanchez C, Blanco CF, Maxwell LF, Arias 1B, Adrianza SS, Hudson P
Hey look! It's our old buddy Casey McGehee, now with the Giants. Looks like he might be their Opening Day third baseman.
Kyle Hendricks starts for the Cubs this afternoon.
Tim Hudson gets the call for the Giants.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago with Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies. It will also be televised live nationally on MLB Network. If you don't have access to the TV broadcast, it will also be on cubs.com with Mick Gillispie.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Please note that during spring training, Gameday doesn't usually go pitch-by-pitch as it does during the regular season -- usually, it will update after each at-bat.
For spring-training games, we'll have a first-pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time (because I know how you all like overflow threads!). For today, that will be 3 p.m. CT and 4:30 p.m. CT. These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page. They will also appear in this StoryStream™. The pitcher box and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.
Discuss amongst yourselves.