Good Sign in Early Spring

Gotta love Lou Pinella. He's not screwing around with the lineup right off the bat. Here's how the top of the lineup looks today in the Spring Training game against the Oakland A's:

Ryan Theriot, SS

Kosuke Fukudome, RF

Derrek Lee, 1B

Aramis Ramirez, 3B

Marlon Byrd, CF

Alfonso Soriano, LF

All I can say is, Hell Yeah. Soriano in the six slot. It's about time. No more BS about him being a leadoff guy. No putting the worst OBP starter in the two slot. Move him down to six where he can swing his oversized bat a few times and maybe get some RBI's for once. He's not a rally starter, but he's been quite the killer, so let's hope he doesn't start off a sad 6-9 O-fer game after game.

But, for now, I am pleased :) Well, except for the lack of lefties... (but we should be used to that by now)

And, as far as that "diving catch" goes a few days ago... please. WTF. I mean, for Fonzy, it was good. Sure. And I appreciate the effort. But, it was on the freaking Top Ten plays of the day on the Mothership. /fail. Let's hope it was a slow day for highlights.

Speaking of, how about Landon Donovan's fantastic goal + assist day for Everton on Sunday morning? Yeah, I know, you prob didn't see it. :P But, it was s w e e t. He's got some subtle skills that I hadn't really taken the time to notice before. When you see him perform like that in the Barclay's Premier League, damn, that's some good shit.

But, as far as the Chicago Cubs go, let's hope they can display some subtle skills of their own. The starting pitching rotation is making me nervous. We'll have to see how it develops, but, it's definitely not what anyone (sober) would call "top tier" (see St. Louis). They need Big Z and Dempster to really come out firing to have a chance. Let's hope that happens, but I wouldn't plan that trip to Vegas just yet.

Ted Lilly is throwing off the mound. Nady is ready to swing the bat but not throw from the OF yet. More here from ESPN's Cubs Blog. Hope these two keep moving in the right direction.

Go Cubs!!

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