Rain Check

It’s now partly cloudy with plenty of sun here in Mesa, not the case earlier as the Cubs practice this morning at Fitch Park was cut short by rain. When I arrived I could see the storm coming from the West past Center Street (photo), the temperature was in the 50’s and gusty winds as well. The Cubs worked out for about an hour before the rain came and ended practice.

As you probably heard Ryan Theriot lost his salary arbitration and will have to get by on 2.6 million this year. Theriot and Fukudome are now in camp but didn’t make it out to the fields before the rain. The Riot issued a challenge of sorts to Cubs kid SS prodigy Starlin Castro, “I am the shortstop and I have been for three years,” Theriot said “I feel I’ve done a good job and he’s going to have to come get it”. Castro hasn’t played above AA ball but tore it up in the AZ Fall League hitting .376 and is a top defensive talent. The 19 year old Castro is a non-roster invitee this spring and is one of only four position players yet to report, Lee, A-Ram, and Soriano the others.

The media is changing before our eyes, case in point Cubs beat writer Bruce Miles clicking photos on a digital camera for his blog. Bruce is outstanding in his Cubs coverage and writing for the DailyHerald but admitted in his blog that he’s a work in progress as a photographer. Which is why today I offered Bruce my photography talents for his blog, he laughed and probably thought I was kidding. I wasn’t, I shoot so many Cubs photos that go unseen, we would never have to duplicate pics from his blog to mine.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know much of what I write is satirical and tongue in cheek. However if you’re new to the blog you should know that once the spring games get going I do focus more on what happens on the field and how the Cubs are progressing towards opening day…Using my baseball eyes as it were but always from my own peculiar perspective.

I had a request for some Kevin Millar photos and we aim to please at BOS, so here are a couple from the other day…As well as a few shots from this morning.

Bobby Scales takes a grounder before the rain

Josh Vitters third overall pick in the 2007 MLB draft, works today

DailyHerald’s Bruce Miles works the mini-digi

Millar a couple days ago

Same day Millar and Z