The Rundown: Jon Lester Tunes Up for Opening Day, Wrigley Renovation Update
With his “dead arm” period hopefully behind him, Jon Lester was on the mound yesterday to tune up for his Opening Night start.
It was only a minor-league scrimmage, but the Cubs’ ace was able to throw 84 pitches and make it into the sixth inning.
In typical (I’m starting to learn) Lester fashion, he wasn’t thrilled with his performance. But he thinks he’ll be good to go once the Wrigley lights go on. “It wasn’t the sharpest today, but we got to where we needed to,” Lester told Patrick Mooney. “When you get that adrenaline, you get that little extra excitement, your arm quickens up and usually things start getting a little bit sharper from there.”
So it’s looking like, barring any setbacks, we should get to see Lester face off against Adam Wainwright, who yesterday was announced as the Cardinals’ Opening Night startery. Neither may be at 100 percent yet, with Lester’s “dead arm” and Wainwright being slowed by an injury earlier in the spring. But I’m sure it’ll be a good battle.
Just five more days. Bring. It. On.
Wrigley update
After the uncertainty of whether Wrigley Field would be ready to go for Opening Day, the Cubs announced yesterday that the show will go on.
The Cubs held a conference call to announce the news. Here are some highlights:
Wrigley gates to open at 4:35 p.m. Sunday for Fallout Boy concert. #Cubs
— Bruce Miles (@BruceMiles2112) March 31, 2015
https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/582968428513902593
Cell service should be avail for fans during the season…that's their hope anyway..WIFI still a challenge…system down for most of 2015
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) March 31, 2015
https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/582968892613595136
#Cubs say Wrigley's LF/CF bleachers will be ready by May 11 with RF bleachers opening mid-June.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) March 31, 2015
#Cubs Carl Rice says LF video board ready Opening Night and RF board by all-star break
— Bruce Miles (@BruceMiles2112) March 31, 2015
Biggest takeaway for me here (other than them guaranteeing the Opening Day game would in fact be taking place at Wrigley) is the right field board not being ready until the All Star break, as that seems to be later than we’ve heard previously.
I don’t believe the claims that the Cubs didn’t have plans to possibly play at U.S. Cellular. It would have been careless to not have any sort of backup plan ready in case things weren’t ready. I’m glad that it wasn’t necessary, but I’m not sure I understand the need to completely deny that it was ever a consideration.
Finally, as a big music guy, I’m not a huge Fall Out Boy fan, but I think it’s ultimately a good thing to have such an event. The band sure has the pulse on the big sporting events scene, as they played at both the most recent NHL and NBA All Star games.
