Zambrano has it all planned: Start, then depart

February 27, 2006

BY MIKE KILEY Staff Reporter

MESA, Ariz. -- Carlos Zambrano is scheduled to pitch the Cubs' Cactus League opener Thursday against Oakland.

Zambrano originally was scheduled to leave that day for Clearwater, Fla., to join his Venezuelan teammates in preparations for the World Baseball Classic, but the Cubs have told him to pitch first and then depart Friday.

Manager Dusty Baker said the Venezuelans have said Zambrano is likely to pitch part of their first WBC game March 7 in Orlando.

"It's the start after that that we are more concerned about -- how many innings, how many pitches he goes,'' Baker said. "That's the start you are concerned about to get him ready for our season.''

Catcher Henry Blanco, also on Venezuela's roster, will leave Thursday.

ON TRACK: Mark Prior continues to show that rumors he was nursing a sore right shoulder were unfounded. He threw about 25 pitches off a mound Sunday.

"He looked real good,'' general manager Jim Hendry said.

The plan remains for Prior to pitch in his first Cactus League game during the second week of March.

ON THE RISE: Lanky left-hander Sean Marshall is one of the pitching prospects who could be on a fast track to the big leagues. The Cubs drafted him in the sixth round in 2003 -- the same year the Boston Red Sox drafted his twin brother, Brian, in the fifth round.

Marshall, 23, is expected to open the season as a starter at Class AA West Tenn. The 6-7, 205-pounder ended last season there with four starts after beginning the year at Class A Daytona.

HOT TICKET: The Cubs may not have won the World Series like the White Sox, but it didn't hurt their ticket sales. They set a first-day record Friday by selling more than 600,000 individual-game tickets.

That exceeds the sales in February 2004, when the Cubs were four months removed from almost winning the National League pennant.

Twenty games are already sold out, including Opening Day on April 7 against St. Louis and the White Sox series June 30-July 2. The seating capacity at Wrigley Field is now 41,118 with the expansion of the bleachers.