VBF just used my favourite Opening Day quote, so here's my other favourite:

Beat the drum and hold the phone / The sun came out today! / We're born again; there's new grass on the field...

      It's very interesting that today's starting lineup has Rios batting second.    This must be largely a reward for his excellent spring, and a sign of confidence in his improvement this year.  Personally I like the move -- it bolsters the speed at the top of the lineup.  Here's the complete starting lineup, courtesy of mlb.com:  

     Left fielder Reed Johnson will lead off, followed by right-fielder Alex Rios, center fielder Vernon Wells, third baseman Troy Glaus, first baseman Lyle Overbay, designated hitter Shea Hillenbrand, catcher Bengie Molina, second baseman Aaron Hill and shortstop Russ Adams.

      In other developments, Lilly's injury is lingering and it looks increasingly possible that Janssen or Banks will take his spot on Saturday.   To me, this is a worrisome development, and it suggests a lack of pitching depth -- or at least a lack of starter depth -- in the high minors.   All it takes is a couple of fairly minor injuries to Burnett and Lilly and suddenly we have to start a pitcher who has never played a game above AA in his life.  (Neither Banks nor Jansen has ever played at AAA, let alone the majors.)   For some odd reason, most of the top prospects and emergency replacements from last year -- McGowan, Marcum, League, Rosario, even Pete Walker -- have been shifted to full-time reliever duty.   There are still lots of prospects in the system, but a definite shortage of pitchers who are able to step into the rotation now if needed.  Scott Downs is the only experienced backup available for the rotation.  Others might disagree, but I find this a concern.

I'm not particularly worried about the starters.  With Burnett set to come back you're only looking at one emergency start this weekend.  Plus, besides this week, the Jays have enough off days that they can even go with 4 starters until the end of April even if Burnett didn't come back on schedule.

I suspect Banks would be the choice over Janssen, just because he's already on the 40 man roster, although Gibbons' quote made it sound like he preferred Janssen.

Last night I saw Orlando Hudson misplay a ball in extra innings that cost Arizona the game.

I saw Barry Zito unable to throw a strike

I saw a bunch of kids playing well for Florida

I saw Jesse Barfiled throw out a runner at the plate when the the batter got a hit with the bases loaded, anyone remember that one?

I saw Bonds look like his bat was a shade slow, he had two hittable pitches the first two at-bats and was a little late on them

I saw the Angels get out of a bases loaded and no-one out jam late in the game then come back to win it

It's great that baseball's back

I would buy them now.  If you just wanted some tickets, it would be no problem, especially with it being Tampa.  But we haven't yet seen how the changes (eliminating a few rows of lower deck seating) will impact the amount of lower-deck seats that are available and you said you wanted "half-decent" seats.

You can also call the ticket office and ask; they've always given me an honest answer about those sorts of things.

But I will say right now... you will find the SkyDeck (upper deck) seats on the infield are much better seats for the price, than lower deck seats way down the foul lines...

As far as being concerned about starting pitching depth, i don't understand the big problem. I think the main reason some of you are concerned is that the young pitchers we have in AAA dont have a lot of experience, but i don't see it as a problem.

I think AA and AAA hitters are both similiar enough in their talent level that it doesn't make such a huge difference. Look at Chacin, he had all of 2 games or so in AAA and came up to the majors and did exceptionally well. Banks has a full year at AA. Janssen seemed to adjust pretty well last year to being challenged.

I for one almost feel guilty cause I am hoping that Lilly isn't able to start so i can see one of these kids come up and pull a Dave Bush and throw a two hitter or something silly.. How many AAA games had Bush pitched in? I'm pretty sure he didn't have a full year. Anyways whether justified or not I am not too worried about the starting depth. The fact Marcum has some AAA experience and Banks does not, to me, it does not mean Banks would be less effective.

Bush had 14 AA starts, and 16 AAA starts. That's perfect.  Marcum had 9 AA and 18 AAA.  That would be fine.  Chacin had only 2 AAA starts, but 63 AA starts. 

Banks has had a full season and a half at AA, so it would not be pushing it for him to get a spot start here and there.  But, Janssen has only had 9 AA starts.  It's important in almost all cases for pitchers to get substantial AA experience at least (and ideally AAA experience) before they make their appearance in the Show.  The exception might be college pitchers with exceptional stuff and good control, like Roger Clemens.

Justin Upton hurt his shoulder and is out a couple weeks.  However, the real news is that the D'Backs will be moving him to CF now.  So Upton goes from being behind top prospect Stephen Drew to being behind top prospect Chris Young.  Of course Arizona has a couple of years to figure it out, and it's probably likely that it sorts itself out on its own.