March 17--With the Chicago Cubs leaving Arizona in less than two weeks, manager Joe Maddon is examining various lineup combinations with more scrutiny.
That appears to be the case with Thursday's lineup against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Sloan Park before an expected sellout crowd at Sloan Park and a national television audience.
Maddon loves mixing his lineup with right-handed and left-handed hitters, and he has the resources to accomplish that.
However, the Cubs switched their lineup, with Ben Zobrist no longer batting third and playing second. Anthony Rizzo moved up to the third spot. Munenori Kawasaki will play second and bat eighth.
Any speculation over whether this is virtually identical to the Cubs' opening night lineup on April 4 should be defused by the fact that Jason Hammel will start on the mound with Kyle Schwarber behind the plate.
Schwarber might not make his first regular season start at catcher until the fourth game on April 8 against the Diamondbacks. Miguel Montero, who is not in the starting lineup, is expected to start opening night with Jake Arrieta on the mound.
The Cubs will play Colorado in a "B" game Thursday at noon (CT) at Salt River Fields, with Adam Warren and Trevor Cahill scheduled to pitch.
Here's the Cubs' new starting lineup against the Diamondbacks:
Fowler cf
Heyward rf
Rizzo 1b
Bryant 3b
Schwarber c
Soler lf
Russell ss
Kawasaki 2b
Hammel p
