The Daily Herald:

MESA, Ariz. - Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa was taken to a local hospital for precautionary measures early Saturday afternoon after reporting a rapid heartbeat and having some difficulty breathing.

An ambulance arrived at the team's Fitch Park facility at about 12:15 Mountain Time. DeRosa was sitting up on a stretcher when he was wheeled off by paramedics.

According to the Cubs staff, DeRosa has a history of irregular heartbeats. The problem surfaced during Saturday's workouts when DeRosa was taking fielding practice.

Piniella says DeRosa is "completely stable," but for the moment will remain at the hospital for precautionary tests.

Today's the day: Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Virtual waiting room fun!

Last year: Waiting for a Just Reward.

Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez are turning to physical therapy to help stave off nagging injuries in 2008, says the Sun-Times.

Soriano, coming off a quadriceps injury, and Ramirez also are among several players who will be on individual therapy programs this season to maintain strength and avoid the kind of injuries that plagued them last year.

Piniella also plans to rest his starters more often this year.

I don't know about you, but ethnocentrism bothers me to no end.

Take cockfighting in the Dominican Republic, for instance. For Dominicans, the sport is a national pastime and "a symbol of the country's warrior spirit," says the New York Times. "Nearly every neighborhood and country village has a gallera, or cockfighting arena, and the sport is legal and regulated."

But once Americans learn that their Dominican sports heroes take part in such perceived senselessness and degradation, everything changes. Suddenly, Dominicans can't be Dominican anymore. They must instead swap their lesser culture for the virtuous American way, critics say.

And that's what gets me. What right do Americans have to decide what is right and wrong in other countries? It smacks of presumptuousness and arrogance.

Aramis Ramirez and other Dominican baseball players dealing with the backlash are doing their best to make this clear, but they are still met with closed minds.

On Tuesday, before the first full-squad workout, Ramirez was asked about his involvement in cockfighting.

"I'm not going to let you finish that question," Ramirez said. "I'm not talking about that. That's personal. It's a different culture down there. I'm from the Dominican. Let's talk about baseball."

Was he surprised the story received so much attention?

"I said I'm not going to talk about that," Ramirez said. "Like I said -- I just have to say this -- it's a different culture in the Dominican, and that's it." [Link]

And that, I think, is enough ranting on my part for one day.