AP Photo/Matt York

MESA, Ariz. -- Carlos Zambrano was just kidding about not starting on Opening Day. He wants the assignment, and Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Thursday the right-hander will get the start.

"He looks wonderful," Piniella said of Zambrano. "I commended him on his shape coming into camp. He's ready to go."

Zambrano is 0-1 in three Opening Day starts, losing last year to Cincinnati. At the Cubs' winter fan fest in January, he said Ted Lilly could start the season opener March 31 against Milwaukee.

"What I said at the convention, I was just playing," Zambrano said Thursday. "I'm going to be out there the first day and try to win the first game. The one who invented the light tried 2,000 something times, and finally he did it. We have light. I don't want to spend 2,000 times to win the first game on Opening Day, but I think I will do it this year and go from there."

The Cubs will be hoping that Zambrano will able to lead them to their first World Series title since 1908, and break their 100-year curse.

Mets hops a pair of Aces can make them the King of Queens again

AP Photo

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Since the days of Seaver, Koosman and Cleon, rank and status have been evident in the Mets' Spring Training clubhouses. The more accomplished players almost always have been assigned a locker next door to a vacant stall."The stars have to have somewhere to store their aura," is how Dave Magadan explained it one February in the early '90s.

When the doors to the 2008 clubhouse opened Thursday, a shared empty separated the locker of Carlos Beltran from that of Carlos Delgado. Another bank of five lockers had, from left to Wright, stalls assigned to Luis Castillo, no one, Jose Reyes, no one and David Wright. Moises Alou was next to an empty as well.

And down on Pitcher's Row, where John Franco, Al Leiter, Ron Darling, David Cone and Sid Fernandez, among others, had lockered since 1988, one more vacant stall separated the two most accomplished players on the team's roster. There was Pedro Martinez on the right, and then, after the requisite empty, Johan Santana on -- where else? -- the left.

Less than three feet will separate the Mets of Aura and Significant Hardware (MASH). Three Cy Young Awards on the right, two on the left, and just enough room in between for aura and the remains of $190.5 million the Mets have invested in two arms.

Will this left and right combination be enough to propel the Mets to New York domination and World Series lure?

Joba's role still unclear on new-look Yankees pitching staff

AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

TAMPA, Fla. -- Joba Chamberlain spent too many hours last year grabbing a marker and scrawling his number on every piece of clothing he owned. He was just a rookie. Rookies don't get fancy clothes with their number stitched on.

So imagine Chamberlain's grin when he jaunted into Spring Training on Thursday to find a locker stuffed with gear labeled No. 62. Technically, he's still a rookie, but the Yankees know much better than that.

"I think I got most excited that they put my number on my shorts," Chamberlain said. "I won't ever lose my stuff now."

And he might not ever lose a job. Yankees pitchers and catchers officially reported to Tampa, Fla., for Spring Training on Thursday, and the demographics at George M. Steinbrenner Field -- formerly Legends Field -- were telling. These aren't the Yankees of old. This is a team with youth, enthusiasm and excitement.

And with just as much of a chance to win.

So when pitchers and catchers filtered into the Yankees' clubhouse on Thursday morning, youth was the theme. For every player with roots in the past, there are three or four more with eyes to the future.