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Imagine my surprise when, listening to the Phillies-Marlins game last night, I heard that Mauro Zarate was taking the mound for Florida in the fifth inning. My immediate thought: "Wait, wasn't this guy pitching in Greensboro just last year? And not very well, at that." Well, it was apparently his big-league debut.

He gave up a homer to Ryan Howard -- his 32nd -- and plunked Aaron Rowand while giving up three runs in the sixth inning.

Zarate actually fared better for the Grasshoppers than I'd remembered: 3-5, 3.19 ERA, 80 strikeouts in 79 innings. He was really tearing it up this year in the minors, with a 2.42 ERA in Jupiter, 1.40 at Double-A Carolina and 0.96 in Albuquerque. And there's your promotion.

In case you feared you'd seen the last of Bill Hass' prose, fear not. He will be writing regular columns at the Grasshoppers' Web site, including this "Bill on Baseball" post today. And before the summer's out, you'll be seeing his byline back in the N&R, if on a less frequent basis.

Is none other than veteran right-hander Bill Hass. The longtime Greensboro sportswriter who recently retired from the News & Record will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Grasshoppers' season-opener tonight at First Horizon Park. Radar guns will be turned off when the side-armer (or so I'm told) deals to the plate. Lucky for him.

Speaking of the Hoppers and their talented former beatwriter, I received a couple of questions about the berm in left field.

As was mentioned in the graphic accompanying my story on changes to the berm Wednesday, the left-field fence has been replaced by a concrete support wall. A reader pointed out that this could be rather hazardous for an outfielder crashing into the wall. When I toured the berm Tuesday, it appeared to me the padding on the wall was plenty sufficient to absorb collisions with players. We'll know for certain when someone plows into the wall to make a catch.

Another question: If fans can now easily lean over the left-field wall, will we see Jeffrey Maier-style interference with deep fly balls? I suspect we might. The fence is 8 feet high, meaning balls will be catchable at the top of the wall, and over it. Will fans show proper restraint? Or reach over to help the home team? I think this will be an issue.

Anyway, the aforementioned first pitch is less than six hours away. It's a beautiful day for baseball. Can't wait.