CHICAGO, OCT. 3 -- The Chicago Cubs should be fishing by now. A team with three rookies in the everyday lineup, no certified power hitter, managed by the Rodney Dangerfield of skippers -- Don Zimmer -- shouldn't be in the National League Championship Series. But here are the Cubs, young and unassuming, ready to play host to the favored San Francisco Giants. The best-of-seven series will begin here in the friendly, frigid confines of Wrigley Field Wednesday night at 8:15 (WRC-TV-4), with Chicago's baby-faced ace, Greg Maddux, going against the NL's earned run average leader, Scott Garrelts. It will be the first postseason night game ever in 75-year-old Wrigley. But the NL and NBC television may be sorry they pressured the Cubs into installing lights, considering that temperatures during the game are expected to drop into the 40s. The Giants won 92 games in the regular season despite various injuries to key players, and the postseason has started with the same unfortunate theme for San Francisco. Terry Kennedy, the starting catcher, came up with a mysterious ache in his throwing shoulder Sunday that had not improved as of today when both teams worked out at Wrigley. Kennedy apparently will start, but it's certain the aggressive, take-every-base-you-can Cubs will test his arm early and often. The former Baltimore Orioles catcher said he first thought he "slept wrong" on the arm Sunday night because it ached Monday morning. "It didn't come from a foul tip or anything," he said. "And I don't remember doing anything in the game on Sunday. Maybe it has something to do with the previous 1,300 {career} games." If Kennedy can't play or is ineffective, Manager Roger Craig will have to try Bob Brenly or Kirt Manwaring behind the plate. "This is the first time I've ever had a sore shoulder, or anything like this," he said of the pain, which shot through his shoulder when he tried to swing a bat or throw any farther than back to the mound. "I know I don't want to hurt the team." Kennedy, though the Giants' biggest concern today, wasn't the only one. Pitchers Craig Lefferts and Don Robinson have had shoulder trouble, and manager Craig left the workout still unsure how much he could depend on either. The Giants are hoping that their previous postseason experience (1987) and muscle in the middle of the lineup (Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell) will be an advantage against the Cubs. "This is my seventh championship series," said Craig, "and over the years it seems the more you've been in it the better you play under pressure. At least that's the way I see it. You don't find too many teams like the '69 Mets, who come out of nowhere and win it all. That experience means something. It helps." Craig sounded sincere enough, but he could have been playing mind games with his buddy Zimmer, who left Craig and the Giants two years ago to take the managing job offered by his high school friend, Cubs General Manager Jim Frey. The one thing the Cubs do not have is playoff experience. Ryne Sandberg is the only regular left over from the 1984 team that won the first two games from San Diego in the league title series, only to lose in the old five-game format. Maddux, 37-20 the last two years and 19-12 in '89, is only 23 years old. "They've got older pitchers. I think they might be more relaxed on the mound than some of ours," Maddux said. "If there's an advantage being in the playoffs before, I would say you have to favor them." The Cubs, of course, are comfortable in this underdog role. And that's just as well, considering all the ghosts stirring around in the vines on the outfield wall. No conversation with a Cub can last more than five questions without the choke of 1969 being introduced. Garrelts, a native of Chicago, was a fan of the '69 Cubs, and pronounced today, "It really is ironic that the biggest start of my career would come here. I loved the Cubs. Ernie Banks was my favorite player growing up." Garrelts seemed to do a double take when Billy Williams, another of the '69 Cubs, walked onto the field during batting practice. "I know how many questions these kids have been asked about '69," Williams said. "But they didn't know me or Ernie or Fergie Jenkins or Ron Santo. We all know the fans know. We all know the city is obsessed with this. But I think this team has blocked it out well. They couldn't have come this far if they hadn't. Their attitude has been, 'We're not going to let this touch us.' " The best thing for Chicago might be that so many of these Cubs haven't been in the majors long enough to develop the fatalistic feelings that always set in once a Cubs team experiences any great degree of failure. "We've certainly heard and read enough 1969," Zimmer said. "Most of these guys were barely born then." Frey, asked to talk about the most important development of the season, said, "Probably giving a lot of young people the chance to play. Bringing {pitcher} Steve Wilson, {catcher} Joe Girardi and {center fielder} Jerome Walton from Double-A; that and the trade for {36-save relief pitcher} Mitch Williams are two of the reasons our club is better than last year's." Walton, left fielder Dwight Smith and catcher Rick Wrona -- all rookies -- will start Wednesday night. Walton and Smith run the bases with an arrogance usually reserved for the Hendersons and Colemans, which is why Kennedy's shoulder problem will be magnified if they get on base with any regularity. Meanwhile Maddux took a very practical approach to facing Mitchell, the league's home run champion with 47, and Clark, the batting runner-up at .333. He said the best thing he could do is keep center fielder Brett Butler and second baseman Robby Thompson off base, so if Mitchell or Clark send it flying out of tiny Wrigley, "it'll only be a solo home run."