CubsChic

I wonder what the team record is for pitchers getting the loss after pitching a quality start (allowing three runs or less after pitching six innings or more)? The Cubs have probably already broken it. Yesterday they wasted another great outing from Dempster, after handing Gorzelanny an undeserved loss the night before. Lilly can only hope for the best today in his second start. He shouldn’t have to continue to pitch scoreless ball to get another win.

Theriot, Fukudome and Fontenot remain hot, but the clutch hits just aren’t happening.  We’re making other teams’ pitchers look amazing, but I always like to remember that they’re pitching in the majors for a reason, and sooner or later the balls have to start falling in our favor. It will be warmer today, so maybe Lee and Ramirez can loft some balls out of the park to welcome Arizona to town. Too bad the Diamondbacks lead the National League in homers (29).

OK, maybe moving Zambrano to the bullpen did wake up the bats. Whatever happened to get the Cubs hitting in Milwaukee over the weekend, I just hope it continues through this homestand. Last night the Cubs showed that they can also win with patience, taking walks to force in the winning run. I hope they have an entertaining victory planned for this evening, otherwise it could be a long, cold, windy evening at the Friendly Confines.

So let’s hope that Theriot and Soriano stay hot, Ramirez finally busts out of his slump, Gorzelanny continues the stellar starting pitching that we’re beginning to expect and the defense stays sharp. The harm of some defensive miscues has been minimized by good pitching lately, but giving the other team four outs in an inning will eventually come back to bite you.

Taking many by surprise, Lou announced today that Zambrano will be moving to the bullpen. He will be used to shore up what has been a very leaky bullpen, with a focus on the 8th inning. Lilly is coming back Saturday to take his place in the rotation, so a starter had to go to the pen and Lou thinks Zambrano makes the most sense. I can’t say I disagree, although I don’t see the change lasting too long. Eventually either Silva or Gorzelanny will falter and give Lou an opening to move Big Z back.

What surprised me even more than the move itself was Zambrano’s reaction to it. He’s all ‘team first’ and not having a temper tantrum at all. Maybe he really did grow up this off-season. He has it in his head to be the best set-up man in baseball. Can he be much worse than what we’ve endured the last two weeks?

That being said, this move still doesn’t help our hitting. Even if the bullpen doesn’t implode on a daily basis, the bats still need to wake up and support the great starting pitching the Cubs have been getting. I know it’s early, but if we can’t beat Houston and the Mets now, playing the Cardinals might get downright ugly.

So let’s give Lou’s move a chance to work. He had the guts to move his ‘ace’ to the bullpen, might he bench Soriano next? It’s going to be an interesting season.

So Soriano has decided to give up his trademark little hop before he catches a ball (or not) in the outfield. His original reason for the hop was that it forced him to concentrate more on even the simpliest of catches. Now he’s foregoing the hop in order to concentrate. Whatever it takes to stop the silly errors. He already has three in just two weeks of play.

The Cubs made a valient effort yesterday, but fell shy of a complete comeback losing to the Astros 4-3. Seems we just can’t string together a bunch of wins. At least we haven’t had a prolonged losing streak either. It would be nice to win today and get back to .500 before heading off on a roadtrip.  

That being said, the Cubs are giving away winter scarves at today’s game, so I’ve got to get there early before they’re all gone. Hope I won’t need to wear it until late October.

What a beautiful home opener. Gorgeous weather, enough offense for even our bullpen to survive and stunning defense to end the game. The weather is even better today, so hopefully we’ll have more of the other two, as well.

Didn’t notice too many changes/updates to Wrigley. They moved the location of my veggie burgers, but they weren’t replaced with the new bison burgers as I’d feared. I never visited the revamped bathrooms. I’m sure I’ll be able to give an update on those by the next game. No Toyota sign, yet. I’m keeping my head in the sand and just hoping that issue goes away, but I don’t think it will.

They went back to playing YMCA during the entrance of the first opposing relief pitcher. They had used a diferent song last year and I’m glad they’re back to a fan favorite (even if not this fan’s favorite). They have also moved CareerBuilder’s ‘job of the day’ to an earlier inning. Last year it was announced at the top of the 9th over the Cubs closer’s theme song (Marmol’s is Rubberband Man) and was very annoying. How many people are scratching down job leads after three hours of baseball and beer?

Finally, I must give a shout-out to my buddy Tim for a great pre and post-game party. May we have lots of reasons to celebrate this season.

Are we going to have an 8th inning jinx going all season? How heartbreaking to go from 0-2 on the first batter, to walking two in a row and ultimately giving up a game-winning grand slam. Caridad is young and will bounce back, but when the count was 0-2 I was thinking it looked like we had a replacement for Marmol, who used to come in and mow them down in the 8th inning. Now we can’t seem to get the ball to Marmol as the closer.

Silva looked strong in his first start as a Cub. Rothschild must have done something right in spring training, as Silva was pitching with confidence and throwing strikes. I also like that he works so quickly. That should keep the fielders behind him sharp, which he needs since his style puts so many balls in play.

This afternoon’s game give us a chance to rebound quickly. Let’s hope that Zambrano is ready to whittle away at that ERA by putting in some shutout innings.

Ah, the sweet smell of victory finally flows into the Cubs clubhouse. Marmol tried to make it interesting, but the Cubs would not be denied their first win of the season. After the previous night’s 8th inning debacle, a two run lead wasn’t much cushion, but it’s all that was needed after Wells and the pen shut out the Braves.

Another lack-luster offensive performance, with the only highlights being Colvin’s first home run in his first starting at-bat and Byrd hitting his second homer of the season. I’m hoping the Cubs can start producing runs and stop relying on the longball so much. I’m really liking Colvin, especially in the field. I referred to him last night as the anti-Soriano. He made at least two plays that Soriano never would have made. His hustle is a breath of fresh air.

The defense was also a lot sharper last night. Three double plays helped Wells out of some jams and the only error was one by Wells. Now if we can just get Theriot hitting I’ll be a much happier camper.

On to Cincinnati, where the Reds are starting a pitcher named Homer Bailey against us tonight. Whether that’s his given name or a nickname, neither can bode well for a pitcher. Maybe we should take advantage and wait until tomorrow to play small-ball.

One down, 161 to go. At least we got that first loss out of the way. And they did it in style, allowing more runs on opening day since 1884. That’s not a typo; it’s been 126 years since the Cubs gave up 15 runs to a New York team to start off the season.

At least we got a good look at the bullpen, who with the exception of Samardzija, looked pretty good. The offense, on the other hand, was pretty comatose. Marlon Byrd had a nice debut with a three-run homer and Fukudome had some solid at-bats, but the rest of the line-up looked like the 86 degree day was getting to them.

Big Z showed once again why he shouldn’t be our opening day starter. Allowing eight runs on six hits, while only getting four outs, gives him an ERA of 54 to start off the season. Ouch. Granted, many of those balls weren’t hard hit, they were just well placed. Hopefully he’ll bounce back in his next start and not become a head-case.

The fielding wasn’t particularly sharp, either. Only a few errors, but many off-the-mark throws. Lots of room for improvement there.

Speaking of fielding, what about that lousy call in center field? I’m not a huge fan of instant replay, but if honesty is totally gone from the game, then maybe we need a mechanism to fix such obviously bad, non-judgement calls. The Cubs were only down three runs at that point, and would have had two runners on with no outs with the correct call. I would have loved to hear what the Braves center fielder said to Ramirez when they found themselves at third base together the next half-inning. Could the guy look Ramirez in the eye and say he caught the ball? He didn’t know at the time how well the camera caught the ball leave his glove and roll on the ground. If it’s truly win-at-all-cost, then technology might have to step in. But I draw the line at computers calling balls and strikes. We just need better supervision of umps. When they consistently make bad calls, they should lose their jobs. There are plenty of qualified people who would love a shot at calling a major league game.

I was glad to see Tyler Colvin get his first at-bat in a non-pressure situation. Although he flew out to right field, at least he got some wood on the ball. His 36 hits in spring training led the majors, which earned him a spot on the team and a probable start in the next few days.

Well, let’s hope Dempster can even up the series on Wednesday. The Cubs have had a day to lick their wounds. They better come back out hungry.

Welcome back, readers. Sorry I took the winter and spring training off, but I’m back for the start of the season. I hope everyone had a nice off-season and that you’re all ready to dive back in for another 162 games. I’ve got lots of thoughts and opinions ready to go, from the Ricketts and their ownership decisions to player moves. Please feel free to share your own thoughts early and often via the comments section.

I look forward to opening day at Wrigley where I can see firsthand the changes made to the bathrooms and the menu. I hope they haven’t done away with the veggie burger, which was one of the best additions of the last few seasons, certainly better than the Bradley debacle. I’m glad to hear the Toyota sign won’t be in place for opening day, but fear that it won’t be long before it’s in place in left field, blocking the view from my friend Tim’s rooftop.

Kudos to the Cubs for finally giving Billy Williams his own statue. The unveiling is planned for September 7. Let’s hope that they don’t misspell “Sweet Swinging” or anything as glaring as engraving in marble “Lets Play Two.” (They later carved in the apostrophe on Ernie Bank’s statue base.)

I like most of the roster moves made in spring training, although our bullpen still scares me. I hope the strength of the young arms makes up for the young minds that go along with them. It would be nice if Tyler Colvin can live up to expectations, or at least keep swinging the bat like he has in spring training. If Lou gives him a shot, maybe he can break the Cubs jinx of destroying young talent by bringing it up too early.

For now, I’m optimistic about the season. The forecast for next Monday’s home opener is nice, but I’m trying to stay in the moment and just hope for a victory in Atlanta today. Let’s see if Big Z is really a changed man this season and doesn’t lose it after the first error. Even better, let’s hope there aren’t any errors to test him. Play ball!