Lou Pinella shook up the lineup Friday, hoping to catch some lightening in a bottle. Alfonsio Soriano was dropped to the three spot, Ryan Theriot was moved up to the leadoff spot, and Derrick Lee thank GOD was dropped to the #5 spot, but nothing really clicked until the 6th-7th inning when the Cardnals who lead 3-0 decided they didn’t want to win anymore.

Skip Shumaker who started at second base was in left field in the 7th, and dropped a routine fly ball that led to three cubs runs and could have been much much more if not for a bases loaded double play by our new leadoff hitter Ryan Theriot.

Mr Clutch Derrick Lee had a chance in the 8th inning to put the Cubs ahead with one out and Soriano on third but he of course couldn’t get it out of the infield.

Carlos Marmol came in the 8th and gave up a one out single to Albert Pujols and then for whatever reason let the 350 lb Pujols steal second base. In typical Cubdom Ryan Ludwick proceeded to ground a single up the middle to give the Cardnals the lead and the Cubs couldn’t capitalize on a Milton Bradley two out walk in the 9th to tie tnee injury called a tweak. Aramis Rameriez went out in the fifth inning with a strained calf.

Your left scratching your head after watching this game, cause it just seems that the Cubs are still a step slower then all these other teams right now. From hitting to pitching to fielding, nothing seems quite in sync yet. That might be due to all the little injuries that have hit the Cubs already this year, and maybe when everyone gets back and gets some AB’s and some innings under their belt, it’ll look better. But right now it looks like the 2nd string playing the 1st string every night.

Well welcome to your 4th place Chicago Cubs people. Enjoy it for now cause it sure doesn’t look like this might change anytime soon!!

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OK….well maybe not for the WHOLE year, but the Cubs record right now after losing the series to Cincinatti is 8-6. In the 8 wins, the Cubs have not committed an error. In the 6 losses, there has been at least one. Now I’m not Gil Grissom here, but I think I’ve found the solution!!

In all seriousness, that was an ugly, ugly series against the Reds. Couldn’t hit, couldn’t field, hell it looked like the NLDS versus the Dodgers.

Now I’m not ready to throw in the towel, we can all step away from the ledge here, it’s a long season and believe me, this is going to happen from time to time this year. What you hope is that getting away from Wrigley and this first home stand will be good for the Cubs, who now have to get right back in the grind against one of the hottest teams in baseball the St. Louis Cardnals who are coming off a sweep of the Mets.

Some odds and ends going into the big weekend series:

-  Cubs called up Jeff Samardzija yesterday and instead of doing the right thing and sending the ultimate white flag Neal Cotts away, they sent Luis Vizciano for asignment. Sigh. Cotts pitched an inning yesterday and promptly gave up a home run. Atta boy Neal. (course on a side note, Samardzja gave up two runs in the 9th as well, but I digress.)

- Manager Lou Pinella said that he was going to sit Milton Bradley until he’s fully healed, admitted they brought him back a bit too early after watching him jog to fly balls and base hits in the outfield Thursday. He’s still available for pinch hitting duties, but considering he’s hitting .043, I’d just let him rest that nagging groin injury.

Ryan Dempster vs Adam Wainwright tonight at 8pm est.

Sean Marshall vs Mitchell Boggs on Saturday

Rich Harden vs Todd Wellmeyer on Sunday

Pitching matchups certainly favor the Cubs in at least two of the three games, but we’ll see if they bring their hitting shoes and fielding gloves to the park with them.

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The Cubs won for the third straight game Tuesday night, beating the Cincinatti Reds 7-2. But after watching the game and looking at the box score, something really disconcerting came across me.

How in the HELL is Neal Cotts ERA only 3.00???? Every time he’s in there he’s either giving up hits or walking guys. Christ, his WHIP (walks + hits divided by innings pitched for the statistical impared) is 3.oo.

8 games

3 innings pitched

5 hits

4 walks

Can someone tell me why he’s not on his way to Iowa in a Greyhound bus???

Where is Mike Stanton when you need him? I’m sure he’ll put down his beer to come pitch again, no hard feelings after getting released in the spring.

Holy Cow I just don’t understand it sometimes.

And one last thing…Milton Bradley and Derrick Lee might want to start hitting ASAP. Micah Hoffpauir is fighting and fighting quite well for more playing time. Home run and a sac fly last night, he’s hitting .375 and Lou is taking notice.

Cubs still in first place with an 8-4 record. Same two teams tonight at 8:05EST with Johnny Cueto facing Ted Lilly.

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I hate to say I told you so…..but I did. http://cubsdiamond.com/this-site/odds-ends-season-opener-monday/

Our middle relief sucks. I can’t really say it any better. You knew going into the game today that Sean Marshall wasn’t going to pitch deep in the game. You could only hope that we had a big enough lead to hold off the Cardnals. Unfortunately that wasn’t meant to be as Aaron Heilman and now the human white flag Neal Cotts come in and give up runs and the once short lived Cubs 4-3 lead after Fukudome hit a three run bomb turned into a 7-4 Cubs loss.

Milton Bradley made his home debut with style yesterday as well, coming up with the bases loaded in the 6th inning of a tie game and never taking the bat off his shoulders. He worked a 3-0 count to a 3-2 count and then proceeded to strike out looking. Granted….it wasn’t a strike. No Cubbie Kool-Aid there….that pitch was 6 inches inside. But Milton being Milton, he exploded, said some magic words and got tossed. Welcome to Wrigley, Milton.

Today Biz Z goes to the mound to face rookie pitcher PJ Walters. I would hope that the Cubs tie this series up as the pitching matchup favors the Cubs big time. Game time 2:20 EST on WGN.

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Don’t know if this schedule quirk is good now in April or in June or July in the summer, but the Cubs are playing a ton of division opponents here in the first couple weeks of April. St Louis for four at home, then Cincinatti for three and then back to playing the Red Birds for three more again.

Yesterday was not a great day for the Cubbies as they got shut down by of all people Jason Marquis 5-2. Cubs had their chances, but could not capitalize when needed, and Rich Harden just didn’t have his best stuff despite striking out 8 Rockies in three innings.

I’m excited about the weekend series with the Cardnals. I hope that our injury bug gets better cause between Albert and Chris Duncan we have our hands full with the Cards!!

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Behind another bases loaded walk, and some good ole atem ball pitching from Ted Lilly, the Cubs beat the Rockies in the home opener yesterday 4-0.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t warm. In fact I’m betting Rockies manager Clint Hurdle got ejected cause he was so uncomfortable, but the Cubs did what they needed to do to get another win in the books and keep pace with the St Louis Cardnals.

Ted Lilly gave up one hit thru 6 2/3 innings throwing what I like to call the “atem ball”. The wind was blowing in hard from right field and there wasn’t gonna be any home runs. So instead of being all specific with where to pitch, Lilly just threw it over the plate and let his fielders do the work. Now credit where credit is due, Lilly had a nice curve ball going but when he had to make a pitch, the fast ball was thrown right over the middle and a fly ball generally ensued. Sometimes that’s what you gotta do, at least Lilly didn’t walk people.

The good obviously Lilly, and it was nice to see Derrick Lee get a few hits and raise his average to a stellar .143. God I can’t wait till Pinella wakes up and gets him out of that 3 spot. My grandma is a better #3 hitter then Lee. The bullpen came in and did the job with Guzman, Heilman and Gregg preserving the one hit shutout. Gregg did walk another batter but also struck out the side.
The bad? The cubs left a small city on the base paths between Mike Fontenot and Aaron Miles. They each left 6 on base. And shame on WGN for going to commercial not more then 30 seconds after GO CUBS GO started playing after the win. Some of us cubs fans waiting a long time to here that again and then WGN goes commerical. Come on!!!

Injury news….Bradley will be out till at least the weekend, Soto should be back tomorrow, and Rameriez should be back tomorrow as well.

Game time tomorrow 2:20 Est with Rich Harden facing former Cub Jason Marquis who got boo’d loudly during pre game ceremonies yesterday. I’m sorry that made me laugh out loud. Marquis seemed to get a kick out of it as well.

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After last night’s come from behind win 6-5 win over the Brewers last night at Wrigley North, the Cubs sit at 3-2 for the young season, with a chance tonight on ESPN to win both road series before going home opener. Now Lou will be just fine with a 4-2 record heading home, as his chant all along is just to keep winning every series. But what do we know about this young team so far this year?

First and foremost, I think we see the difference between spring and regular season for some. Closer for now Kevin Gregg is struggling big time, and for now Pinella is backing him, but that’s almost the kiss of death. The bullpen is walking far too many hitters so far this season and it’s causing Pinella to have to re-think his back end rotation. Carlos Marmol came in the 9th inning last night instead of Gregg and shut down the Brewers striking out Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder to end the game. THAT’S the kind of closer we want in there, not one trying to pitch around hitters. Gregg will have to find his way soon, or he’ll soon find his way as the 7th or 8th inning set up man.

The cajun connection is off and rolling. Aaron Miles might have some trouble getting some playing time if former LSU teammates Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot keep htting the way they are. Theriot is hitting a very impressive .563, and Fontenot at .389. That kind of production is huge both at the top of the lineup where Theriot is as well as down toward the bottom where Fontenot is.

On the other end of the spectrum, Derrick Lee and Milton Bradley are struggling right now, not even hitting over .10o at this point. It’s nice to see the cubs still winning with the putrid production in the middle of the lineup, but that can’t last much longer.

Touched on the pitching end already, but all in all the four starters for the Cubs have done quite well. Zambrano is the only one with two starts under his belt, and other then having to pitch to Princess Fielder, he’s done quite well so far with an ERA at 3.00. Would really like to see David Patton get some more innings in. I understand he’s a rookie and Pinella wants to ease him in…but give the kid a chance. He came in the other day in Houston, gave up a leadoff home run to Hunter Pence, and then settled down and retired six batters in a row. If he was good enough to make the club over Gaudin, then give him the ball. There is only so much of Neal Cotts I’m willing to take.

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It didn’t take long to get the season underway the right way.
Alfonso Soriano led off the game with a home run and Carlos Zambrano pitched a strong 6 innings to lead the Cubs to an opening night 4-2 win.

The Good:

- Soriano looked solid at the plate. He did leave 5 runners on base, but he hit the ball hard just about every time.

- Zambrano was very strong after getting out of a few jams early in the game. He struck out 6 Astros batters with fastballs. He was for the most part calm and collected and pitched the way an ace of the staff should.

- Mike Fontenot aka “Pocket Rocket” went 3-4 with a double.

- Micah Hoffpauir pinch hit in the 9th and gave the Cubs a much needed insurance run with a 2 out single to drive in Fontenot.

- Aaron Heilman and Neil Cotts got out of a 7th inning jam with minimal damage and kept the cubs in the lead.

The bad –

Koske Fukudome, Derrick Lee, Milton Bradley — Cubs 2-3-4 hitters combined to go 0-11 with 2 strike outs. We all know Fukudome is on a short leash. Reed Johnson, Joey Gathright, and Hoffpauir are all chomping at the bit to get some playing time, so Fukudome better figure it out quick. Lee, I fear is going to be on my crap list all year long. I was ready for a change in the off season and I’m not gonna stand down from it. Bradley was a bit of a surprise. He hit the ball hard twice, but didn’t play defense all that well dropping a fly ball, and then almost breaking his ankle rounding 1st base on a fly out. Jitters? Maybe. I’ll give him the beneift of the doubt.

The verdit: This is what the cubs want day in and day out. They hit for power a bit with home runs by Soriano and Ramierez. They moved runners along with sacrfices by both Soto and Theriot to score runs afterwards. Pitching was very very good with Heilman and Cotts doing the job in the 7th and Marmol and Gregg shutting the door in the 8th and 9th.All in all it’s exactly what Pinella and Jim Hendry look for.

Tonight same two teams with Ryan Dempster going for the Cubbies vs Wandy Rodriguez for the Astros. Game time is 8pm est.

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Well it’s finally here. Opening day. Why am I so calm? I really can’t understand it. There is a different feeling this year then there has been in years past regarding the opening of the season and the fate of our cubbies. It’s kind of scary. And then I read what Cubs manager Lou Pinella said the other day, and it makes sense.

“We’ve built nice expectations here, changed the culture here a heck of a lot,” Piniella said. “Now we have to figure out how we go further.”

It’s really the truth. No more loveable losers label, the Chicago Cubs are odds on favorite to not only win the NL Central for the 3rd consecutive year, but also to win the pennant. And quite honestly, anything less then that is a disaster for the Cubs. When was the last time you really could say that without chuckling?

The culture has sure changed big time. You can also thank newly acquired free agent Milton Bradley for some of that attitude as well.

“I’m a winner,” he said. “When I went to the Dodgers [in 2004], after they hadn’t been to the postseason since ‘88, they went to the postseason. I went to the A’s in 2006. We weren’t supposed to do anything, and we went to the ALCS. I was with San Diego [in '07]. We were one win away from making the postseason, and I got hurt. Everywhere I go, people win. It’s not a surprise.”

I’ll be honest…when I first read that comment a couple weeks ago, I cringed. I wasn’t sure I liked what I read. And then I kept re-reading it. It was bold. It was cocky. It was…..true. Maybe it’s time for that kind of cockiness in the dugout, rather then the quiet “golly gee wiz I sure hope this ends well” attitude. Maybe we need the “it’s world series or bust” kind of attitude that hasn’t been in this clubhouse in over 100 years. Ok Milton….I’m with you. Now I sure hope you and the rest of the clubhouse can back it up.

As stated before, the cubs are much deeper, much more balanced on the offensive side. They could have up to 6 left handed hitters in the lineup at any given time. That’s impressive considering they had only 2 last year. On the pitching side, the rotation 1-4 is as good as it gets in the National League. The back end of the bullpen is defintely in the top three, with maybe only the Mets and Phillies having a better 8th-9th inning combo. Middle and short relief might be a struggle, but hopefully not too bad.

Tonight Big Z, Carlos Zambrano makes his 5th stright opening day start for the Cubs vs the Astros ace Roy Oswalt.

Lets hope we have a lot of CUBS WIN! posts in the next 6 months or so.

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Well spring training is finally over, and the Cubs are on the way to Houston to open up versus the Astros on Monday night. A few random thoughts to get us to opening day.

Pinella made the right choice in Gregg –As much as my heart wanted Marmol to start, you could see right away this spring Marmol wasn’t ready. It was crystal clear after blowing the save for the Dominican Republic in the WBC. He’s so young, and he’s emotional. I don’t think mentally he was ready to assume the closer role. Meanwhile Kevin Gregg came in and did exactly what he needed to do. In 11 games he was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Yes he was perfect. How do you make any other choice? Pinella made the right move.

The bullpen isn’t as strong as you think it is –  As good as I think Gregg and Marmol can be as a 1-2 punch in the 8th and 9th inning, the middle relief isn’t as strong as you’d like to think. The cornerstones of what we thought was gonna be a stellar middle relief with Samardzija (7.31 ERA), Guzman (7.31 ERA) Gaudin (10.26 ERA), and Vizciano (6.10 ERA) all made Pinella’s decision of who to keep a lot harder. In fact, the final two spots for the bullpen won’t be decided until Sunday. This puts a lot of pressure on the starters and that’s one thing I don’t want Pinella to do is stretch the starters so early in the season.

Micah Hoffpauir has got to play — This was one of the reasons I wanted the Cubs to trade Derrick Lee. Hoffpauir is ready. I know he’s young, but he’s ready, and I’m getting sick and tired of our #3 hitter hitting into more double plays then home runs. As good as Lee is on defense, he’s been a liability on offense for almost two years now. Hoffpauir was second in hits this spring tied for first in home runs and tied for first in runs. This is not a Corey Patterson or Felix Pie situation. Hoffpauir is ready. I hope he can give Lee a lot of breaks and maybe even take his spot.

The offense is a lot deeper then last year — I mean a LOT deeper. The bench reminds me of 2003 but better. Gathright, Hoffpauir, Johnson, Miles can all start for any team. Gathright and Johnson will get a lot of playing time giving rest to Fukudome, Soriano, and Bradley. Hoffpauir and Miles can fill in for Rameriez, Theriot, Fonentot and Lee. It’s a team with a LOT of speed, and less power, something that Pinella has been working on since he got here. They had the highest on base percentage of any team in the National League in the spring. That’s what Pinella wants. they also led the NL in walks too. Both good signs.

The cubs are for the most part healthy, they are deep, and they are prepared. Could this be the year? Only time will tell. I will say this…..the hunger seems to be there.

Tune in Monday for opening night!

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