Matt Murton (And Other Thoughts From Opening Day)
I think it is fair to say that he just punched his one-way ticket to Cooperstown yesterday, isn't it?
It was another great Opening Day for the Cubbies. 16 runs, including but one home run (guess who hit that one?). While the outcome was almost completely identical from last year's opener, there was certainly a different feel to this club. It is called speed.
On the flipside, Zambrano just did not look good. He threw virtually no breaking stuff, and was hit hard--he's lucky he only gave up as many as he did. Coupled with his shaky outing in the World Baseball Classic, I'm nervous.
Some other thoughts:
--D-Lee looks like he is still in his zone. The way he apparently sees pitches leads me to believe that last year was not a fluke, and he officially made The Leap.
--Pitchers are scared of Aramis Ramirez. Very scared.
--Angel Pagan almost caught Juan Pierre on the base path. Seriously, I don't even know how to react to players in Cubs uniforms--you know--running quickly around the bases.
--Todd Walker is our second baseman. Period.
--Seriously, Dusty: I know it was a rout, and I know you want to play as many guys as possible, but did you REALLY have to put Dempster in the game?
--My boss casually mentioned while George W. Bush was getting ready to throw out the first pitch that if he was still using "booger candy," he wouldn't need the natural high of waging wars. It actually sounded like it made perfect sense.
--Despite being heckled and served by Cardinals fans, Barrett's is, and will always be, our Opening Day meeting spot.
Tomorrow: bring on Glendo, who is inexplicitly our #2 starter. That said, bring on the runs. And the Cubs scoring 0-1 runs following the outburst from yesterday.
Prediction Time:
The season is but three days away, and it's time for predictions. Without further ado, I give you some of my Cubs predictions for this season:
1. Juan Pierre is the biggest, most unheralded pick up of any centerfielder this offseason. Johnny Damon and Coco Crisp, I'm looking at you.
2. Kerry Wood will not be a starting pitcher for the Cubs by August 1.
3. Greg Maddux wins 15 games, but also loses 12 and has over a 3.75 ERA and an awful WHIP.
4. D Lee starts off slow and A Ram blistering, a flip-flop of last year.
5. Numbers: D Lee .310, 37, 120
A Ram: .317, 36, 110.
Pierre: .284, 43 SB
Jacque Jones: .277, 18 HRS, great hustle
Prior: 13-8, 3.14 ERA
Zambrano: 19-9, 2.89 ERA
6. The Cubs will finish 3rd in the NL Central with a 86-77 record.
7. The Astros will win the NL Central, the NL, and the World Series. Damn the Astros!
America's Most Injured
After reading Phil Rogers' ESPN.com article, what struck me the most about the aborted Prior for Tejada deal was that we asked for pitching in return. Like arguably the best shortstop in the league isn't good enough compensation for a guy who has won 17 games in two years.
How do you not make that deal? Wow...
Anyone for a wager
Over under on Wood andPrior combined starts this year: 45.
A little love...
Here are my condolences for one of my favorite players growing up, Kirby Puckett.
A lifetime .318 hitter, he hit over .350 in the WorldSeries on his way to two titles, all while being borderline morbidly obese. He had his career cut short and still made 10 All Star games.
His passing harkens back to a better era in baseball for me, an era win the Twins and Royals were duking it out and were winning the World Series and every team had a chance to compete.
Now there are about 10 teams who can legitimately win and that has worsened the overall product of MLB.
Kirby played every game hard, and the highlight montages showed him time after time slamming into that weird, hockey-like plexiglass that used to line the Metrodome (and still should.)
Good times. You will be missed, but not forgotten.
Holy Shocker
Kerry Wood is having knee surgery. Right now. He said his knee was bothering him at the end of his season last year on sharp cuts. Last year. As in, 2005. Not, as in, the second week of Spring Training in 2006.
What the hell is going on here? Why in God's name was this not taken care of during the offseason? They say that it is only going to set him back four or five days (*cough* bullshit! *cough*), but why not set back four or five days of him watching his giant fucking television in November?
I think that the Cubs administration and the Bush administration must pass public relations notes back and forth--someone is not telling the whole story right now.
March 2: Oakland 7, Cubs 8
In their Spring Training opener, the Cubs held on for a victory against the Oakland A's in a full-squad contest. Carlos Zambrano pitched three innings, giving up a hit, a walk, and striking out two. Derrek Lee went 1-2 with an RBI single, Aramis Ramirez went 2-3 with two RBI's, and Felix Pie had a 2-RBI triple in the eighth to tie the game up.
Not really sure who got the winning run home (or who scored it), but was told the A's could not turn a double play to force it to extra innings. Fundamentals, Oakland--fundamentals!
Jerry Hairston and Jose Reyes added on the other RBI's. Bobby Howry and Ryan Dempster both threw perfect innings in relief.
The Cubs are going to win the World Series.
My perspective....
I really won't be able to provide much new Cubs content or information. What I will however do is maintain a Cubs drinking blog. I currently have tickets to about 30 games (and I probably won't go to all of those), but most that I attend will involve some level of intoxication.
So, I'll update you on how many beers I drank, and how little attention the people I was with paid to the game. And just try to generally keep my finger on the pulse of the drunkenness that is about to ensue...
Spring Training Update
The latest update for the Cubs in Mesa--somewhere that we should be, damn it!
Jacque Jones went 2-2 with a solo shot. What is interesting about that is both hits came off lefties--Rich Hill ("the next Barry Zito!") served up the homer, and John Koronka gave up the single. Jim Hendry has been criticized lately because of the Jones signing--not because he has had a couple of down years recently, but because he sucks at hitting lefties (career BA: .227. Uggg.). And something like 22 starting pitchers in the NL Central are lefties. Good to see he came to camp ready to swing.
Derrek Lee hit a two-run double (weird), and Todd Walker hit at the DH spot with the aid of a new rule in Spring Training that allows NL teams to have a DH in games.
The Todd Walker controversy is really beyond me. He is, for whatever reason, going to really have to battle for the spot at second base. Is Todd Walker average-to-liability defensively? Yes. Is he one of the best hitting second basemen in the NL? Absolutely. Which top of the lineup looks better to you?
Pierre
Walker -or- Neifi/Hairston
Lee
Ramirez
That's what I thought. But Hendry really wants the guy out of here, and it is frankly starting to piss me off. Especially with Walker's attitude: either he is a public relations master, or he really does not want to play anywhere else. This quote is from an article on
Cubs.com:
"I don't mind," Walker said about being the DH. "I'm at the point now, if I get some at-bats and get to play -- like I've said, if I can play for the team I want to play for, I'm happy.
"There aren't too many DH's in there [in the National League]," he said. "I've got to try to fight it out out there on a daily basis."
See?? He wants to be a Cub! He is a contact hitter! And he's witty! What else do you want, Hendry?
Some other notes:
--Kerry Wood and Wade Miller are both ahead of schedule, and could be ready to start in May. This means that they will be back on the DL ahead of schedule in June!
--Juan Pierre, Derrek Lee, and Jacque Jones all showed up to camp a few days early. Lee has been quoted as saying something along the lines of this offseason he spent his time in the batting cages and not the golf course. If this does not put the fear of God into NL Central pitchers, I do not know what will.
--Lastly, the Cubs are beating the Oakland A's 4-1 in a full-squad game as we speak.
Good? Yay! Bad? Dammit! Mediocre? Kill me.
Here's to hoping that the Cubs either have a great year or a piss poor year, but nothing in between.
I remember good Cubs teams, I remember bad Cubs teams, but I always seem to tune out when the Cubs are playing .500 ball. It's boring. You can't get excited, but you can't really bitch a whole lot either.
When August rolls around and your team is in last, you get to make the requisite "can't wait for football" and "my slow-pitch team could take 2 out of 3 from these guys" comments. Those are always fun.
When your team is perpetually about 8 to 12 games from the playoffs, there isn't a more painful existence. Personally, I stop checking box scores, stop watching Baseball tonight until the playoffs fire up, and start concentrating on my fantasy football draft.
That's why, a month before the season fires up. I'm hoping for either 102-60 or 60-102, but nothing that deviates too far from either end.
Just What The World Needs:
Another Cubs blog!
That said, we're bringing you Cubs coverage from a perspective that no other Cubs site can: one guy that lives a block from Wrigley and two guys in Nebraska! That's right, you get the perspective of being a Cub fan as close as you can get, and then from two guys that really are not that close at all.
We also plan on taking things beyond the box score. We'll try to answer the questions of the real Cub fan, like:
--When Kerry Wood's arm flys off, will it detatch from the elbow or shoulder?
--Is Carlos Zambrano pointing to God when he comes off the field? Or does he even really know what he's pointing at?
--Whether or not to bet the overs or unders on how many days Mark Prior will spend on the DL.
--Derrek Lee: is he, in fact, the greatest baseball player in the history of the sport?
--Should we expect Aramis Ramirez's groin to completely come off the bone this year, or just another series of pulls?
--Dusty Baker: man or myth?
--How many strip clubs does Todd Walker hit during a typical 10-game road trip? (Answer: 12.)
--And so many others!
I am embarrassingly excited for this season to start.
