The trade of Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva was a success from the get-go; addition by subtraction, at the very least.

But Carlos Silva is proving it to be a great trade (albeit a trade that should never had happened since Bradley should never have been given the cantract he was).

Carlos Silva pitched another great game last night.  He provided 7 innings while giving up only 2 unearned runs.  His ERA is a miniscule 0.69 after his first two starts.

I also loved Silva’s postgame press conference.  He seemed genuinely excited about pitching at Wrigley for the first time as a Cub.  He was especially enthralled with the relatively new tradition of the fans singing “Go Cubs Go” following a win.  It was really cool to see a highly played player so excited about playing.

The 3 Stars:

• Silva:  who also had a double.
• Soriano:  had 2 hits and a good play in LF.
• D. Lee:  his 3 run HR in the 7th gave the Cubs a 5 run cushion.

Yesterday’s Results:

Cubs 7, Astros 2

Cards 4, Mets 3

Nationals 5, Brewers 3

Pirates 4, Reds 3

Standings:

Cards           7-3            —–

Cubs           5-5              2

Pirates         5-5             2

Reds           5-6             2.5

Brewers       4-6              3

Astros         1-9              6

A weird game with the wind blowing out led to a frustrating 8-6 loss to the Brewers.  We still took 2 out of 3 in the opening home series of the year.  Turn the page…

Go Cubs Go !!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Brewers 8, Cubs 6

Astros 5, Cards 1

Marlins 10, Reds 2

Standings:

Cards       6-3          —–

Reds        5-5           1.5

Cubs       4-5             2

Pirates     4-5            2

Brewers    4-5            2

Astros       1-8           5

Down 6-3 with 2 outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 8th inning, then a great comeback.

Jeff Baker singled to start the 2 out rally.  Geovany Soto and Tyler Colvin walked to load the bases.  Ryan Theriot then drove in two runs with a single.  Theriot went on to steal 2nd which allowed him to score the go-ahead run when Kosuke Fukudome also singled in 2 runs.

Carlos Marmol closed out the 9th by striking out the side.

What a great win!

Way to Go Cubs!!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Cubs 7, Brewers 6

Giants 6, Pirates 0

Marlins 5, Reds 3

Cards 2, Astros 1

Standings:

Cards           6-2             —–

Reds            5-4             1.5

Cubs           4-4               2

Pirates         4-5             2.5

Brewers       3-5               3

Astros         0-8               6

Game 2 of this first home series with the Brewers. 

Yesterday’s Results:

Reds 10, Marlins 8

Pirates 6, Giants 5

Standings:

Cards         5-2          —–

Reds          5-3           .5

Pirates       4-4          1.5

Cubs         3-4            2

Brewers      3-4           2

Astros        0-7           5

Today’s Game:  12:20  CT         Wells (1-0) – Bush (0-0)

It was a very nice way to open the season at Wrigley.  The Ricketts family were wonderful and more importantly, the Cubs offense came to life. 

Xavier Nady, Jeff Baker, and Aramis Ramirez all went “yard”.  Nady commented how cool the fans reception in RF was following his 3 run HR.

Marlon Byrd had 3 hits, while Derrek Lee, Nady, and Alfonso Soriano each collected two hits.

Ryan Dempster didn’t have good command and Carlos Marmol did make a 4 run lead a little scary in the 9th, but it was still a good win.

The one downer, and could be a huge downer, was the injury to D. Lee.  He has been having trouble with his right thumb for some time, although I didn’t read about it anywhere, and really aggrevated it during his two hits.  He had to leave the game.  The x-rays were negative, but my paranoia persists.

Way to Go Cubs!!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Cubs 9, Brewers 5

Cards 5, Astros 0

Reds 6, Marlins 5

Giants 9, Pirates 3

Standings:

Cards         5-2          —–

Reds          4-3            1

Cubs         3-4            2

Pirates       3-4            2

Brewers     3-4            2

Astros       0-7            5

No Game Today

It’s back to Wrigley to try to turn the fortunes of “My” Cubs around.  Ryan Dempster, who was spectacular in his first start in Atlanta, will open the season in the Friendly Confines.

Yesterday’s debacle began in the 1st inning when the Cubs had the Reds rookie, Mike Leake, on the ropes.  Leake wasn’t just making his major league debut, but his pro debut.  The Cubs had the bases loaded and no outs against the nervous young kid, but our offense let him off the hook.  In the 2nd innings the Cubs got the first 2 runners on and couldn’t score again.

Tom Gorzelanny was wonderful in his 1st start and leading 1-0 in the 7th inning when Alfonso Soriano dropped an easy fly ball down the LF line.  Soriano was more worried about the wall than the out.  The wall was well out of the way, but the game was in jeopardy.  Sean Marshall kept the game tied, but the bullpen failed again in the 8th. 

The offense, Soriano, and the bullpen let this one get away.

Yesterday’s Results:

Reds 3, Cubs 1

Brewers 8, Cards 7

D-backs 15, Pirates 6

Phillies 2, Astros 1

Standings:

Cards        4-2         —–

Pirates      3-3           1

Brewers    3-3           1

Reds        3-3           1

Cubs        2-4           2

Astros       0-6          4

Today’s Game:    1:20 CT    Dempster (0-0) – Davis (0-0)   

It is a very long season and there is no way to know what the future holds.  Maybe our offense and ‘pen get the kinks worked out and we have a great season; maybe not. 

But I set these season long goals to keep the current events in perspective.  Even with our rough start to the season we are only one game behind my goals to reach 95 wins.

Go Cubs Go !!!

@ Atl (3), @ Cin (3)                    Goal = 3-3            Actual = 2-4, -1     Total = -1

Milw (3), Hou (3)                          Goal = 4-2            Actual =              Total =

@ NY (4), @ Milw (3)                   Goal = 3-4            Actual =              Total =

Wash (3), Ariz (4)                         Goal = 5-2            Actual =              Total =

@ Pitt (3), @ Cin (3)                     Goal = 3-3            Actual =              Total =

Fla (3), Pitt (3), Colo (2)                 Goal = 5-3            Actual =              Total =

@ Phil.(2), @ Tex (3)                     Goal = 2-3            Actual =             Total =

LA (3), St. L (3)                              Goal = 4-2            Actual =             Total =

@ Pitt (3), @ Hou (3), @ Milw (3)    Goal = 5-4            Actual =             Total =

CWS (3), Oak (3), Ana (3)               Goal = 6-3           Actual =             Total =

@ Sea (3), @ CWS (3)                   Goal = 2-4           Actual =             Total =

Pitt (3), Cin (4)                               Goal = 5-2           Actual =              Total =

@ Ariz (3), @ LA (4)                      Goal = 3-4            Actual =             Total =

All-Star Game

Phil (4), Hou (3), St. L (3)                Goal = 6-4           Actual =              Total =

@ Hou (3), @ Colo (3)                    Goal = 3-3           Actual =              Total =

Milw (3), Cin (3)                             Goal = 4-2            Actual =             Total =

@ SF (4), @ St. L (3)                     Goal = 3-4           Actual =              Total =

SD (4), Atl (3)                                Goal = 5-2           Actual =              Total =

@ Wash (3), @ Cin (3)                   Goal = 4-2           Actual =              Total =

Pitt (3), NY (3), Hou (3)                   Goal = 6-3          Actual =               Total =

@ Milw (3), @ St. L (3), @ Fla (3)    Goal = 5-4         Actual =               Total =

SF (3), St. L (3)                              Goal = 4-2          Actual =              Total =

@ SD (4), @ Hou (3)                      Goal = 5-2          Actual =               Total =  

Go Cubs Go !!!   

Carlos Zambrano had his old stuff and went 7 strong innings and this time the bullpen did a terrific job in a 4-3 come from behind victory at Cincinnati.

All 4 runs came on HR’s: Fukudome, Soriano, and Baker.  Jeff Baker’s PH HR in the 8th inning gave the Cubs the lead.  John Grabow got through the 8th and Carlos Marmol struck out the side to gain his 2nd save.

Derrek Lee made a great snag of a Jay Bruce liner in the 8th which preserved the one run lead. 

Tom Gorzelanny goes for the Cubs today trying to even their record at 3-3 on this 1st road trip.

Go Cubs Go !!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Cubs 4, Reds 3

Cards 7, Brewers 1

Phils 9, Astros 6

Pirates 6, D-backs 3

Standings:

Cards         4-1         —–

Pirates       3-2           1

Cubs         2-3           2

Brewers     2-3           2

Reds         2-3           2

Astros       0-5           4

Ouch.  Two out of our three losses have been blown in the 8th inning.  Ouch.

We could use more offense too, although my favorite Cub, Derrek Lee connected for a long HR.

Carlos Silva was great in his Cubs debut going 6 innings, allowing just one run.  He left after just 71 pitches with shoulder stiffness.  Hopefully, it isn’t too serious.

These two difficult losses is why I setup the seson long goals.  Right now I’m depressed about the Cubs, but looking at my season setup I gain perspective.

Go Cubs Go !!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Reds 5, Cubs 4

Cards 5, Brewers 4

D-backs 9, Pirates 1

Phillies 8, Astros 0

Standings:

Cards          3-1           —–

Pirates        2-2             1

Brewers      2-2             1

Reds          2-2              1

Cubs          1-3              2

Astros        0-4              3

Today’s Game:  12:10 CT        Zambrano (0-1) @ Harang (0-1)

Hey ! Hey!

Randy Wells and the bullpen combined to shutout the Braves 2-0.  It was the first win on the young season for the Cubs.  We can all breathe now.

Wells went 6 innings giving up 6 hits and got himself out of trouble by unducing 3 double plays. 

Tyler Colvin hit his first major league HR in his first start on the season after a remarkable spring training.  Marlon Byrd smacked his 2nd HR of the year to tack on one run.

Koyie Hill started at catcher and made several difficult blocks of balls in the dirt which saved the day for the Cubs.

The beleaguered bullpen came through with Carlos Marmol notching a 4-out save in typical exciting style.  His 3 slider strikeout of Braves phenom Jason Heyward was the highlight of the nail-biting 9th inning.  Sean Marshall was fantastic in his 3rd straight appearance.

On to Cincinnati.

Go Cubs Go !!!

Yesterday’s Results:

Cubs 2, Braves 0

Reds 2, Cards 1

Dodgers 10, Pirates 2

Standings:

Pirates      2-1        —–

Brewers    2-1        —–

Cards       2-1        —–

Cubs       1-2          1

Reds        1-2         1

Astros      0-3         2

Today’s Game:    6:10 CT        Silva (0-0) @ Bailey (0-0)