Back To The Drawing Board

Hey, I should be happy that the Cubs won, right? And that they won easily again, 10-4 over the Reds?

Well, sure I am, and the win means a second day in first place (so what, right, it's early)... but the Cubs need work. In particular, the pitchers need to go back and work on the fundamentals of fielding. Carlos Zambrano made two errors, one on a ridiculously easy play where all he needed to do was pick up a bunt and tag the runner; instead he threw the ball into right field; Damian Miller had two passed balls allowing runs; and overall the pitching staff has fielded its position poorly.

OK, that's out of my system. The Cubs drew 11 walks today, and part of that was the Reds' pitching staff, but part of it is that this lineup does have patience, and is starting to show it, and they capitalized on just about all the walks. I was real happy to see Hee Seop Choi walk four times -- his OBA is approaching .500, and Miller, Alou, Sosa, and Choi all homered on a day 40 degrees colder than yesterday, with the wind blowing in about as hard as it was blowing out yesterday.

The cold weather reduced our bleacher group to just Jeff and me, and some days it's nice to just spread out and people-watch. Dan the security guard, our buddy, was kept busy ejecting drunks, some of whom looked like they were way under 21. If any inspectors ever came to Wrigley, or probably for that matter any major league ballpark, those liquor licenses could be pulled pretty fast.

There were the usual contingent of shirtless college idiots, plus two guys in shorts sitting in front of us who must have gotten yesterday's weather forecast today. Since they were keeping score we gave them a pass on the idiot designation.

I'm a little worried about a couple of my fingers which started going numb late in the game; it wasn't that cold. I hope I didn't get a touch of frostbite on Opening Day.

Tomorrow's game report will be very late tomorrow or even Friday morning, as I am traveling out of town late afternoon for a few days. That is, if it's not a total rainout -- the forecast looks pretty bad.

April is indeed the cruelest month.