It's really an impossible one to make with complete confidence. Fukudome's glove was shielded by Soriano. What they saw was the ball enter his glove on one side of Soriano, and by the time he reached the other side, it had popped out.

As for Glanville, it turns out he's a pretty decent writer. Who knew?

For me the story line from last night is Ramirez. Sure the back-to back HRs in the first inning were nice, but how about the bad throws, the foul ball he lazily chased down and couldn't get to, and especially his act in the ninth inning. Down 2 runs desperate for base runners, he obviously chooses to swing for the fences instead and admires his long fly ball for 5 seconds and nearly gets himself caught at second. Sure we love the dramatic HRs, but why do we continue to look the other way with the constant selfish play from this guy? If he had a 21 on his back we'd all be screaming bloody murder.

For me poor defense in general lost this game, not a bad call, Zambrano losing his cool or anything else.

As a matter of fact, I haven't seen a game all week, as I've been on the road for work internationally (the damn slingbox isn't working for some reason). But, I will say this: I'll take 5 W's in a row anytime. Every streak comes to an end.... but, we can start a new winning streak today!

So, like Al said.... it's a marathon, not a sprint. Let's take this ten games at a time, and win another 6 or 7 out of 10!

While, I'm never fond of putting D Ward on the field (anywhere on the field for that matter), it was nice to see Lou's flexibility: playing Dome in CF, while getting Ward in the line-up.

Dome and Reed Johnson will give us some pretty good flexibility with the line-up. So, barring injury, I think our OF will be fine. It's the middle infield that has me worried. It's bothered me for 3 straight years now. Our starters at 2B and SS are average gloves at best... and on the bench, we don't even have a late inning defensive replacement as Fontenot and Cedeno are both butchers.

We absolutely need to make a deal this year, to either bring in a quality veteran SS for a post-season run, or at least add a top SS prospect to the mix who may be ready for the bigs in 2009.

If his shoulder is really bothering him he needs to take some time off to let it heal while the season is still young. We will need him at 100% down the stretch and even into the playoffs. I remember when Derosa filled in for him last year and he held down the fort pretty well. I can even remember a few nice defensive plays.

Wow-- the number of people with long term MLB experience and the ability to so exquisitely compile and pen the Clemens situation has to be less than the proverbial number of digits on a human hand...really impressive and insightful!

My film reviews: my son and I intended to see the Iowa Cubs take on the Sounds in Nashville's opening night yesterday, but alas, the weather was unkind. We ended up going to see 10,000 BC and 21 instead.

I'd been told that 10,000BC was disappointing. I disagree. It was at least what I expected and more. It has tons of Computer Generated Graphics and not just with prehistoric beasts-- it has plot lines that don't pass the giggle test. BUT..it was cool in many ways and seemed to imply/meld another significant era in history with the early man theme. I can say no more but to tell you that in scope this film is of epic proportions with the magnitude of the scenes and sets.

21: As usual--Kevin Spacey and Lawrence Fishburne were stellar. This isn't an Oscar type movie--but it's darn entertaining and real good.

Fukudome/Youtube: There must be 10 different home movies of the opening day HR by Dome on Youtube. (try a search with Opening day Fukudome)A couple of them simultaneously make me smile and make my neck hair stand up every time I see them. Perhaps my favorite though is called tribute to Kosuke Fukudome and is comprised of high quality opening day still shots overlaying the song "Winning it All" by the Outfield--really, really good work by someone and so inspirational.

that Felix could be playing in Iowa withing the next couple weeks? Especially if Murton keeps hitting the cover off the ball and DOme doesn't mind alternating between CF and RF.

That catch that he had and dropped, would've been one hell of a catch and I don't think too many everyday CF's would've caught that ball.

I'm unsure about Fukudome in the 2 hole only because A-Ram is consistently swinging for the fences. Right now with people on base and A-Ram up I have little hope. Now that can change in about 2 games but it is nice having Dome up when you know he will probably make contact. Once A-Ram heats up a little then I would feel better putting Dome 2 and I guess Soto 5.

Concerning A-Ram’s throws I hate when he drops his arm down and his throws usually bring D-Lee into the runner. I still get nervous when D-Lee has to go after the ball when a collision at first is possible.

Overall we are in good shape and will be fine. The only problem is we have a whole lot of starting pitching but for the most part they are number 4 and 5 starters, I have been saying it all off season we are a 1A type starter away from being true contenders. In Jim I trust.

Hey Al, regretting taking the DBacks 4th in the West yet? I know it's early, but like I said, a lot of those kids like Reynolds, Jackson, Drew and UPTON are only going to be better this year and that Offense that sputtered last year, will be much better.

They've won 7 in a row against the Rockies (3), Dodgers (3) and the Rockies again last night. Like I said in December, they're the best team in the NL. It's early I know, but they're an exciting bunch to watch. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Cub fan first and always will be but I do enjoy watching them play. There's quite a contrast between the Cubs and the DBacks and the way the 2 teams approach the game. Not saying one is right and one is wrong, but they both have their unique style's.

The loss of Davis is a blow though. He'll be out for 6 weeks.

Last night was their 4th in a row against the Rockies...

While every loss is disappointing, last night's defeat didn't bother me too much. Despite a pretty mediocre-looking line, Big Z pitched pretty well early on. If anything, Burrell's no-doubter to left field seemed to really set Carlos off. (The face he made walking off the field at inning's end was pretty dang scary.)

And, speaking of Burrell, let's be honest -- he beat the Cubs last night, not the Phillies. The guy goes two for four with a homer and double and three RBI. That hurts.

What's more, as Len and Bob mentioned, this guy is a bonafied Cubs killer. His career offensive stats against our guys: .312/.425/.590 for a 1.015 OPS. Getting through the rest of this series could mean pitching around Burrell -- especially in key situations.

Last, about Dome's dropped catch, I hope he didn't take any guff for that play in the game thread or anywhere else. That play was a great example of how better defenders tend to commit more errors (even though that play was not considered an error) than mediocre ones. Dome ran a LONG way for that ball and, if Soriano had stayed out of his flight path, Kosuke may have held on to it.

In any case, I've written off last night's game as a competitve loss and am looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks to that hard-fought sweep of the Pirates, the Cubs need to win just one of these games against the Phils to return home with a 4-3 road trip under their belts. And that ain't no bad thing.

Hamels = moyer - 15 years

I know it drives everyone crazy when Aramis pulls the kind of stuff he pulled last night on admiring his double, but the fact is that he is a huge producer for us. He also brings us a kind of swagger that this team has lacked.

Take a look at the Red Sox, back to back World Series champs; They have Manny, Ortiz, Beckett and even Papelbon who play the game with a flair and even a bit of cockiness. I know this may not always seem like "the right way to play the game", but having a bunch of nice citizens doesn't always lead to results. I wish our team had a little bit more of an edge sometimes.

That's my little rant for the day; Aramis drives me nuts sometimes too, but let's give him a little break.

Got limited internet time.
First , shockingly few Cub fans versus almost everyother
road game I have been to including last summer in Phillie.
I guess most wait for better weather
I don't have time to go over all the game posts but with
two of the outfielders out of position, it was not pretty
( actually Ward is out of position ANYWHERE in the outfield) . This was my first game of the season and the
thing that struck me more than anything which I know
has been ranted on here for a LONG time, is that SORIANO CAN NOT HIT LEADOFF. The contrast between him and Victorino was startling. The Phillies won that game because Victorino worked the count till he either got
a pitch he liked or a walk. He made Z throw a lot of pitches
early even if they failed to score in the 1st. You simply can not have a leadoff hitter who does not work the count. Solo
home runs won't do it. I don't care if he is unhappy. He was unhappy when he was moved to the outfield. Victorino
was the key to the game even if that is not evident in the box score.

Nice city. Rain on and off all day. Off shopping

Buying a CHEAP seat tonight.

PS Jaime Moyer is really good about signing autographs
Must have signed 50 before the game.

A few years ago Glanville got into a little hot water about some things he said about major league baseball players. He said there is a bias against guys who have college degrees, it's interesting that he is approaching this subject as an outsider.

I like corn dogs.

I just saw on the cubs website that they are moving Rich Hill to the bullpen. Hopefully he can get his control back, it worked when they sent him down to the minors and then brought him back up so we will see