like to see the bats get going early today. This struggling to get on the board and playing from behind late is really bugging me. Plus, when you're playing from behind you're more apt to swing for the fences, which is trouble with this team.

But I'm not panicked. This team will hit.

Go Cubs!

...and I agree, don't panic. The Cubs aren't a 100 W team. We have holes, but we have enough to win the NLCD (as do the Brewers). There was a race last year, right? It's going to be the same this year.

Going into the season the Cubs had weaknesses, an inconsistent offense that can be poor at getting on base and scoring, an IF defense that could be poor, and some reliance on injury prone and older guys on the pitching staff (higher injury risk), all of that in addition to the general lack of all-star talent. But every single team has weaknesses.

The Cubs are going to compete.

The one downside so far has been the comments from the players about new grass. Only the Cubs organization could find a way to disadvantage their team in this manner. I don't really mean disadvantage but you know what I mean (Murphy's law). Come on Cubs, it may be cold, but take extra practice in the field if you aren't comfortable with the grass yet. Geeze--maybe the former manager wasn't the only complainer/excuse maker or is this his legacy? Whatever it is, I long for the days when the Cubs stop making these excuses. The other team is playing on the same field.

Paraphrasing Yogi Berra, "It gets late early over there" in Chicago when it comes to Cubs baseball. Yep, it's only 4 games in ..... BUT .....

3 quality starts yield only 1 win

1 win occurs the only time the top of the order gets on base

Fundamentally unsound defensive mistakes abound

Terrible ABs abound

So, sure, relax, it's early .... take the advice of Alfred E. Neuman, "What, Me Worry?"

..and some defense somewhere north of the bad news bears would be a good place to start today.

Looks like a beautiful day and good day to start winning games.

Spring has been sighted or at least whispered on the News so enjoy the nice weekend eveyone.. Great day for a ball-game! 2 hours to go and going to procrastinate some more the things I really should be doing b/f then.. : ^ )

Cubs today need to score on Oswalt whenever you have a chance... I want to see the bats respond to being called out by Lou yesterday.. Said you can't win by scoring few runs and is pointing right at Fonzi right now.. It's time he started hitting Fonzi and I confidence you will.. Marquis, you are playing for your job and I think you realize that so let's bring it today... Beat them Stros' !

Cubs fans here WAY overthink lineup construction. As long as you keep your better players near the top, and your worse players near the bottom, lineups really don't make much of a difference. Other than the mysterious affectation for batting Theriot 2nd Lou does this.

I'd imagine lineups influence the psychology of the player more than the actual outcome of the game.

I was listening to the Dodgers-Padres game on XM last night (And Ted Leitner was more than his obnoxious self... SanDiego Jazzman, how do people put up with him...). Glendon Rusch, who had a great spring by all reports, had a poor debut with the Padres. He allowed 2 ER over 1.2 innings giving up 4 hits, a walk and a WP. He also allowed a few inherited runners to score.

We've also had the opportunity to see Jacque Jones in a few Tigers games. Jacque got his first hit for the Tigers yesterday but he's hitting .091 and he left another 3 runners stranded. He also badly misplayed a flyball to LF, broke in before backing up and the ball sailed over his head, allowing a few runners to score.

The Corey Patterson leadoff experiment is working as well as we all knew it would. Corey finds himself with a .167 AVG and an even lower .154 OBP. But hey, at least he isn't clogging up the base paths, dude!

DmL

no mlb extra innings for free today due to fox..oh well

The media stays up at night fantasizing about lineups, I wonder what he'd say if he witnessed some good ol' BCB lineup obsession/fantasizing?

Once again, let me concede, yes, it's early .... BUT,

-- the Cubs play a front-loaded schedule, 40% of our home dates in April and May

-- the Cubs finish with 16 of 25 on the road in September with the last 7 at NY for 4 and ending with 3 in Milwaukee

-- while obvious, wins now are exactly worth as much as wins in August or September.

So, getting off to a good start is ESSENTIAL for this team. A little sense of urgency and need to win today would be nice instead of "it's a long season and things will take care of themselves".

Ask the pre-season WS favorite of many Detroit Tigers about the need to begin the season strong after their 0-4 start. As was correctly noted on ESPN (sorry) yesterday, no team has ever won a WS after an 0-4 start.

The Cubs simply cannot wait until June or July to get their act together this year.

Yes, the Cubs are favored to win the division, as they should be. All that talk is nice but they still need to prove it on the field, after all, that's why they play the games.

...hardly time to jump off the bridge after four games. Mass hysteria seems to dominate the game threads.

I'm gonna change the subject.

I think the thing about the coaching box is interesting. Leave it to Bowa to get run over something stupid like that.

The helmets are another thing. While I think they are a good idea, we should note that it wouldn't have made a difference if Coolbaugh had been wearing a helmet, as he was hit in the neck, below the ear. The blow ruptured a blood vessel, which killed him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=2948605

The coaches are all wearing helmets without earflaps, which means that the exact same thing could happen again. The helmets don't really protect the temple, or much else, just the top of the skull.

If MLB really worried about the coaches, and umpires, protection, they would mandate wearing the hockey style catchers' masks that cover the whole head. But can you imagine the uproar if that was proposed? Maybe only ex-catchers would want to be base coaches.

As for the rest of the season, it is tough to get worked up over four games, unless those four games are a playoff series.

Lineup:

LF Soriano
CF Johnson
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
RF Dome
2B Derosa
C Soto
SS Theriot
P Marquis

Is showing a minor league game instead of Astros-Cubs. Is that because I'm going through Dish, or are other people seeing this?

sums up the Cubs so far this year.

NO attention to doing things the right way.

Falling behind EVERYONE

another game of comeback

Anyone hear?

Anyone else having trouble with direct tvs extra innings? All my games are blacked out except for washingotn cardinals but i think i am just getting that game cause i live in North carolina. anyone else havin problems?