Well in my first swing at the minor league wrap-up the Cubs organization decided to make life pretty easy... only one team actually played.

- Albuquerque @ Iowa

Game 2 of the 4 game series was rained out. There is no truth to the rumors that former Cubs farmhand Alberto Alburquerque had anything to do with the postponement.

- The Tennessee Smokies had a day off following their set with the Birmingham Barons. Thankfully I visited the Smokies website to find the breaking news that Dora the Explorer will be making her first visit to Smokies Park on Thursday. The wording leads me to believe that this may not be a one-time thing... I do know that my nearly 2-year old niece would be very excited about this.

- Palm Beach @ Daytona

Well I'm sure that everyone's thinking that the one game that did happen today in the entire Cubs organization must have been positive. Not so as the Cardinals beat the D-Cubs 9-0.

At the plate... not much good happened. Josh Lansford, who seems to be making a fashion statement in his MILB.com profile picture went 2-3 with double and a walk. Walks were the odd story of this game as the Cubs took 8 free passes (2 apiece by Tony Thomas, Steve Clevenger and James Aducci) yet still scored no runs. Aside from the walk Tony Thomas went 0-3 with an error.

On the mount Esmailin Caridad got the start and lasted four innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 3. Ryan Meyers (2.1 IP, 2 runs, 1 earned, 2 strikes outs 1Hr allowed) and Darin Downs (1.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2BB, 2Ks) did not fair much better in relief. Jeremy Papelbon provided the only decent pitching of the night, not giving up a hit while striking out two over 1.1 IP.

- In Peoria, much like the majors, there is a day off after the home opener. The Chiefs resume play tomorrow, trying to bounce back after the Beloit Snappers took game one of their 3 game set 8-0. Despite the day off, the Chiefs did manage to commit five more errors.

DmL