When Jessica returned from one of her many sojourns through Wrigley Field, she reported that she overheard someone saying, "I don't know how I feel about cheering for Jim Edmonds. It's just weird."

That's exactly right. It's just weird, and Edmonds got both booed and cheered today -- a mix of sorts when introduced, and when coming out to the field for the first time; cheers when he singled in the second inning, and then booed when he hit into a double play in the fourth and struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh.

That's what today's 4-0 Cubs win over the Padres was -- many ovations, and some booing, for several different players and situations. (And if you are of "a certain age", you will remember the title of today's post as coming from the song "It's A Beautiful Day For A Ballgame", the song that is heard at the ballpark before each game, and used to be the game intro song on WGN radio.)

Ryan Dempster was the recipient of two loud ovations; first, when he came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth after throwing eight shutout innings and it was clear that Lou was going to let him at least start the ninth. Dempster was outstanding today, scattering those four hits through 8, walking only one and striking out twelve (a new career high for him). When he ran into trouble in the 9th -- Brian Giles, who has his number, having three of the six eventual hits off Dempster, doubled and Kevin Kouzmanoff singled (Larry Rothschild got booed when he quickly ran out to talk to Dempster before Kouzmanoff's AB), Lou didn't hesitate to go to Kerry Wood, as Dempster had thrown 115 pitches (77 strikes, very impressive). Dempster left the field to a huge ovation.

Wood, who looked shaky yesterday, dispatched Khalil Greene and pinch-hitter Josh Bard on strikes, and the game ended with another ovation.

Meanwhile, former Cub Greg Maddux gave up hits left and right to the Cubs over the first four innings -- six of them through four -- but escaped any scoring; once in the fourth on the Edmonds DP ball, but before that after throwing a pitch to the bricks behind the plate with Aramis Ramirez on third. The ball bounced so quickly off the wall back to catcher Luke Carlin that Ramirez, who had broken quickly enough, was still out by about 20 feet. Too bad, because Edmonds, who was batting at the time, singled, and so did Ronny Cedeno, and the Cubs could have had a big inning. Maddux gave up hits to the first four batters in the fifth, and that plus a sac fly chased him.

Whereupon he left to loud cheers that I can only describe as "wistful" -- it was a "thank you for the memories" cheer, and perhaps also a "please come back for one last hurrah if you can" cheer. Maddux, from what I hear, has told friends this may be his last season, and, with the Padres mired in last place, he was asked if he thought this would be his last appearance in Wrigley Field, and he refused to answer.

I'm not predicting anything, and frankly, if Maddux pitches like he did today (his shortest outing of the year), maybe the Cubs would have second thoughts about bringing him back. Sentimentally, sure, it'd be great. But Jim Hendry & Co., if they are even considering this, would have to first decide if he's got enough left in the tank.

Same thing with Jim Edmonds, and I have received emails today from people saying they would never, ever root for him, and I just don't understand that. Did I want him here? No. Do I think he has anything lef? No. But if he does produce, and helps the Cubs win, I'm all for it. We were trying, in the bleachers today, to think of any player, anyone, who was as hated as Edmonds is by Cubs fans, who eventually became a Cub, and really couldn't come up with anyone. Howard Johnson was about as close as we could come; he played half a season for the 1995 Cubs and was just about as done as I think Edmonds is now. But Johnson wasn't really hated by Cubs fans; he was only disliked because he was a Met. Having Edmonds is like what it would have been to get Lenny Dykstra, long after he was done.

Enough about that -- I want to rave about Dempster again; this was his best game as a Cub and probably his best since July 3, 2001, when he threw a four-hit shutout against the Expos in Montreal, when still a Florida Marlin. And he only struck out two that day. It's too bad he didn't finish... the complete game has really become a thing of the past. There have been only six CG thrown in the National League so far this year, and only two CG shutouts -- one by Tim Hudson, one by Ben Sheets.

Kudos also today to Ronny Cedeno, who had two hits, drew a walk and again had good AB every time up. Please, Lou: more playing time for Ronny. And, also to Derrek Lee, who had two hits and two RBI and looked better at the plate than he has all week.

In addition to Jessica, BCB reader Tex (who doesn't post much but is in town visiting from Texas) stopped by to say hi, as did BCB reader calicubfan (Rob, visiting from California; hey -- thanks for the beer!) and we were also joined by former Cubs publications director Jim McArdle, who is spending this summer working on a book about the 2008 season. Hey, Jim: nice talking to you about the Cubs and this site and enjoying a big win.

Big win indeed: six-and-one on this homestand, 17-7 overall at home, and now two games in first place after the Pirates destroyed the Cardinals' bullpen today and won 11-5. Things are good. Onward to beat the Pirates (geez, we're playing them again?) this weekend.

Final note: I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to call your attention, in case you missed it, to this article in today's Tribune about the "Way Out In Left Field Society", which has lobbied and finally won the right to put an historical marker on the site of West Side Grounds at 912 S. Polk in Chicago, the site where the Cubs won their only two World Series. To which I say, "About time!"

Click here for my scorecard

Yes, there are fifteen of them (I made sure to count).

Cubs pitchers brought their strikeout shoes to the ballpark Wednesday night; Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood combined for a season-high 15 strikeouts and the Cubs beat the Padres 8-5 in one of those "wasn't as close as the score indicated" games, made closer because Wood wasn't sharp in the ninth inning, allowing three hits and a run to score after two were out.

The big news from yesterday, is, of course, something we have discussed to death here: the Cubs' signing of Jim Edmonds and optioning of Felix Pie to Iowa. There isn't much more to be said: it's done. He's here, will start today, and if he does well and helps the Cubs win, I'm all for it. Now, let me say that on the face of it, I'm against this signing because it makes little sense from virtually every standpoint (baseball: he seems to have little left; clubhouse chemistry: he's acquired a reputation as an aloof loner; and fan support: virtually every Cubs fan hates him). All I can say is that if he indeed is as done as I think he is, that Jim Hendry won't waste any time releasing him and bringing Pie back.

The rest of this recap is happier: the Cubs' offense clicked last night. Everyone except Derrek Lee (and maybe he needs a day off -- he looked tired and went 0-for-5) got a hit and scored a run. Biggest contributors: Geovany Soto with an RBI single and two-run HR, and Alfonso Soriano, a leadoff HR and two-run single.

BCB reader drewishdrewid and his wife Laura joined us last night; nice to see you again, and also Jessica, now known here as Doggie Stalker, in from New York for the weekend. She ate her traditional good-luck tuna sandwich in the bottom of the first inning, and spent much of the rest of the game "visiting" her "other" seats in the terrace reserve, section 209, and staring at the ground. I expect her to do a lot of that this afternoon, when Greg Maddux takes the mound for the Padres.

We can afford to do silly stuff like that now, right? The Cubs are 16-7 at home, are playing well, and despite the fact that we all love Greg Maddux, I want nothing more today than to beat his team (he doesn't have to take the loss, after all). I'll have a game thread up in about three hours. Until then, here are some photos from last night's win.

Kosuke Fukudome doubles in the second inning

Reed Johnson about to catch Khalil Greene's long drive in the 5th

Ryan Theriot rounds third and scores after Aramis Ramirez doubles in the 6th

Padres CF Jody Gerut dives but cannot catch Johnson's double in the 7th

Fukudome & Johnson celebrating the win

Fukudome & Soriano celebrating the win

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

When, in the third inning last night, Carlos Zambrano stalked around the mound briefly, causing trainer Mark O'Neal and Lou Piniella to run out and check him out, we figured it might have been another cramping episode and that they'd have to send him back to the clubhouse for a banana break.

Turned out to be something much more prosaic, as revealed in the postgame news conference: in his last start in Cincinnati, Z had scraped his arm diving back into first base after his fifth-inning single, and the scab had come off. That, plus the rather biting cold last night, caused Z to come back for the next inning wearing long sleeves.

That solved the problem, though Mike thinks he might just need more bananas (along with some thoughts about how D-Lee and Dome might approach a Cub fan's loyalty test):

Click on cartoon to open a larger version in a new browser window

It was that kind of night, as the Cubs had yet another laugher of a win, 12-3 over the hapless Padres, and yet another amazing thing about this team, first revealed by Len Kasper on the telecast (and repeated by Cory Provus on the postgame radio show, if you're wondering where I heard this): the Cubs have now had thirteen different innings in which they've scored five or more runs.

We're simply not used to this kind of thing. They're leading the major leagues in runs scored with 223 -- by a considerable margin over the Red Sox, second with 209. The nine walks drawn last night give them 183 for the season. That's almost half of what they drew in 2006, Dusty Baker's last season, 395 -- in fewer than one-quarter the number of games. I'll make sure to make note here when they pass the '06 team -- it may be before the end of June. And if you're wondering: the club record for walks in a season is 650, set in 1975 (yeah, I was surprised to find that out too, as that team finished badly after a hot start; no one on that team walked 100 or more times, though six walked 60 or more). Right now the average of 4.8 walks per game would shatter that record; they are on pace for 780. The 5.86 runs per game average would mean 950 runs over a full season.

Ain't this fun?

The Cubs came from behind again last night; Z just couldn't keep the Padres bats totally silent, and they went into the bottom of the fifth with a 2-1 lead. Z led off with a double off the wall that looked, at first, as if it might be his 2nd HR of the year. No matter, Alfonso Soriano followed with his fourth HR of the season and after that... well, everyone hit. Or walked. The only one of the starting nine who didn't get a hit last night was Kosuke Fukudome. But he had three walks, scored twice, and got an RBI when he walked with the bases loaded. Ryan Theriot had three hits; Derrek Lee two (and a stolen base, which, like Aramis Ramirez' on Sunday, looked like it came off a missed sign). Ramirez had an RBI single, a walk, and scored twice. And after Kevin Kouzmanoff couldn't beat Aramis Ramirez to 3B, making Ramirez safe and giving Mark DeRosa a hit, Kouzmanoff threw the ball in the general direction of the corner of Addison & Sheffield, allowing three runs to score. Padres manager Bud Black then yanked Kouzmanoff from the game. Yes, I know it wasn't for that reason -- Kouzmanoff had made the last out of the previous inning and was the obvious choice for a double-switch for Black's pitching change -- but it wound up being unintentional humor.

Ain't this fun?

Lou must be having fun, because he sounded exhausted on the radio during the postgame press conference, almost as if he had spent the evening running around the bases himself.

While the Cubs are clicking on all cylinders -- five out of their last six, 15-6 overall at home -- I wanted to comment here about the latest Jim Edmonds rumor. Bruce Miles reports:

The Cubs are having serious internal discussions on whether to sign center fielder Jim Edmonds, cut loose by the San Diego Padres.

General manager Jim Hendry could not comment Monday on Edmonds, who must first clear waivers, much as Reed Johnson had to during spring training before the Cubs signed him after Toronto let him go.

Some quarters in the Cubs' front office are taking a "why not?" approach to taking a flyer on Edmonds, all the while wanting to know about his health, whether he can still play and how good a fit he will be in the clubhouse.

I'll tell you "why not": he's done. I guess I can't fault management for doing their due diligence, but obviously, he'd be signed to replace Felix Pie on the roster. And why is this? Because Lou clearly doesn't trust Pie, doesn't want to give him a shot, and if you look at Pie's record so far in the major leagues, the answer to the question "Can Pie hit major league pitching?" is, "We don't know yet!"

Pie has played 117 major league games over a season and a quarter. The longest stretch of games he has started and finished during that time is nine (last June). This season, his longest such stretch is four games -- the first four of the season.

Now I ask you -- how can ANY hitter get any consistent rhythm going if he doesn't play? How can Pie learn how to face major league pitching and see enough pitches and different pitchers to hit if they won't give him a chance?

He needs to be out there every day at least against RHP. If the Cubs insist on signing a washed-up, injured, 38-year-old centerfielder who was released by a team in desperate need of hitting, at least send Jim Edmonds to Iowa for a week or two first, and let Pie play.

The bottom line is: the Cubs are 23-15, winners of four in a row and five of six, and scoring metric buttloads of runs. Why mess with success? Please, Jim. Don't do it.

Finally, to discuss this screaming Sun-Times headline from today:

... go to blackhawk24's FanPost.

Just before Ted Lilly stroked his RBI single up the middle, I said to Howard, "Man, he has about the worst swing I've ever seen." Howard agreed. Lilly had fouled a couple of balls off and flailed rather wildly at the pitches, looking like he had never stepped in a batter's box before.

And then, suddenly, with runners on first and second, Reed Johnson having been intentionally walked by Dan Haren to get to Lilly, Ted sliced a ball through the infield to score the Cubs' first run and score Mark DeRosa, who had doubled with two out and no one on (love to see that!), to tie the game. Alfonso Soriano hit the next pitch down the left-field line for a double, scoring Johnson, and as it turned out, that was all Lilly needed in the Cubs' impressive 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks. I'm not sure where Lilly learned to hit -- he hit only .137 in 2007 -- but he's now 3-for-11 this year (.273) with a double and two RBI.

You could call this a "statement" game if you wish, but it may be too early to say that. Remember, though the D'backs have looked great in posting, before today, a 23-12 record for the best mark in the major leagues, a year ago at this time the Brewers were 24-10 and a lot of you were wailing, "The Cubs will never catch those guys!" And yet, they did. And though Arizona is playing well, today the Cubs and Lilly and Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood shut them down.

Lilly was outstanding -- he mixed up his pitches really well and struck out ten while walking only two and allowing only three harmless hits. OK, let's call it two harmless hits (one of which, a triple by Stephen Drew past a diving Johnson, might have been caught by Felix Pie if he had been out there), because the first one was a HR by Chris Young in the first inning -- and I was so glad to not see Lilly slam his glove down as he did in the NLDS last October. In the last ten games Young has played against the Cubs (the six regular season games last year, the three in the NLDS and today), he has homered five times. Enough, already.

Fortunately, Lilly shut down the rest of the D'backs lineup, and left it to Marmol and Wood. Marmol caught a break in the 8th when, after allowing a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda, he struck out Eric Byrnes while Ojeda tried to steal second. The throw came in over DeRosa's head and he had to leap to stop it from going in to CF. The umpires correctly ruled that Byrnes had interfered with Geovany Soto and thus Ojeda was out. No other D'back came near to getting on base after that, and Kerry Wood threw nine pitches, all strikes, in getting a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save, after Derrek Lee had hit his ninth HR to give a little more breathing room.

The crisply played game (two hours and 31 minutes) was played in crisp weather more suited to the last time the D'backs were in Wrigley Field, last October 6 (when it was 85 degrees), an official temperature of 46 at gametime, with a wind blowing in. That didn't stop the HR of either Young or D-Lee, though, and I'm sure most of the crowd of 40,236 (probably about 5,000 no-shows today) appreciated the fast pace. I know I did, along with fellow BCB readers mrcubsfan, ihatethecards, and Drew in attendance in the bleachers. Mrcubsfan and ihatethecards introduced me to a man who said his last trip to Wrigley was sixty years ago when he was fourteen years old, to which I said: "It's about time you came back!" And he got to see a nicely played win on his return, too.

Just like that, this team that looked so sloppy on the road the last couple of weeks played a sharp game today. It is possible to have a very successful season playing, say, .600 ball at home (that'd be 49 or 50 wins) and .500 on the road -- do that and you've won 90, which would likely give you the division title. This one snaps a five-game losing streak against Arizona (including the NLDS) and I'm sure the players are happy to have that proverbial monkey off their backs. And with Lilly, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano all throwing well, can we stop stressing so much about the starting pitching?

Remember: tomorrow's game is on Fox, and the starting time has been set at 2:40 CDT. I'll post a list of cities tomorrow in the game thread -- double bad news: it's only going to 37% of the country and the announcers are Kenny Albert and Mark Grace. (Ugh.) Incidentally, I had to visit the men's room and the timing had it during the 7th-inning stretch. There's nothing stranger than hearing the disembodied voice of Mark Grace coming through the men's room speakers while visiting the troughs. Or maybe that's strangely appropriate, I don't know which.

Finally, I see that a couple of you posted game threads in the FanPost section -- and I'm not sure what happened to the main page posts. If someone could quickly summarize in the comments, I'd appreciate it.

Prince Fielder, Yovani Gallardo and Reed Johnson have a close personal encounter after Johnson's ground out

Yovani Gallardo grimacing in pain after the collision; 1B coach Matt Sinatro looks him over

Reed Johnson and Kosuke Fukudome in yet another close personal encounter chasing Prince Fielder's fly ball in the 6th inning

Johnson drops the ball!

Derrek Lee slides into 2nd after a throw beats Ryan Theriot to 3rd (top of photo)

Prince Fielder chasing the errant throw after Lee's slide

Kosuke Fukudome slides into the plate in the 6th inning. This photo clearly shows him sliding in safely before Jason Kendall tagged him.

Fukudome is called out, As you can see, plate umpire Brian O'Nora was out of position to make this call.

Lou Piniella makes his point after the bad call on Fukudome by O'Nora

Ask and you shall receive -- David did get the Soto/Fielder collision, though with someone's waving cap in the way:

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

Raise your hand if you still think there's something wrong with Geovany Soto.

Just as I thought -- no hands raised. Soto smashed two home runs last night. But look at this photo for people raising their hands for Soto for the right reason -- here's what our section looked like after the first one landed just a few rows below us (yes, that's us in the top row, me bundled against the cold in a blue coat, behind BCB reader ballstitch, in a burgundy Florida State sweatshirt, arm raised):

Soto's two HR and six RBI, both career highs, led a 17-hit, nine-walk attack (eight of the nine walks coming from the fifth through the eighth inning) and the Cubs demolished the Brewers 19-5, the most runs the Cubs have scored in almost exactly seven years, since May 5, 2001, when the Cubs took a garden-variety 4-1 lead into the seventh and then scored eight runs in consecutive innings and smashed the Dodgers 20-1.

Balls were really jumping out of the yard during batting practice, many sailing over our heads. So since my friend Sue showed up last night, and she likes to organize Home Run Derby in our section, we played. BCB reader ballstitch sat with us along with a friend of his, and the friend had Soto in the pool. He was in the men's room when Soto hit his second HR in the fourth, and when he returned we didn't say a word until he asked, "Did Soto hit another HR?" First, I said, "You have to be present to win", and then we all paid up.

It was that kind of fun night both for fans and players. The game was pretty much over in the first inning, when the Cubs sent ten men to the plate and scored six runs, smacking singles and doubles all over the place -- you don't have to hit only three-run homers to score tons of runs -- and Ryan Dempster, who had a single himself in that six-run first, threw well enough to win with that kind of offensive onslaught, although he labored in later innings, throwing 108 pitches in six innings and issuing five walks. His command and control are going to have to get better to continue to win, because obviously, the Cubs aren't going to score this many runs every day.

It's fun when they do, though, isn't it? Leading 13-5 in the 8th, the Cubs piled on Brewers reliever Derrick Turnbow, who had absolutely nothing last night -- he gave up four hits and four walks, and was charged with six runs, making his ERA an unsightly 15.63 (Jeff Suppan, the Brewer starter, allowed eight earned runs; his ERA, 3.48 at gametime, jumped to 5.19). Ryan Theriot got a RBI with a bases-loaded walk, and then Ronny Cedeno came up with the chance to hit his second grand slam of the month. (Read that again; would you have believed a phrase like that a year ago?)

He nearly got it, too; his bases-clearing double hit off the right-center field wall. It got so bad that Ned Yost, who had clearly wanted to save his 2,756 relievers for another day and wanted Turnbow to finish the inning, had to yank him after 43 (!) pitches and finish the inning with lefty Mitch Stetter.

Discordant note: Bob Howry, put in the game with a 13-3 lead to work out some of his early-season troubles, instead raised his own ERA to 8.10 by allowing a two-run HR to Brewers backup catcher Mike Rivera, who came into the game at 1B after Yost cleared his bench. Lou Piniella did so too, wisely giving Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome and Soto some rest and giving all five of his bench position players some playing time. In the 8th inning, pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot nearly got to bat a second time.

So the Cubs finish April with a 17-10 record; the 17 wins is the most ever for a Cub team in the month of April, though that record is a bit misleading -- teams play so many more games now in April than they did years ago. The previous record, 16, set in 1969, was posted in 23 games (16-7). The 27 games played since March 31 is exactly one-sixth of the season; match the 17-10 record, not an unreasonable thing to do, five more times and you will wind up 102-60. I'm not saying the Cubs will do this, or that it would be easy to do this, only that it is possible.

Derrek Lee tied the team record for HR in April, eight, originally set by Lee Walls in 1958. The 1958 Cubs played only 13 games in April -- and Walls hit his eight in an eight-day, seven-game stretch, as follows:

4/23: 1
4/24: 3
4/25: 0
4/26: 1
4/27: 0
4/28: off day
4/29: 2
4/30: 1

And for the kicker: all eight were hit on the road, in the new major league cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Walls hit 24 HR in 1958, never more than 11 in any other season, sort of the Tuffy Rhodes of his era.

Enjoy these -- they don't come around very often. We spotted "Friggin' Hot Dog Vendor" again last night and this time decided to buy some from him -- they were friggin' good. Also thanks to BCB reader cubsonWGN4ever, who stopped by to say hi last night. With Carlos Zambrano going this afternoon, the Cubs are in good position to win the series -- and then say goodbye to the Brewers for almost three months, because they won't meet them until the last week of July at Miller Park, and not again at Wrigley until mid-September. Today's game thread will be up at 11 am CDT.

More photos from last night:

Derrek Lee slides into second on his first-inning double

This Felix Pie AB resulted in a foul ball... but look at Prince Fielder's reaction.

Matt Murton, Felix Pie and Reed Johnson celebrate last night's win. Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

Jason Marquis stood on the mound at Wrigley Field, alone on the field, tossing a baseball up and down in his hand. Up, down, up, down, several times. He did this while waiting for the umpires to shift positions and gear after plate umpire Jerry Crawford took ill during last night's 10-7 Cub loss to the Brewers.

Cubs players wait in the dugout for play to resume after the umpire delay

Eventually, Geovany Soto came out of the dugout and so did the rest of the Cubs and that's when Marquis, who had been shaky enough in the first couple of innings, completely fell apart. He wound up throwing 98 pitches in five innings, allowing ten hits and five runs, and none of the Cubs' relievers could provide any relief last night -- the only one who didn't have a run charged to him was Michael Wuertz, but he added to the carnage by walking in a run that got charged to Kevin Hart. Even the usually-reliable Jon Lieber got touched for Milwaukee's tenth run, after Mike Fontenot's bases-clearing double had turned a 9-4 apparent rout into a 9-7 "hey, maybe they can come back" score.

It wasn't to be, and although Lou Piniella had sharp words for his bullpen in his postgame press conference:

"Our pitching wasn't good tonight," Piniella said. "We've got to do a better job in the middle before we get to our short people. That's been a problem for awhile."

... that wasn't the main problem. The main issue last night was the fact that Ben Sheets also wasn't sharp after the delay; he wound up walking seven, but the Cubs left most of those runners on base, leaving seven in the first five innings. Had they taken advantage of those opportunities, they could have had Sheets bounced before the sixth, when he was eventually lifted for a pinch-hitter (having thrown 108 pitches), and gotten into the Brewers' 1,325-man bullpen -- which managed to shut the Cubs down in the 8th and 9th after Fontenot's double.

The other important thing last night was... well, let me tell you first about one of the funnier vendors I've seen. He walked by our section, a youngish man I hadn't seen before, carrying the metal hot-dog vending box, yelling, "Who wants a friggin' hot dog??" That generated both laughs and sales (not from me, since I had already had one earlier).

And that's the other thing. Speaking of friggin', it was friggin' cold last night. The official game-time temperature was 38, and though there was some waning sun in the western sky until it dipped below the buildings on Clark about 7:30, that sun never warmed anyone at Wrigley Field yesterday. The wind wasn't too strong -- Derrek Lee managed to loft his 8th HR of April, tying the team record for such things, into the LF bleachers in the third inning, making the score at the time 4-3 -- but it was just enough to make it so feeling my fingers and toes wasn't really possible after about that time. Despite the cold, BCB reader steinmer and a friend of his stopped by in the late innings to say hi. They were some of the few who stayed -- once the score got to 9-4, the place emptied out pretty quickly. Well, except for the Human Air Raid Siren, who decided, since our section was empty, to stand there (mostly in our way) to yell for a few minutes, until we were rescued by a guy wearing a Fukudome sweatshirt who wanted him to come to his section. He left and we didn't see -- nor hear -- him again last night.

Positive note: there's nothing wrong with Geovany Soto. He had two hits last night, including a double, and continues to pound the ball really hard.

There's not much more that can be said about this loss -- the Cubs' first of the season when they have scored four or more runs. Lou, in his press conference, gave credit to the Brewers, who do, after all, have some pretty good hitters, and not just Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, who are both off to slow starts. Corey Hart (who I advocated the Cubs acquiring a year ago) had three hits including a double and a triple; Bill Hall singled three times and had two RBI, and Mike Cameron, in his first game of the year following a 25-game suspension, also had three hits. Sometimes you just have to give credit to the other guys.

With Ryan Dempster, who has been solid all year, and Carlos Zambrano, who at last is pitching like the ace we need him to be (and with his sinker working as it did when he first burst onto the scene in 2003), going tonight and tomorrow, I still like the Cubs' chances of winning this series.

Did you know Wrigley Field had a Jumbotron? Well, it doesn't, of course, but it now does have this large monitor on the side of the camera house in CF:

Finally, Felix Pie was involved in a scary-looking collision with Rickie Weeks in the second inning, and didn't get up for a couple of hold-your-breath moments. He probably just got the wind knocked out of him, as he stayed in the game. David caught the aftermath:

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

With the first extended stretch of games complete and another off day today, I finally had time to sit down last night and watch "Cubs Forever", the wonderful two-hour retrospective of sixty years of Cubs baseball televised on WGN, which the station first aired last week (it's being re-aired at 7 pm CDT this coming Saturday in case you missed it or want to put it on your DVR). The link above is to the book version of the show, incidentally, and it doesn't specifically say so, but the publisher's website says there's a companion DVD. I'd buy it just for that.

In addition to some great old video -- some of which I hadn't seen since the day it aired years ago -- the thing that struck me most and affected me most were the comments from every single person they interviewed, from fans to employees to Hollywood types to former players, talking about what will happen when the Cubs finally do win the World Series. Basically, if you haven't seen this, they all said, "It'll be the celebration to end all celebrations."

And what that says to me is that they "get it". They understand, all those who have played as Cubs; Andre Dawson, in particular, said he'd want to be in Wrigley Field on that day, because his six years in a Cub uniform, only a third of his major league career (much as we'd love him to go into the Hall of Fame as a Cub, if he is eventually elected, I suspect the Hall -- who now makes the choice, not the player -- will put an Expos cap on his plaque, because he had his best seasons in Montreal), gave him the feeling we all have. That being a Cub fan is special. That being a Cub is special. Eric Karros said it, even playing just one season here: "Every major leaguer should spend a year as a Chicago Cub."

Some of the current players understand this, too, including Derrek Lee, who is now in his fifth year here (can it really be that long already?); D-Lee was interviewed for the show and said (I'm paraphrasing) that the current team is working hard to win for everyone that's gone before and never made it. And I've put this quote from Mark DeRosa in the quote box on the right sidebar, but it bears more prominent repeating here:

I stayed at home the other night and watched that "Cubs Forever" show. Every once in a while teams should be forced to watch stuff like that and realize how much it means to the city and to the ex-players that have been here, and how lucky we are to get a chance to put on the uniform and play in front of these people.

Amen, Mark. You understand. Because when you strip away the stats and the analysis and the little details and arguments that all of us get into on a daily basis because we disagree about ways that we all think would be the best way for the Cubs to be put together, either roster-wise or lineup-wise, the bottom line is this: each of us fell in love with the Cubs, for different reasons and in different places and times, and have suffered loss after loss, year after year of failure. And when they do finally win, all the players on the field that day will be winning for themselves, but also for all those who came before -- and for all of us, because without our support, without our following, where would they be?

May that victory come soon.

There's a somewhat related topic that rumbled through my mind as I was ruminating about writing this post last night and this morning, and that is, that in addition to our support and fandom making the livings of baseball players possible, so does it make the existence of ESPN (and its associated website) and MLB.com possible. Why, then, do these institutions insist on continuing to give us people and websites that we ... well, I'll be nice: that we just... don't... like?

ESPN's top baseball broadcast team is universally detested by just about every baseball fan. This is something that never used to be the case; when people like Bob Costas and Vin Scully and Tony Kubek and Joe Garagiola were the national broadcasters, they were chosen not just for their broadcast competence and baseball knowledge, but because the viewers of the broadcasts actually enjoyed listening to them. That just doesn't seem to be the case today; it's almost as if ESPN is saying, "Screw you, we're doing this anyway."

And setting aside the TV blackout nonsense -- another issue entirely -- why does MLB.com have such a miserable setup for watching and listening to games? And why did they redesign their team websites this spring in a way that makes them bloated and unusable for many users? It's almost as if they have given their sites over to people who have contempt for the people who are trying to use them. And yes, I am well aware that some of you have had trouble with adjusting to the redesign of BCB and other SBN sites -- but give Trei and his team credit, they are listening to you and me and they're making changes (and remember, this platform is still a beta platform and more changes and fixes will be coming).

Without us, ESPN would not exist. MLB.com would not exist. You'd think they'd at least listen to us, their best customers.

I've rambled on long enough. This ought to give you some things to think about and rant about till the Cubs take the field again tomorrow night.

Well he went down to dinner in his Sunday best
Excitable boy, they all said
And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest
Excitable boy, they all said
Well he's just an excitable boy...
-- Warren Zevon

Those of us who have followed Carlos Zambrano's career from day one know that he's very, very excitable. Last night there were times when I thought his head was going to blow right off his shoulders when he didn't get a couple of close ball/strike calls, as plate umpire Jim Wolf's strike zone did seem a little strange last night. To Wolf's credit, it was at least consistent for both teams. He also had a very slow strike call -- don't you hate that? I know the players do -- in the fourth inning Derrek Lee started to walk to first base on a 3-2 count on a pitch that looked like ball four, only to be called out on strikes. (Speaking of umpires, umpire Kerwin Danley was injured when hit by a Brad Penny pitch in the Dodgers/Rockies game in Los Angeles last night. He was taken to a local hospital and let's hope he's OK.)

The called K was just about the only thing D-Lee did wrong in last night's 7-0 Cub shutout of the Nationals, their first shutout of the season. Lee singled, doubled, walked twice, scored twice and drove in three runs, as Z pitched his best game of the year, allowing only four singles and a double, lowering his ERA to 2.21. He did issue four walks -- nearly doubling his previous total for the entire season of five -- but was never really in trouble, and the Cubs breezed through this game, scoring three times in the first inning on a Lee RBI single and, after Kosuke Fukudome had walked to load the bases, Mark DeRosa singled for two runs. Five of the first six Cubs reached base. It was the Cubs' 16th win in April, tying the club record for wins in April, set in... 1969.

Fukudome was about the only Cub who didn't contribute much last night -- too bad, because he was celebrating his 31st birthday. Geovany Soto also had a tough night at the plate, going 0-for-5 and striking out all five times. BCB reader bluekoolaide's FanPost asks "What's wrong with Soto?" but I don't think anything's wrong other than he's having a rough patch, which can happen to anyone. He'll likely get today off, which would be expected anyway (day game after a night game) and thus can rest till Tuesday night when the Cubs come home to face the Brewers. Incidentally, the Yahoo AP recap of the game says:

Cubs C Geovany Soto struck out five times, each time against a different Washington pitcher.

That's a pretty good trick, considering the Nats used only four pitchers last night.

Other good things last night: Michael Wuertz, who has struggled, threw a scoreless inning, issuing a leadoff walk but then inducing a double-play ball; Jon Lieber threw an efficient ninth (14 pitches, making him probably available today again if needed), and ONEDEC had three more hits. When Alfonso Soriano comes off the DL and DeRosa returns to 2B, Lou will have a choice to make between ONEDEC and Ryan Theriot at SS. The logical thing would be to play ONEDEC, but Theriot has also hit. I don't want to start the Theriot firestorm again, but Lou likes playing the hot hand. There will be some choices to be made, and isn't that a nice problem to have? It's clear that Ronny Cedeno has, perhaps at last, figured out what he needs to do to be a solid regular major league player. He's earned playing time.

Once again, I commend all of you to BCB reader 08cubs' FanPost; he was at the game and has an excellent recap including photos.

Note about the Nationals: I have seen plenty of big men on a baseball field. But there is no way around this: Nats catcher Johnny Estrada is FAT. I know that's not a politically correct way of saying it... but geez, how does that guy crouch 100+ times a game? No wonder the Brewers dumped him. In 15 games he's 7-for-32, but has failed to score a run. Do you think he could go through an entire season scoreless?

So, Ted Lilly will take the mound this afternoon, trying to build on the good outing he had last Tuesday at Wrigley Field; win this game and you've had another successful road trip.

Finally, for those of you who have been so outraged about more advertising at Wrigley Field or the proposals for possible sale of the naming rights to the ballpark, during last night's game there was advertising that was genuinely annoying: during one of Fukudome's at-bats (and maybe elsewhere, too; that's the only one I actually saw) an ad for a movie opening on May 9 flashed across the CSN screen, then vanished. Unlike advertising at the ballpark, or naming rights, which can easily be ignored and don't interrupt the action, this ad DID get in the way. (And was pretty ineffective, as I can't even remember the name of the movie.) I know CSN wants to squeeze every ad dollar they can out of these telecasts, but that one was pretty ridiculous.

I'll have a game thread up later this morning. Keep the winning going.

"It was a tough first 10,000 wins," [Ryan] Theriot said with a chuckle. "I hope the next 10,000 are easier."

We are in uncharted territory.

Not just for the 10,000th win in franchise history -- a 7-6, come-from-behind, extra-inning thriller over the Rockies -- but for the 15-6 start which is now tied with the Diamondbacks for the best record in baseball.

Here are all the Cub teams since 1900 that have started the season better than 15-6:

1907: 17-4.

That's it. Four other post-1900 Cub teams (1906, 1932, 1969 and 1975) also started 15-6, and a number of 19th Century teams were 15-6 or better (the best, the 1879 club, went 18-2 with one tie), but the 2008 Cubs are now in the upper echelon of great starts by this 132-year-old franchise. The 1975 team is the outlier in that group -- they were playing over their heads and wound up 75-87 in fifth place in the old NL East -- but the rest of them were all either pennant winners, World Series winners... and we won't talk about the 1969 team, as you all know how that wound up.

The Cubs also won their fourth extra-inning game on the road last night (and haven't lost any -- the only extra-inning loss this year was on Opening Day at home). The last time the Cubs won four extra-inning games on the road was 2004 -- but that year, it took them till August to do that.

Winning anything on the road, particularly at Coors Field where it rarely seems to matter how big a lead you get, is always gratifying. I want to give thanks right here and right now to the thousands of Cubs fans who made the "Let's Go Cubbies!" and "Fukudome!" chants audible -- loudly -- on the CSN telecast (although at least on my cable system, Comcast in Chicago, there was no audio at all on the HD feed for the first few minutes; later they did fix this problem). I know some of that came from BCB readers who posted here that they were attending last night's game.

Rich Hill pitched -- well, okay, considering that his career ERA coming into this game at Coors Field was somewhere orbiting Mars. He walked four, but got out of most jams mostly unscathed; his boxscore line shows he allowed two runs, but only one of those -- a Clint Barmes HR -- scored while he was in the game. Four Cub relievers contributed to the rest of the Rockies' five-run sixth inning, giving Colorado a 5-3 lead.

Then the Cubs clawed back, scoring one run and executing a double steal (when's the last time you saw that happen?) in the 7th, making it 5-4, then taking the lead 6-5 with two strikes and two out in the 9th on Aramis Ramirez' long home run 3/4 of the way up into the LF seats.

Just as Manny Corpas blew a save with two out in the 9th, so did Kerry Wood, allowing a single to Scott Podsednik (Len & Bob noted how much Pods looked exactly like he did as a White Sox, with the Rockies' very similar sleeveless uniforms) and a triple to Ryan Spilborghs, after retiring the first two Rockies in the 9th on strikeouts.

But the Cubs would not quit, and manufactured a run in good style in the 10th, the winning run being driven in by Ryan Theriot in the 2008 "Have A Different Hero Every Day" Cub style. Carlos Marmol finished it out uneventfully -- isn't it nice to know that after your closer comes out of the game for a pinch-hitter, there's someone else right behind him who can also close?

Finally this morning, apologies from me and SBN for the massive outage last night which was caused, ironically, by a server upgrade which was done the night before (if you recall, I'd made this post Tuesday night alerting you to what was supposed to be a short planned outage). Trei and the tech team are hoping we're past the issues, which were caused, we are told, by "bad RAM"... however, they are going to monitor traffic later today when more game threads get going. Apologies from me and know that they're doing everything they can to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Uncharted territory. This is also the first time in Cub history that they have had two separate winning streaks of five games or longer in April. Keep it going. I'll have a game thread up later this morning for the 2:05 CDT start.