Okay, so there are some nervous nellies out there, and if we want to be honest with ourselves, we have good reason to be.  It means we care about our Cubs family and we take this baseball stuff and Cubs fandom really seriously.  I love the Cubs and I'm as fanatical about them as you are.

That's why I've decided to open up this forum to discuss anything and everything positive, to redirect your nervous thoughts and bring you to your happy place. This will allign the planets and drive a positive force of happy thoughts into Zambrano's elbow and Soriano's bat. 

So here's how this game is played.  I say something positive, then you say something positive.  Then we'll all hold hands and sing campfire songs.  I'll go first:

Puppies.  I like puppies. 

There.  Now it's your turn.

UPDATE: I also like kittens.

The Cubs have signed 1B/OF Ben Broussard to a minor league deal.  This was reported by Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com who spread the news as scooped by ESPN 1000 radio. 

Ben Broussard is a first baseman, but has played left field in the past and is a left handed hitter with a career slash line of .263/.324/.450.  He was originally drafted in the 2nd round of the 1999 draft out of McNeese State, came up with Cleveland, spent time in Seattle and was signed, and then released early this season by Texas. 

Was this really necessary?  I guess it seems like a pretty low risk move, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. 

Here are his career stats.

UPDATE #1:  The Cubs actually signed Broussard to a record deal / minor league deal.   Apparently, he's a pretty good musician, and is great in lifting the spirits of guys in the clubhouse with his guitar.  

"We feel his potential as a ballplayer is good," said Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, "but his potential as a superstar singer/songwriter is enormous.  He's the first professional baseball player to have  the potential to be in the top 40 in homeruns and on the Billboard charts."

And this,  according to Ben's official website... 

All the songs from his new cd were written in his spare time while traveling, and inspired by everyday life and relationships. As an added bonus, Ben is a talented "beat-boxer". Ben acquired this ability in the 3rd grade, while attempting to break into the free styling circle of his new classmates. This talent can be heard on the song "Deep" from his new cd of originals, and also on Coco Crisp's song from the "Oh Say Can You Sing?" album.

 UPDATE #2:  I am full of crap.  I guess all the flooding in Des Moines (Including Principal Park)  has gone to my head.   BTW... the Iowa Cubs may play their next home series against Nashville in Memphis because of the flooding threatening their stadium in Des Moines... developing. 

 Thoughts?

There seemed to be enough discussion about Soriano's "hopping" problem, that I thought I'd bring the discussion over here and share with you my lame story about my buddy and his basketball.

A friend of mine and I played basketball in his driveway almost every day one summer when we were about 14 or so.   We kicked the crap out of that basketball -- playing with it in the rain, getting it run over by cars, even chewed up by his neighbor's dog -- and it proved to be an incredibly durable ball. 

One day, I threw the ball up in the air really high to be funny or something and it came down and landed on a barb on his fence.  What are the odds, right?  Well anyway, my buddy got all angry and was going to force me to pay for a new basketball, even though we abused the snot out of it all summer.  Was it my fault that the ball happened to land on the fence?  Probably, yes, but the ball was in poor condition and it's eventual demise couldn't possibly be my fault. 

My point is, that of the thousands and thousands of steps a professional athlete like Soriano takes over the course of a career, it would be highly illogical for us to assume that one silly hop is the reasoning behind his injury.  There are a lot of miles on his 31 year old legs, and if we couldn't accept that he's going to have injuries to them from time to time during an 8 year contract, then we shouldn't have signed him in the first place.  If only he could stay healthy and find the power he had at the end of last year.

Now on to a topic we all can agree on... Like Soriano batting leadoff, for example...  ;-p

I could hardly concentrate at work on Thursday. 

I worked early in the day feverishly anyway, getting what I needed to get done out of the way so I could race over to catch the Iowa Cubs home opener against the Round Rock Express.  Weather.com had like 200 visits from me that day, and for good reason.  Outside my office building, the clouds were looming and frankly starting to piss me off... then came the snow, shattering any chances to bundle up to an opening day. 

I sat in my office the rest of the day consoled by the big-Cubs win and a more relaxed Ron Santo, but still miffed at snowfall in April in Des Moines.

Yes, opening day was canceled because of snow, resulting this afternoon in a day-night double header.  Thursday was my wife's birthday, and we'd planned to take our 19 month old twin boys to the home opener, but because she has to work Saturdays and I wasn't about to give up my tickets, I dragged along my best buddy Dave to go with the boys and me.  (Someday I'll share a story with you about the time Dave and I got arrested trying to sell two extra tickets we had outside of the MTA on Clark before a Cubs/Cardinals game in August of 1998... yeah that game... the one where Sosa homered and McGuire hit two). 

Yeah, it's triple A baseball and everything, but let's face it.  This is Des Moines, and it's not like I can hop on the L  and watch a Cubs W every day.  The opportunity to see Geovany Soto go from a backup catcher in 2005 at best to the MVP of the Pacific Coast League last year is something special, and makes following this team worthwhile.  So it was great to be back at Principal Park, sitting behind the Cubs' bullpen with my boys for the home "opener." 

 Sean Gallagher warming up before today's game...

Gallagher and Cotts Impressive

So now briefly to the game.  Most of the game was spent by Dave and I chasing my boys around the nearly empty seats of the Family Section and apologizing to people trying to watch the game, dumping over one guy's beer and consoling one of my kids after he hit his forehead on the pavement.  Regardless, the time spent watching the game was impressive. 

Sean Gallagher was awesome, giving up two hits and one walk in 5 innings. I don't have any real interesting banter about splits and stats and such, so let's just let the box score do the talking.  The one run that Sean gave up was a line drive, 20mph wind aided solo shot in the third inning to  RR Express shortstop Edwin Maysonet.  From where we were standing, it looked like it totally hit the top of the wall in the field of play bouncing back, and Cubs' manager Pat Listach made a stink of it for a few minutes until they finally let the homerun stand.  We had a really good look at it, and from my view, the ball was still in play.  Oh well...

(So if you're looking at the boxscore and see Gallagher giving up a HR in the 3rd inning, you can generally dismiss it as a really bad umpiring call and give the kid the benefit of the doubt.) 

  Other highlights:  2 innings of perfect work by Neal Cotts, Eric Patterson playing 2nd and smoking everything he saw today including a double hit off the wall, and Jake Fox destroying a 2nd inning fastball for a 2 run lead.  One disturbing thing about the game... Jose Ascancio almost blew the lead in the ninth, and looked shaky at best, but overall a solid performace by Cubs pitchers.  In the end, he earned the save after almost blowing it with runners at the corners and one out, getting one batter to pop out and the last one to ground out to short.  Cubs won 4-3.

 Matt Murton and Sam Fuld in the outfield...

Other musings about the game 

Matt Murton is hilarious.  He was screwing around with the bullpen guys all game, throwing left handed in warmups, imitating the Felix Pie "hop throw."  Also, hats off to one of the relievers in the bullpen who tossed me a foul ball (forgot who threw it).  Les Walrund is a funny dude as well, always bantering with the fans and looking antsy, pacing around the bullpen.  Oh, and the "hot dog gun" exploded a hot dog into the Cubs bullpen.  The guys thought that was hilarious.

Oh, and I'm sunburned, but I'm wearing it with pride.  After all... it's not snowing. 

FYI... I plan on going to about 20-25 Iowa Cubs games this year, so look for these Fanposts to appear regularly.

 Below:  Me (left), Dave and on the shoulders are my boys Truman (left) and Elias.

Below: Dave and Elias

 --Phil, aka "IowaCubs-"

My wife and I are expecting a baby.  We don't know the gender, nor do we want to.

I'm lobbying for a Cubs themed baby name.  

The wife has vetoed the following names:

Ryne
Addison
Andre
Grace
Sammy
Mordecai (this broke my heart)

She seems warm to Ivy if it's a girl.

Any suggestions Cub fans?