The Giants beat the Cubs 9-2 in the spring opener today at Ho Ho Kam Park in front of a smallish (well, for Mesa, anyway) crowd of 8,079 on a day when it wasn't much warmer in Mesa (57 degrees) than it is right now outside my window in Chicago (46 degrees).
And so what? Of the eight pitchers the Cubs used today, only one of them -- Jason Marquis -- is going to be on the major league roster. Marquis pitched -- well, OK. Gave up three hits and a run in his two innings; didn't walk anyone or strike out anyone.
The other pitchers -- Les Walrond, John Webb, Carmen Pignatiello, Ben Howard, Randy Wells, Rocky Cherry and Jason Anderson, all non-roster invitees -- gave up eight more runs, including four in the 9th off Anderson, but only two of them were earned; Scott Moore and Ronny Cedeno errors helped pave the way for all the Giants' fun.
Of those who will be on the Cubs' Opening Day roster, only Derrek Lee and Cesar Izturis had hits, both singles. Geovany Soto's triple was the only extra-base hit; it drove in one of the two runs. Briefly reading the boxscore, at first I'd thought Mark DeRosa had homered; nope, it was the Giants' Tomas de la Rosa, off Wells.
Yawn. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that Ron & Pat were on the radio describing baseball (poorly, in Ron's case; at one point he was heard coming back from a commercial break saying, to some unknown person, "I'm on the air"). Sixteen years you've been at this now, Ron. But I guess that's part of his charm, for those who like that sort of thing. What matters is that the calendar has turned over to March and two weeks from today, I'll be sitting on the LF berm in Mesa myself, renewing my own acquaintance with the game we all love.
Tomorrow will be Carlos Zambrano's first spring start; he's not expected to go more than two innings, either.
This is a short recap, because there's not too much to tell. They'll get longer as the season gets closer, and more detailed at the games I actually attend.