All right, now it's tied. Way to fucking blow an early lead.

They're redeeming themselves...another 4 runs (and hopefully counting) in the 6th. Now if only they could average 9 runs per a game the rest of the season...I wouldn't be so worried about the starting rotation.

Eh, Z had a bad start. I highly doubt it'll be a regular occurence this season.

Is Adam Dunn not the worst outfielder you've ever seen?

"That's about as bad of an exhibition I have ever seen in Left Field today by Adam Dunn"


- The Reds radio announcer

inevitably, they'll struggle to score more than two runs the next game.

Seriously. He looks lost out there, like he's never played a game in his life.

Speaking as a Reds fan, put Dunn at first, and get Freel in there.

You know, I haven't seen Williamson put in a great performance since the Cubs picked him up. What's the deal with him? I know he was good in the past, but it seems like he's lost it since his surgery.

So are the Reds supposed to lose like 100 games this year?

When Aaron Harang is your ace, 100 losses is a good guess.

Aaron Harang sounds like the noise a boomerang would make in the air, then lodging itself into a tree.

I thought they were moving Dunn to 1B.

Santo is already freaking out. Looking at our roster, I wonder if Ronny's going to survive this season.

I hope so. Santo will be the only way I can get through the usually disasterous West Coast road trip in May-June.

When the Cubs were tacking on runs late today, he was just murmuring quietly in the background "That's good.....That's good...."

This game combined both the Cubs blowing a lead with wild pitching AND questionable umpiring. Throw in a 9th inning collapse and Ronny have ended up in the ER.

that game was ridiculous. but again, the cubs manage to put tons up in game one of the season. now watch them either score like 10 in a game or get shutout in the next like 15-20 games before they finally fall into their sad slump for the year.

not a good picthing day for them there cubbies, but a downright attrocious day in the field for cinnci made this game a walk in the park for the cubs.

hey, the cubs don't have to get better, everyone else just has to get a little worse.

True dat.

Ron Santo is a waste of space. How the hell he is still even allowed to be anywhere near a microphone is beyond all reason. He hasn't contributed anything of substance since his playing days. Does anyone outside of WGN or the Cubs organization realize what a joke he is?

if anyone has that picture that steve stone and chip carey used to flash of ron santo, i would forever be in your debt.

ya know, that picture of santo with a baseball in one hand, a fork in the other, and a huge plate of spaghetti in front of him.

Z will be ok once he settles in - I predict a big game vs the Cards on Sat from him.

Last year the Cubs scored a bunch on opening day - 16 to be exact and then struggled the rest of April to score - I'd like to see them continue to hit and play "small ball" or whatever.

don't have it, but I have this...

come on man, you might despise him as an announcer, which i can understand. you're wrong, but i understand. but he isn't up for the hall as a broadcaster. the numbers don't lie, he was one of the best 3bs of his era.

"Bronson Arroyo has 1 more home run than Willy Mo Pena"

-Cincinnati radio announcer

they were just talking about how in 1990, they tried explaining to Ron Santo that on July 8th, 1990, at 12:34:56, it was 12:34:56/7/8/90 and he didn't understand what they were talking about for most of the game.

This was followed by them laughing and saying how they won't even bother trying to explain today and 1:23 4-5-06. Good shit.

What the fuck was that inning Rusch? Damn you.

What exactly has that hack done to deserve a goddamn contract extension??? Every time I look up he's serving up a homerun!
This time to a pitcher who was in the AL for the last few years no less.
And the man who signed him to that extension is gonna get one too. WTF Cubs?!?!?

Glendon was a stud in 04 but drifted back to his mean in 05. Frankly, given our offseason options, he's probably the best filler available. HRs to Arroyo and Aurilia is embarrassing, for sure, but this is the most ridiculous park in MLB lately.

If you want to blame someone, blame Prior and Wood for not being ready.

Of course, but I'm looking to extend and spread the blame.

Phew, got out of that one.

Man, this sounds like an ugly inning. Z, Glen, Williams. All the starters are struggling.

Three more Cinci runs, ouch.

Maddux has been great so far today, and some solid offense has given us a five-run lead. And did you guys see the outfield-assist double-play in the fourth inning? Good shit.

I hate being at work for these games, gotta watch the Yahoo gamechannel thing updating. Seems like a good game so far though.

I like the attempted suicide squeeze, it moved in the defense and allowed that line drive to go for a base hit on the next pitch.

Amen - my thoughts exactly. When Hughes called it I was shocked to hear it - maybe a hint of more aggressive, speedy baseball in the coming months? My fingers & toes are crossed...

B. Looper was brought in for relief.

it's funny cuz it looks like Blooper...right

mlb.com's gameday is far superior

Yeah, the MLB.com one is pretty tight. Used to bring that up when I was stuck in class in a computer lab during a game.

The game has been pretty solid so far. Maddux just gave up the first run in the seventh, a homer from Edmonds. Still, he's only given up four hits.

They took him out after 6 1/3, and Howry closed the ending. Wow, a bullpen we can rely on...

I won't put any stock in this pen (he just struck Miles out for 1st out) until June - wait & see...wait & see.

Damn that was a fast game (it started at 1:20 right). Guess it clocks in at about 2:10...very fast, especially for a home opener, but I'm assuming no one wanted to stick around that long with this weather.

Not a tyipical Maddux game.
He only gave up 1 run and he had offensive backup.
Oh yeah, the wind was blowing in @ 25.

Greg works fast. Remember when he pitched one of the shortest games ever during a Braves visit? Something crazy, like less than 80 pitches. They made him sound sharp on the radio today. He was coaxing guys into ground balls pretty effectively in his last spring training start too.

But I'd like to see the ground ball/fly ball ratio. The one run he did give up was a homer to Edmonds. It wouldn't have been easy to get one out (although Lee pulled it off). Greg's been getting weaker in that department as he's aged, and I suspect that strong wind may have helped him out a bit this afternoon. Although we still won by four, so the offense got it done, which seemed to never happen for him last year.


I'm pretty sure D. Lee nicknamed him 'Doggy' in a post-game interview.

All-in-all, it sounds like it was one hell of a sharp game for the Cubs. Merton's double play was really cool. You can watch the reply on Cubs.com. It looks like it might have been out of the park without the big wind. Lee's homerun was massive. Whoa! It's so reassuring to see him off to a hot start again. His MO until last year was to start his seasons very slow. I don't expect him to repeat last year's performance, but this is at least a sign that maybe he'll be closer to his 05 numbers than his 04's.

Howry closed? Boxscore sez Dempster pitched the ninth and that's what I remember hearing on the radio.

Howry finished the seventh and pitched the eighth. Dempster closed.

I was downtown on Belmont a couple hours after the game and there was a fight in the street between a couple of decked-out Cubs fans. Certainly drunk. The bus driver slowed down next to a cop car about two blocks down and reported it, haha.

I said closed out the inning, not the game.

Oh, my bad. I was confused.

The MLB Web site is crap. They sent me an email last week saying, quite presumptiously, that they were going to automatically reregister my MLB online audio account for the 2006 season by charging my debit card $14.95. Okay, I wasn't real happy with the business approach, but I want the service, and $15 bucks is a pretty good deal for every game in the league all season, so I let it slide. I listened to the first three Cubs games happily. Now today I can't log in to the freaking audio homepage. It keeps blocking me with the subscription sign up. I checked my bank account, and the 15 bucks hasn't processed. I call customer support and it's busy. Carlos is about the take the mound. I get desperate and decide to reregister, figuring I can get them to refund me 15 bucks later if I'm double charged. Well, get this, after I spent five minutes entering all my financials, the freaking processing system doesn't work.

This is why we must break the baseball trusts. You can't depend on government coddled institutions to function. Let the market forces loose! I'm lost without Santo.

Looks like the Cards are starting Rodriguez in LF and Skippy Schumaker in RF. And we're depressed about our OF!

Oh man, Jacque Jones is going to kill me.

WTF is going on out there in the 6th? It looks ridiculous on the gameday tracker.

edit: BYOTCH! BARRETT!

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Pay the man, Jim.