The afternoon game for the Cubs and Astros has been postponed today and will be made up in July with the Astros come back to Wrigley Field after the All-Star break.

We are still waiting to hear if the Cubs will allow Rich Hill to pitch Friday against the Reds at home, or if he will get skipped to allow Carlos Zambrano to pitch on his normal days rest.  I would prefer to see Hill pitch friday, and then let Zambrano throw on Saturday.  We will have to wait and see what the coach think will be best for Hill and Zambrano.

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If only the Cubs could have had a few more innings like the both of the 9th today they just might have won!  Instead, the Cubbies fell to 0-2 at home on the young season with both loses coming to the Houston Astros.  As I have stressed on the Cubs Blog before, you have got to win your home ballgames and atleast go .500 on the road if you want to make a post season run.  With the way the Cubs are playing right now, they are going to need to have better starting pitching and get some more hits through out the game if they want to win the ballgames.

Jason Marquis sucked from the first inning on.  You can’t go out there and throw the ball like Marquis did and put your team behind 3-0 after the first innings.  That is just asking for trouble and that is what the Cubs got.  Marquis lasted five innings allowing four hits, four runs ( three earned), had four walks, and three strikeouts.  Hmm four walks?   That’s terrible Marquis!  Get your act together or else lets let Angel Guzman have your spot in the rotation.

I’m not sure what to say about the offense to be honest.  We just aren’t getting the hits when we need to.  You need to a few base hits in a row to move some runners on the basepaths and make things happen.  Double-plays are killing the Cubs.  Over and over a little rally gets spoiled by a damn double-play.  I wonder if Sweet Lou has though about bunting a little bit more since the team isn’t hitting the long ball like we expected?

Oh yeah, can we get a new shortstop please? 3 errors?!  C’mon Izturis that is the only reason you are on this team is for your defense.  Forget your bat, you are useless pretty much at the plate.

Just a few thoughts from ChicagoCubsBlog!

The bullpen cost the Cubs today in their home opener of 2007.  After Alfonso Soriano crossed the plate in the seventh inning to tie the game 3-3, Bob Howry gave the lead right back to the Astros when he gave up a two-run homer to Adam Everett.

It was a tough day for both clubs as they battled in the snow and the home umpires eratic strickzone.  The same pitch would be called a ball, and then two pitches later be called a strike.  It was like that all game long for both teams so it was hard to get into a rythym.

Ted Lilly pitched ok, but did have to get out of a few tough jams in the game.  Lilly finished up giving up three runs on six hits in a little over six innings.  He walked one and struck out five.

Check back tomorrow for the second game of the series report!

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Wade Miller and the Cubs weren’t quite able to sweep the Brewers yesterday as the fell 9-4 on Sunday.  Miller really wasn’t that sharp and will have to keep on battling to keep his spot in the rotation.  If Mark Prior ever gets healthy, I seen him in the #5 spot over Miller.

Winning series is what it is all about.  Especially against a division opponent like the Brewers.  I’ll take 2-1 series wins any day of the week.  Sure it would be nice to get a sweep, but 2 out of 1 isn’t bad at the point in the season.

Where any of you Cubs fans able to attend the games in Milwaukee?  Have anything you would like to report to ChicagoCubsblog?  Leave a comment and we will post your thoughts!

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Minor League baseball is now in full swing and that means it is time for an early update on some of the Cubs top prospects…Through 2 games in Iowa, CF Felix Pie has gotten off to a nice start by going 2-4 in game 1 and 1-2 in game 2, helping Iowa to a 1-1 record against the Round Rock Express. In AA the Cubs have moved affiliations from the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx to the Tennessee Smokies and they too have started the season at 1-1. In game one Sean Gallagher was sharp in picking up the win. Gallagher went 5.2IP giving up 4H while walking just 1 batter. Gallagher was helped offensively by first baseman Brian Dopirak who went 2-3 with a walk, and Matt Craig went 2-4 with 2RBIs. Jake Fox, who had been a catcher for the Cubs system, started game 1 in left field. On Thursday Fox got off to a very tough start by going 0-4 with 4Ks. In game 2 Donald Veal got the start and was greeted very rudely while lasting only 3.2IP and giving up 5ER, 6H, 3BB, and 2Ks. Dopirak again had an impressive night going 3-4. Dopirak is coming off an injury plagued season and could move quickly through the system if he can return to his old powerful ways. In Daytona, the Cubs have also started the season 1-1, while losing game 2 in 11 innings. In Game 1, first round draft pick Tyler Colvin assisted Mitch Atkins by going 2-3 with a SB and RS. Atkins went 6 innings giving up 2ER, while striking out 4 and walking just 1. Game 2 was highlighted by the 2007 debut of right hander Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija went 5 innings, giving up 1ER on 5 hits, a walk, and a strikeout. Samardzija received a no decision as Daytona fell 3-2. Finally, in Peoria, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg made his managerial debut as the Chiefs got him career win number 1 with a 9-5 victory over Wisconsin. Billy Muldowney was the winning pitcher. Friday night’s game was postponed.

Behind a strong pitching performance by Rich Hill, the Cubs defeated the neighbors to the North 9-3 on Friday night.

Hill only gave up one hit over seven innings and had the Brewer batters guessing all night long.  They ddin’t know what pitch was coming and it could really tell!  Hill finished with six strikeouts but what was even better was seeing no walks in the game by Hill.  When your starting pitcher goes seven innings and doesn’t walk a matter, more time then not you are going to win the ballgame.

The Cubs sent 10 men to the plate in the first. Alfonso Soriano got things started with a double, and they had runners at first and third with one out when Ramirez hit an RBI single. Floyd doubled over center fielder Bill Hall, whose throw home was off target. Lee scored on the hit, and Ramirez tallied on the error. Michael Barrett then hit an RBI single to make it 4-0.  DeRosa followed with his second homer off a 3-2 pitch from Dave Bush (0-1). DeRosa also connected on Thursday, and this is the eighth time he’s homered in back-to-back games.

Saturday’s game could be a pitching duel as Carlos Zambrano is supposed to face off against Brewers ace Ben Sheets.  We should expect a lot of strikeouts by both pitchers.

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Last night the Cubs picked up their first win of the season behind a strong pitching performance by Ted Lilly.  Ted Lilly went eight innings and struck out 9 Reds batters.  Bob Howry pitched the 8th, and Ryan Dempster had a kickass ninth inning to finish the game.

But today was a different story for the bullpen.  The Cubs lost 5-2 as the Boby Howry couldn’t hold the Cubs 2-1 lead in the 8th inning.  Jason Marquis had a pretty good showing in his Cubs debut throwing 6 strong innings for the Cubs.  It was Howry and Will Ohman who stunk it up.  The passed ball by Michael Barrett didn’t help as well..

The Cubs will look to rebound as they travel to Milwaukee to face the Brewers tomorrow night. 

It was not the way the new Cubs wanted to start the season.  Falling 5-1 to the Cincinnati Reds on the road.

The Cubs fell behind in the first inning after Carlos Zambrano walked the lead off hitter and then Adam Dunn slammed a two-run homer for a quick 2-0 lead for the Reds.  Dunn’s next at bat he had a nice single, and during his third at bat, he went deep off Zambrano for a solo homerun.

Zambrano did not have a good game at all.  Only pitching five innings, allowing five runs on six hits, two strikeouts, and five walks.  It was the walks that really hurt Big Z today.  You can’t walk five people and expect to win the ballgame.

The Cubs offense or lack their of was pretty bad today as well.  Derrek Lee went 2-3 but other then that no Cubs player had two or more hits on the day.  Matt Murton stunk it up with three strikeouts and new Cubs Alfonso Soriano finished 1-4 on the day.

Tomorrow if an off day for the Cubbies, they will then play the Reds on Wednesday at 6:10 central time.  Ted Lilly will take the mound for the Cubs against Bronson Arroyo.

Well it looks like the Tribune Co. is accepting a bid from Chicago Billionaire Sam Zell who will be buying the Tribune Co. for $34/share and backing it up with $315 million of his own money.  Right away Zell said they will be selling the Chicago Cubs after the 2007 season and their 25% share of Comcast Sports Chicago.

So where does this put the Cubs?  Who will be the early favorites to buy the Chicago Cubs after the season?  We have already heard rumors about Donald Trump and Marc Cuban.  We will have to wait and see what happens and see what names start popping up in the next few weeks and as the season goes on.

Oh yeah and by the way, IT’S OPENING DAY TODAY!!!! GO CUBBIES!

The Chicago Cubs today set their Opening Day 25-man roster in advance of their 2007 season opener tomorrow afternoon in Cincinnati.

The 2007 Opening Day roster includes 12 pitchers, two catchers, seven infielders and four outfielders. Right-hander Kerry Wood will begin the season on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis, as will right-hander Juan Mateo (right shoulder impingement). Outfielder Buck Coats has been optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

The Cubs open their 132nd National League season tomorrow afternoon with a 2:10 (eastern time) game against the Reds.

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