The Cubs were four outs away from a winning home stand to start the 2010 season at Wrigley Field but the Houston Astros and Geoff Blum had other ideas. Blum singled off Cubs closer Carlos Marmol in the eighth inning and the Astros scored the game winning run in the 10th inning on a sac fly to beat the Cubs 3-2. The one run loss was the second in as many games for the Cubs and it also spoiled a marvelous outing by Ryan Dempster who pitched into the eighth inning.

After the game Lou said that he would once again tinker with the line up and try to get a little spark in the offense. One guy that needs to start swinging the bat better is Aramis Ramirez. If you remember back in spring training, Ramirez said he only needed ten at bats to get ready for the season and it wasn’t a big deal with him missing time due to the sore arm. Well it looks like A-Ram could have used some more at bats down in Arizona as he is swinging the bat like a girl right now.

Alfonso Soriano is another guy that needs to get on base more often. Only expect Soriano to play seven innings during close games and Lou has been pulling him late in games and inserting Tyler Colvin in for defensive purposes. I find it funny that now Soriano says he will stop the hop before catching a ball. Hmm, why did you even start that Sori?

Now the Cubs will go on a week long road trip with stops in New York City and Milwaukee. These are all in win-able games for the Cubs so hopefully we can see a 5-2 road trip or similar.

The Cubs were hoping to sweep the Brewers on Thursday afternoon but bad pitching made sure that did not happen as the roughed up the Cubs pitching staff during the 8-6 game. Four pitchers gave up eight runs (six earned) on 14 hits. Five walks and two errors by the defense did not help out but the team be fielding the ball much better than they did.

Carlos Zambrano once again struggled as he lasted just five innings. Big Z did strike out seven Brewers but also gave up three walks and allowed four runs to score. The wind was a factor in the game as it was blowing out at 18 MPH but Zambrano knows that he needs to keep the ball down and he simply did not get the job done.

The bullpen wasn’t any better as Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija and John Grabrow all gave up runs in relief. I don’t think Samardzija will be getting very many more opportunities in close games as Lou has to be running out of patience with the right hander.

The one nice thing in the game and series was how well the Cubs hit the ball. The warm weather helped get the bats going which is something Cubs fans are not used to seeing in April during home games. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Marlon Byrd all hit home runs but despite the three dingers, it was still not enough to get the victory.

All in all, I’m happy with the first series at home. You take two out of three every series and you will be right where you want to be at the end of the season. The teams record now sits at 4-5 on the year as they start up a weekend series with the Astros who finally picked up their first win of the season against the Cardinals.

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The Chicago Cubs kicked things off right at Wrigley Field as the beat up on the division rivals to the North on Monday afternoon. On a day where new owners met the fans as the came through the stadium, it was the big bats that that excited those fans even more.

Three home runs by Cubs players led the team to a 9-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. In the five-run third inning Xavier Nady got the scoring started with a three-run shot which was then followed by a single from Alfonso Soriano before second basemen Jeff Baker hit a ball that cleared the left field bleachers for a two run shot.

Following a rbi single off the bat of Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez connected on a two-run homer that gave starting pitcher Ryan Dempster a big lead to work with. It was a good thing as well because Dempster would only pitcher into the sixth inning and was charged with seven hits and five runs. Dempster did eat some innings but does need to do a better job of getting out of jams without serving up three run homers like he did to Ryan Braun.

It was great to see Jeff Samardzija pitch a scoreless eighth inning. Lou said before the game that he only wanted to use Jeff if the Cubs had a decent lead and he could get in there and just throw the ball. Samardzija needs quick innings like that to really regain confidence in himself as well as the coaching staff.

The teams wills be off on Tuesday and will be back at Wrigley Field on Wednesday afternoon. Randy Wells will be on the mound for the Cubs as they try to open the season at 2-0 at home.

With one swing of the bat Cubs fans went from thinking ok we might have a shot to even the series up at one game each to thinking oh crap here we go again. Chipper Jones hit a two-run home run off reliever John Grabow in the 8th inning to give the Braves a 3-2 lead and they held on to win the game by that same 3-2 score as the Cubs were unable to score in the 9th inning.

And the bullpen is already irking at manager Lou Piniella. (Hmm, didn’t we already know this was going to happen during spring training?)

Cubs relievers have now allowed 10 runs, eight earned, in two losses to the Braves. Not exactly the way you want to start off the season.

The bullpen ruined what could have been a win for Ryan Dempster. Dempster was wheeling and dealing in his six innings if action allowing just three hits and one run to cross the plate. Ryan struck out nine batters while walking two. Great outing by the starter, the bullpen just wasn’t able to hang on.

Can the Cubs salvage one game of the series? They will attempt to do so this evening as Randy Wells will be taking the mound against Tommy Hanson.