SPRING TRAINING REPORT: CUBS vs. GIANTS
Today, while slaving away at my computer, I watched the Cubs/Giants contest at Scottsdale stadium. Matt Morris started for San Francisco, Carlos Zambrano for Chicago. Matt Morris seemed asleep at the wheel, allowing 6 runs on three Giants errors in the top of the first. Zambrano, in the 9-spot, smacked a ball to center-right in the first, which might have been an in-the-park home run if he hadn't stumbled and fallen on his way to third. His triple was successful, but it was such a beautiful Zambrano moment, this gigantic Cubbies ace hauling ass around the bases and then just falling all over his oversized self. He seemed embarrassed at first, but was soon laughing as fans in the stand cheered his dramatic effort.
Barry Bonds made a couple of left-field errors due to the sun. More suprisingly, Omar Vizquel, who rarely makes mistakes, bobbled a ball like some AA hopeful. Glad I got to see it, because I probably won't see that more than a couple of times during the regular season.
Zambrano pitched a fantastic 4 or 5 innings and the Cubs backed him up like a well-oiled machine, as if it were May instead of March.
One thing is really clear after watching a handful of Cubs games. They are not Dusty Baker's team anymore (thank God!). Lou Piniella, their new head coach, is working some kind of three-ring mojo, drawing Aramis Ramirez out of his usual early-season slump. Alfonso Soriano is a not-so-secret super weapon. Derek Lee is healthy. Best of all, Chicago has a strong bullpen and many starters to choose from. Wisely, they sent Mark Prior down to the minors (thank God!) and plan to use perennial wounded-guy Kerry Wood as a reliever, where he will probably bring some much needed shock and awe over the three or so innings he'll be asked to pitch during certain games. What a great idea!
Great game with lots of scoring action. I recommend streaming it.
Barry Bonds made a couple of left-field errors due to the sun. More suprisingly, Omar Vizquel, who rarely makes mistakes, bobbled a ball like some AA hopeful. Glad I got to see it, because I probably won't see that more than a couple of times during the regular season.
Zambrano pitched a fantastic 4 or 5 innings and the Cubs backed him up like a well-oiled machine, as if it were May instead of March.
One thing is really clear after watching a handful of Cubs games. They are not Dusty Baker's team anymore (thank God!). Lou Piniella, their new head coach, is working some kind of three-ring mojo, drawing Aramis Ramirez out of his usual early-season slump. Alfonso Soriano is a not-so-secret super weapon. Derek Lee is healthy. Best of all, Chicago has a strong bullpen and many starters to choose from. Wisely, they sent Mark Prior down to the minors (thank God!) and plan to use perennial wounded-guy Kerry Wood as a reliever, where he will probably bring some much needed shock and awe over the three or so innings he'll be asked to pitch during certain games. What a great idea!
Great game with lots of scoring action. I recommend streaming it.
posted by Andrew at
6:02 PM
1 Comments:
I'm jealous! It sounds like I would have loved the game. Instead I was in sessions listening to speakers talking about AJAX, Rails, and Design Pattern Libraries, oh my!
By
Erik, at 10:07 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home