Eight is enough

For seven innings, it was a pretty lousy game for the Cubs, but the middle relief kept them in the game (who could have foreseen that this would suddenly turn into one of the team's strengths after being a major hindrance for so long?) and the eighth was just awesome. In the car, I turned the radio on just as the Marlins were changing pitchers, so I heard Walker's walk, Ramirez's chopper (3-1), Barrett's K, Murton's single (3-3), and Jones' homer (6-3!) as well as the rest of the eighth and another smooth ninth for Dempster. Obviously you'd love to see the Cubs win every game 10-0, but you have to win games like this and in other years the Cubs might not have. I happen to think that this year's team is pretty resilient. We'll see.

Figures my tickets would be for a Dontrelle Willis game. I guess it's mildly exciting to see a game in which the Marlins' only two players of any note will be playing (if your manager is at worst the third-most famous player on your team, that's probably not a good sign - I'm looking at you, Nationals), but Willis scares me to death, mostly because the Cubs rarely hit him. At least I thought so until I looked up the stats, showing that Willis is 2-2 with a 4.64 ERA vs. the Cubs in the last three years, and the Cubs hit nearly .300 off him. In fact, the only NL teams against which Willis has done worse in that span are the Dodgers (1-3, 8.50) and Giants (0-3, 7.83). So maybe this is a good sign after all. Still, tonight's game is the kind that leaves you sorry you weren't there, and hoping it doesn't qualify as a near miss.

I have to go see Maddux pitch sometime this year. Hopefully in the next few weeks.

Rumors hold that the Cubs are looking into Tony Clark. You know, if the guy can't start for the Diamondbacks, maybe that should be kind of a warning sign.