What I liked about Week 1

[Houston_Cub_Fan]

1) The attitude. This team seems to have the mentality that they are in every game. Even in the loss they showed heart.

 

2) The outlook for April. Great chance now to be above .500 when we get Prior Wood and Miller back in May. Who would have thunk it? It's all we could reasonably ask for.

[jjgman21]

rebuilding a big lead after losing it in the openner, playing through some defensive lapses, and two come from behind wins, especially last night when the homeplate ump was hosing the Cubs on all four corners of the plate.

 

I think wins like those really help build confidence in a team. they get an attitude about them.

 

 

 

related to P/PA, I like the way that the two good starts against the Cubs by Aroyo and Carpenter, neither pitcher was able to pitch into the late innings because the Cubs used up so many pitches, even though they weren't getting on base.

[Garwilly]

 

6) Barrett is starting to run away from the pack of NL catchers. Ladies and Gents, your All star catcher...

 

 

unfortuately stupid fans will vote a guy like Piazza or LoDuca as the starter regardless of Barret's numbers

 

 

I hear ya, but don't underestimate the voting block of cubs fans. Last year Vance was able to pull Lee ahead of Pujols for 1B when Lee had better numbers. This year, Barrett is our man (in addition to Lee again of course...and Ramirez...and Cedeno at this rate)!

 

 

FIXED.

[Houston_Cub_Fan]

Doesn't the plate have five corners? :)

[snoodmonger]

rebuilding a big lead after losing it in the openner, playing through some defensive lapses, and two come from behind wins, especially last night when the homeplate ump was hosing the Cubs on all four corners of the plate.

 

I think wins like those really help build confidence in a team. they get an attitude about them.

 

 

 

related to P/PA, I like the way that the two good starts against the Cubs by Aroyo and Carpenter, neither pitcher was able to pitch into the late innings because the Cubs used up so many pitches, even though they weren't getting on base.

 

Although we have to assume Carp goes longer if it wasn't his second start of the season, 1 degree out, and he had back issues prior to the start.

[jjgman21]

rebuilding a big lead after losing it in the openner, playing through some defensive lapses, and two come from behind wins, especially last night when the homeplate ump was hosing the Cubs on all four corners of the plate.

 

I think wins like those really help build confidence in a team. they get an attitude about them.

 

 

 

related to P/PA, I like the way that the two good starts against the Cubs by Aroyo and Carpenter, neither pitcher was able to pitch into the late innings because the Cubs used up so many pitches, even though they weren't getting on base.

 

Although we have to assume Carp goes longer if it wasn't his second start of the season, 1 degree out, and he had back issues prior to the start.

 

they still had him at 97 pitches through 6 innings. regardless of weather or time of year, he didn't have more than an inning left in him. last year Carpenter was throwing complete games with as many pitches.

[bc2k]

I'm happy with the Cubs 4-1 record including a sweep of the Cards!

 

I had modest early goals for the Cubs, hoping to hover around .500 until Wood and Prior returned before making our run.

 

So far they have exceeded my expectations and I'm happy with the results at this point.

[ConstableRabbit]

I like how our pen doesn't blow leads and the offense hasn't rolled over and died when we were behind. Looking good!

[soccer10k]

 

6) Barrett is starting to run away from the pack of NL catchers. Ladies and Gents, your All star catcher...

 

 

unfortuately stupid fans will vote a guy like Piazza or LoDuca as the starter regardless of Barret's numbers

 

That's why we're going to have to rely on Vance to get Barrett as the starter.

[soccer10k]

I LOVE our bullpen. I've been complaining about that for years.

 

BTW I just saw another highlight of Barrett's Grand Slam and I stood up and put my hands in the air again.

 

So.... what's not to love ????

 

04/03 - 04/09        IP    H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PC  BB/9   K/9  HR/9  WHIP   ERA
Dempster            4.0    1    0    0    2    2    0    51  4.50  4.50  0.00  0.75  0.00
Eyre                2.7    1    1    0    2    3    0    50  6.75 10.13  0.00  1.13  0.00
Howry               3.3    2    0    0    0    5    0    48  0.00 13.50  0.00  0.60  0.00
Ohman               1.7    0    0    0    0    1    0    17  0.00  5.40  0.00  0.00  0.00
Williamson          3.3    3    2    1    3    5    0    63  8.10 13.50  0.00  1.80  2.70
Willliams           3.0    4    3    2    4    1    1    51 12.00  3.00  3.00  2.67  6.00
Wuertz              0.7    2    0    0    0    1    0    22  0.00 13.50  0.00  3.00  0.00

totals             18.7   13    6    3   11   18    1   302  5.30  8.68  0.48  1.29  1.45

 

well..... maybe the number of walks, eh?

 

Believe, me I love the bullpen. Most of the walks came in the first two games against the Reds. Obviously they are going to blow some games over the course of the year. But they look very good right now.

[bc2k]

 

3 ) Derick Lee is doing just what he did last year. Three home runs already! If there was any doubt he would repeat his exceptional year, they are quickly going away.

 

 

Who's Derick Lee?

[littleburr24]

10) We're 4-1 without Prior and Wood (and Miller). When they come back...and they WILL come back...watch out!

 

Who do we sacrifice for these three guys when they're ready to come back? We can't really tamper with the bullpen, I don't want to, anyway. And the bench is also seeming to be something we don't want to mess with.

[A New Era]

Through five games, the CUBS are seeing 3.73 P/PA (which is right on league average from last year) as opposed to their 3.61 from last year.

 

I loved seeing Isringhausen come in with zero control, and CUBS hitters actually taking pitches. Who are these guys ????

 

I hope you guys are being sarcastic. I've watched that inning again, and those pitches were SO FAR out, that only Corey Patterson would swing at them!! These weren't hard pitches to take. Nor would they require a good eye. I like what I saw too. But let's not start calling them all patient hitters after that ridiculous outing by Izzy.

[soccer10k]

Through five games, the CUBS are seeing 3.73 P/PA (which is right on league average from last year) as opposed to their 3.61 from last year.

 

I loved seeing Isringhausen come in with zero control, and CUBS hitters actually taking pitches. Who are these guys ????

 

I hope you guys are being sarcastic. I've watched that inning again, and those pitches were SO FAR out, that only Corey Patterson would swing at them!! These weren't hard pitches to take. Nor would they require a good eye. I like what I saw too. But let's not start calling them all patient hitters after that ridiculous outing by Izzy.

 

It was also Walker, Lee, and Ramirez that walked which makes it less surprising.

[wvcbxl]

I like the record, and the way it's been reached.

 

And I'm willing to look forward to nearly six months of more of the same. :wink:

[neely crenshaw]

I like the fact that we stayed with the lineup...i worry that will change if cedeno isn't hitting .400. although murton is not hitting and he is still in.

I like the better defense.

I like the bullpen. even williams was pretty nasty vs st.l

I like what pierre is doing. he may not hit 330 but he is..

taking a ton of pitches. in a a 4 at bat game he is seeing around 20 pitches! last year that could be 2 times through the order.every hitter in the lineup basically sees every pitch that a pitcher has by his 2nd at bat if not his first! pierre may not be the guy he once was, but he still works a pitcher like no one the cubs have had recently!

we will slump

we have been getting very clutch hitting from starters and the bench...it just is impossible to do that all year.

i worry we will overwork howry and eyre

it will be interesting to see how we react to not hitting. will we manufacture somethings. will we win 2-1 games. will we go to vets if we struggle. these have been our undoing the last 2 years.

BUT so far so good

[Soul]

I loved how week 1 unfolded.

 

The Sunday night game especially :)

 

Although it kind of irked me how Miller & Morgan kept talking about how we are scoring all our runs on HRs, as if that's a bad thing. They totally missed the point that last year, we didn't have any runners on base when we hit our homers. And so far this year, our homers are coming with a goodly number of extra runs attached to them. That's what OBP and timely hitting will do for you.

 

But again, that point was totally lost on the Sunday night crew. Disappointing---I expect that much from Morgan, but not Miller.