There’s a long way to go this season, but with the fast starts of St. Louis, Cincinnati and Milwaukee, it looks like this N.L. Central race may not be the runaway that all the “experts” were thinking.
Let’s face it; the Brewers simply hit the ball too well to be an afterthought, even if Ryan Braun does look like a more-athletic-but-just-as-woeful version of Adam Dunn out there in left.
Plus, that Reds pitching staff - and I’d never thought I’d say this - looks good. Edison (or is it Edinson; seriously, what is it; Edison or Edinson? Edinson? It’s Edinson? OK; Edinson) Volquez looked good last night and, teamed with Johnny Cuerto Cueto and (eventually) Homer Bailey, the Reds are suddenly scary. By the way, I’m still trying to figure out how the Rangers screwed up what was supposed to be the untouchable DVD staff of John Danks, Edi(n)son Volquez and Thomas Diamond, but whatever.
And the Cardinals? Well, what can you say. They got six shutout innings out of Brad Thompson. Seriously, I’m about to give up. Being a Cardinals fan must be like living in a fantasy land, where it rains Skittles, there are no lemon Starbursts, the cap for every 21-oz. pop you buy has a “buy-one-get-one-free” prize in it, all weekends are at least 3-days long and managers can pass out dead drunk at red lights and nobody cares. Man, I hate the Cardinals. (Side note: a recent poll during a Cubs telecast showed that Cubs fans think the Brewers are our biggest rivals now … B.S. … I don’t hate the Brewers. How can you hate the Brewers? They haven’t won diddly. Now the Cardinals on the other hand …)
Now, some thoughts on the Cubs’ opening week.
- Kosuke Fukudome. Two times, he’s stepped up the bat with 40,000 people chanting his name. The first time, he hit a game-tying 3-run homer on Opening Day. The second time, he hit a two-run double to score the go-ahead and eventual game-winning runs. So yeah, he’ll be a fan favorite for some time now.
- Whether you agree or disagree with Kerry Wood being made the closer, there’s no denying the buzz in the stadium when he enters the game. It’s real. He’s only made three saves so far, but already, I feel much more comfortable about things when he enters than I ever did with any closer we’ve had since one Randall Kirk Myers. (Think about it; Myers begot Turk Wendell, which begot the Terry Adams-Mel Rojas debacle, which gave birth to the Rod Beck Year, also known as “The Give Rob Laird’s Mother Seven Different Kinds of Heart Disease Year.” After that, it went back to Terry Adams for some strange reason, then *shutters* Rick Aguilera to Tom Gordon to Antonio Alfonseca to Joe Borowski to LaTroy Hawkins. Dempster restored order and actually converted something like 85 percent of his save chances over his three years, but, just like with Beck, it never felt comfortable.) It’s a small sample size, but I like Kerry Wood’s performance as closer so far. Note: I was going to link to a few stat pages of those closers, but really, you don’t want to see it. Trust me.
- Six games in, and I’m already completely tired of hearing about the 100-year thing. Even Rick Gano, an all-around good guy and tireless worker over at the AP, has resorted to referring to it in his write-ups. But I kind of expected that from the MSM. However, I didn’t expect to be blindsided by former long-suffering fans. The sophomoric clowns at Boston’s barstoolsports.com, in a bizarre “hey don’t forget you were like us four years ago” twist, are now calling Cubs fans “self-pitying, misery-wallowing buffoons who think going 100 years without a championship is some kind of a badge of honor.” Let’s get this straight, dude. We don’t think it’s cute. We don’t think it’s a badge of honor. We want to win just as badly as you do. Stop acting like a pretentious boob. Save that for the Yankees fans and Cardinals fans. Root for your team and we’ll root for ours. Other than that, shut up.
Glad that’s off my chest. Anyway, one week down, 25 to go.
