Hello everyone, 2ON2OUT is back from vacation, and don’t think I was slacking. No, I was busy taking in a game at historic Grayson Stadium. This week to get back in the swing of things and to mirror my feelings about the Cubs current 3–8 stretch, we’ll play Minus/Plus short and quick, straight to the players.

Long Game

I had to start out the column this week talking about the twenty two inning marathon in San Diego last Thursday. It was the longest game in Major League Baseball since Aug. 31, 1993 clocking in at six hours and sixteen minutes. It ended at 3:21 a.m. CST when pitcher and former Cub Glendon Rusch took a called third. I enjoyed the heck out of the Cubs this week, but I’d have to think twice about staying up until past 3 a.m. for a game in April.

Then again, how often do you get chance to see your leadoff man get 10 AB’s in one contest? Another reason why I love this game: No time. No clock. Just innings, top and bottom.

A Quick Note About Detroit

A trip around the second week of the season and nothing is particularly out of the ordinary. The biggest surprise remains the Tigers horrid start, and while still too early to mean much, the more concerning part for Detroit shouldn’t be that they’ve lost ten of their first twelve games, but how they’ve lost the games.

They are getting punished.

The well-publicized injuries in their bullpen have left them scrambling. A quick glance at their pen’s ERA and you’ll see ballooned figures like Zach Minor at 11.57 or ex-cub Francis Beltran at 7.36. What’s worse is that they put the D-Train on the DL yesterday. It’s too early to hit the panic button, but let’s just say I’m glad that 2–10 is not happening to the Cubbies.

First week in the books

The first official week of baseball is now complete and we learned, once again, why the experts get paid the big bucks. Let’s start in Detroit where the Tigers thanked all sportswriters near and far for picking them to win the World Series by starting the season 0–6. And then of course, ladies and gentleman, let me present to you your 2008 St. Louis Cardinals. Picked by many for fifth place in the lowly NL central. How about a 5–1 opening week with the best ERA in the league? What does the Tigers opening flop and the Redbirds strong start mean?

Nothing, of course.

This is baseball. 156 games to go.

Thoughts from opening night...

It's 7:21 p.m. CST on Sunday evening and after a long good night from my son, I've planted myself right in front of the television.

The Nationals just officially opened their spacious new park (something great about baseball being back in D.C. these last few years). Looks to be a packed house and Odalis Perez has just fanned Kelly Johnson.

The season is underway!

Less that one week to go until Zambrano fires the first pitch of 2008 and as promised, some final spring cleaning before the club breaks north to take on their newest and most legitimate rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers.

As expected…

Kerry Wood was named the closer yesterday. Despite waking up with a sore back last Wednesday, Woody has had a very nice Spring. Big #34 shook off his sore back to make three solid outings later in the week including back-to-back work this weekend.

Playing For a Known Winner

The Cubs are 6–12 in March and quite obviously, on their way to a World Series title.

Ok, so spring records don't mean that much. But I have been curious: why is it bothering Lou so much? Like so many of us sports nuts out there, when he says he doesn’t care that much about winning, he is lying. The truth is that it simply bugs the hell out him, even when it doesn’t matter. Lou can't just sit back and watch poor play.

"I wish we had more players like Micah Hoffpauir," he chides to the media.

Last week I mentioned that I thought the bullpen would be a strength for this team. Barring injuries (which have already plagued the Cubs’ position players this spring), it should be. In 2007, the Cubs bullpen was seventh in all of baseball with a 3.76 ERA. Looking at the cast of characters for 2008, there shouldn’t be much change and there is talent to move forward.

Let's take a closer look at who I like and who I don't like warming up along the left field box seats.

OK. Let's talk about the throwers.

Locks

Here are three pitchers that you may as well ink on paper as being in the starting five come opening day.

Carlos Zambrano. Put him down for 15 wins, minimum. As I’ve said before, he’ll have his up and downs and will jump up and down on the mound a time or two, but if you're a Cubs fan, you love that about him. Big Z is a consummate number one and took less than market value to stay with the team that he’s been with since he was 16 years old.

Spring Training is here. I know I mentioned last time that it seems a good five degrees warmer when the boys of Summer don their Spring uniforms, but its hard to feel that warmth with all this snow in Illinois.

But I digress...

The Cubbies have one field position up for grabs. I can’t remember the last time they had their starting 8 this set in stone and I actually liked it. Oh, they’ve had all eight positions set in the past, but they usually included names like Brant Brown, Manny Trillo, Jason Dubois and other forgettable MLB castoffs. This year, I look at the eight and I’m mostly pleased. Lets go around the horn to get this season started quick-like.

Leiber and the starters?

So we’re bringing back ol’ Liebs huh? Not what I was hoping for, but the big fella can throw strikes and everybody likes the guy. On paper, I have some concerns about the rotation heading into ’08. Z will be Z. He will continue his trend of being better at controlling his emotions, but it certainly will not last all season. He’ll have his allotted share of emotional lowlights. He’ll also likely win 15-20 games and continue to be one of the best starters in the National League. I have trouble believing that Lilly will be able to repeat his ’07 season despite his absolutely outstanding initial campaign with the Cubbies. He was 15-8 with a 3.83 ERA and a better than 3:1 K/BB ratio at 174/55.

Big Surpise

So Mark Prior went home after all. San Diego, like Chicago, wanted him to sign a one year plus club option deal, but Prior again refused. Unlike the Cubs brass, Padres GM Kevin Towers, a neighbor of Prior’s and fellow morning neighborhood jogger, removed the club option and decided to pay him a couple million for (possibly) two months of pitching. Towers isn’t taking a huge gamble. If Prior pitches poorly or simply doesn’t regain his control or velocity, then he’s out $2 million, which for a baseball club is the equivalent to the cost an iPod for your everyday fan.

Fukudome

I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I'm willing to learn. At 30 years old, Fukudome (pronounced "KOH-skay foo-koo-DOUGH-may") has been a star in the Japanese leagues since he was a teenager. He was selected as the youngest player ever on an Olympic baseball team, which won a silver medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. A scouting report from ArmChairGM.com says Fukudome has doubles power and will likely put up a high OBP in the Majors, but won't slug more than 15–20 HRs. He's a gold-glove caliber right fielder and has a strong arm.

I took my son to his first Cubs game this year. At 6 months of age some thought this to be inadvisable. Others thought it seemed like a fine idea assuming that we sat in the upper decks of Wrigley, known as the Mezzanine. And still others urged us not only to take him, but to sit in the bleachers. We had to consider it.