Three's a Charm, but not Charming

The Chicago Cubs have fifty-eight players in camp. Most have played in at least one game this spring. A couple, such as Cliff Floyd and Michael Wuertz, have been sidelined with injuries.

As we near the tenth of March, it may be time to start thinking about paring down the roster, huh Lou?

The bats were broken out today against starter Joe Kennedy, who gave up five runs on eight hits in just two innings. When it was all over, the Cubs barely walked away with a 9 to 8 win over the Oakland A’s.

The Cubs marked up four of the five pitchers the A’s threw at them today. The lone exception was non-roster Connor Robertson. The 25-year-old came into the game with one out and two on and struck out the two men he faced. Ahhh, spring. We may never here of him again, but he will remember today.

The sorry pitching news for the Cubs include Carlos Zambrano who was the master of threes. He gave up three hits, three walks and struck out three in three innings. The good news was that he only allowed two runs.

Scott Eyre could not finish the inning he started, allowing two runs on three hits. Non-roster Randy Wells, a Belleville, Illinois native, came in with the bases loaded and got the strikeout to retire the side. Ahhh, spring.

Super prospect Jeff Samardzija gave up his first run of the spring, but otherwise looked good during his two innings.

The worst inning for the Cubs was the seventh, when Roberto Novoa picked up where he left off last year by getting one strikeout while loading the bases. Then rookie Clay Rapada (remember the cuts I mentioned earlier) allowed them to score before ending the inning.

Alfonzo Soriano led things off with his first home run in a Cub uniform. That started a four run outburst as Matt Murton doubled and Aramis Ramirez tripled and Michael Barrett doubled during the inning. Jacque Jones drove in three runs with three singles and scored another.

The best news of the day was that there were no errors in the field. That is something we want to see continue.

Overall, it was a good day, but we hope the pitching picks up soon. Wade Miller will start tomorrow and Kerry Wood will get some mound time against Greg Maddux and the Padres in Peoria, Arizona. If the northsiders can gather one more in, they can be ahead of the league.