Neither side of “my kind of town” fared well on the opening day of the 2007 season. The northsiders were in Cincinnati being hamstrung by Reds starter Aaron Harang. The southsiders, on the other hand, got some offense in Chicago, but their pitching laid an egg as Jose Contreras allowed eight runs while only getting three Indians out.
Let’s talk about the Sox first. They cannot be too upset about the team’s performance. Contreras gave up five in the first inning. They came back with two in their half, thanks to newcomer Darin Erstad’s two run dinger. Then Contreras and Nick Masset gave up six more in the next two innings. The Sox punched back a little, scoring five runs on ten hits for the day, including a solo shot by Paul Konerko.
Some days, five runs on ten hits would be plenty. The Reds scored five runs on eight hits for their win. But for the Sox, it was not even close.
The Cubs were let down by an atypical poor performance from their ace, Carlos Zambrano. The man who is hoping to become the richest, or second richest, man on the team allowed two home runs and five walks. This is why he wanted to have the contract settled by opening day. He was just too nervous about how much he was going to earn!
Cub hitters were stymied with eight singles and six strikeouts, including three by left fielder Matt Murton. To add more insult, Derrick Lee was thrown out stealing second. At least they were error-free today.
The prediction of 162 wins this year goes down the tubes on day one. With opening day jitters under the belt, day two should be a whole new ballgame.
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