3/31/08 vs. Milwaukee; L 3-4; (0-1)

Are you kidding me? What an opening day! Other than the loss, this was a tremendous game. We had a pitcher's duel between Big Z and Ben Sheets. Can you believe they both came back after the rain delay? Neither one yielded a run all day. From a Cub perspective, good to see that kind of performance on day one from Zambrano.

Other than Kosuke, our offense was pathetic. Maybe we give credit where credit is due with Sheets' performance. Once we got to the bullpen, the general thought in our crew was we had the upper hand.

To start with, that sure seemed true. Carlos Marmol was dominant. Kerry Wood was not. The closer decision may not be over, but let's save that discussion for after we have seen more than one game.

So we go to the bottom of the ninth and the general feeling at Ale Emporium is...we won't get three runs. Then Fukudome happens! We were at the right spot in the lineup and Gagne had nothing. The place absolutely erupted when Kosuke hit the first Cub home run of the year. This man will make a lot of friends with the right field bleacher crew this year.

Side note on Gagne: One inning pitched, three hits, a walk, and three earned runs. Not a great pitching line. But oh yeah, he gets the win.

So we go extra innings. Why not? Rain delayed the start for 40 minutes. We had another stoppage in the third inning. May as well play extra innings. Unfortunately for Cub fans, the tenth inning wasn't a good one.

So what do Cub fans take out of this opening day? Some good; Zambrano's outing, Fukudome's debut, Marmol's performance. Some bad; Zambrano's injury?, Offense..or lack of, Kerry Wood.

So Opening Day is in the books. We weren't going 162-0 anyway.