thumping in the desert

*****Cubs Rant Alert, Cubs Rant Alert*****

Wow....what a way to start the 2005 season!! The Cubs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight 16-6 under that inexplicably closed roof tonight. Not just beat them...I mean the Cubs beat them like a baby seal! Just look at the stats below for the hitters as they belted out 16 runs on 23 hits!!! They even drilled two deep homeruns even though they didn't need them. Aramis Ramirez was on fire on the day he got a fat new contract extension with a homer and 4 RBIs. The best part of this opening game was the fear all spring long of the Cubs not getting enough offense now that Sosa and Alou are gone, and that they can't play small ball. And though obviously one game out of 162 means nothing, I am happy to see they didn't need Sosa and that they were up 10-2 before they even homered.

Chicago Cubs
Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
C Patterson CF 5 2 3 2 1 1 0 .600
T Walker 2B 4 2 3 1 0 0 0 .750
a-J Hairston Jr PH-2B 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
N Garciaparra SS 5 2 2 2 0 1 2 .400
N Perez SS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Ramirez 3B 4 4 3 4 1 0 1 .750
C Bartosh P 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000
T Wellemeyer P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Burnitz RF 6 1 3 0 0 3 2 .500
D Lee 1B 6 2 4 5 0 1 2 .667
T Hollandsworth LF 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 .250
J Dubois LF 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.000
M Barrett C 5 0 1 1 0 0 1 .200
C Zambrano P 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 .333
G Rusch P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-J Macias PH-3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Totals 49 16 23 15 2 8 13

BATTING
2B: C Zambrano (1, J Vazquez); A Ramirez (1, J Vazquez); D Lee 2 (2, B Halsey, J Vazquez)
HR: D Lee (1, 6th inning off G Aquino 2 on, 0 Out); A Ramirez (1, 7th inning off B Halsey 1 on, 2 Out)
RBI: N Garciaparra 2 (2), D Lee 5 (5), C Patterson 2 (2), A Ramirez 4 (4), T Walker (1), M Barrett (1)
2-out RBI: D Lee, T Walker, A Ramirez, C Patterson