Once again haunting Ho Ho Kam park in preparation for the 2009 season. Full squad workouts began at their Mesa, Arizona facility  on the 20th with only one notable name missing, that being their pirouetting, non-righty hitting, early season mania-inducing only to be disappointed/confused at WHAT EXACTLY IS HE SWINGING AT?! right center fielder Kosuke Fukudome.

But more on him later.

GM Jim Hendry spent the majority of the early off-season dodging rumors(Peavy…Peavy…Peavy) and courting the switch hitting, off-field headline producing Milton Bradley before kicking it into high gear on last day of 2008 by trading Mark Derosa to the Cleveland Indians for three pitching prospects. Trading fan favorite Derosa proved unpopular and left many fans feeling validated in their belief that Hendry is in fact a donut hoarding idiot(why it’s always donuts I don’t understand). He followed that move up by jettisoning:

An idiot(Cedeno to Seattle along with Garret Olsen for former Met disappointment Aaron Heilman)

A malcontent(Jason Marquis and his drain of a salary to Colorado for the Lovely Luis Viscaino, his 5+ era, propensity for drunk driving, and…being a malcontent)

The next Lou Brock?(more likely Corey Patterson Felix Pie and his inabiltiy to hit major league pitching to Baltimore for Heilman bait Garret Olsen and RHP Henry Williamson)

And another idiot(Rich Hill also to Baltimore for a player to be named later determined by his effectiveness…which means that player will most likely be hitting off of a tee and have to be in the house by dark.)

So what have we learned about Hendry this offseason?

*That apparently he considers Baltimore to be his own personal waste dump.

*That he coveted Bradley enough to give him a 3yr/30 million dollar contract(although the third year is dependent upon games played.)

*That Gabor (Paul) Bako must have seen him do something terrible because he is back in camp at the bargain? price of 725K.

*That if you can jump over cars then you can play for the Cubs. No matter how mediocre you truly are.Gathright Jumping Car.

He is projected to cover the quota of bench players being tagged out at second following a walk now that Cedeno is gone.

*He also signed some guys to Minor League deals like So taguchi, Mike Stanton..blah, blah

Im not going to touch on the Kerry Wood subject in this post. But yea, he’s gone too. To Cleveland.

In an effort to shorten what is already proving to be a tedious and long post here is what you have to look forward to in upcoming entries:

*Zambrano needs Lasik–Dempster jealous of His “Sweet Ass Looking” eyepatch.

*Johnson doesn’t think he’s better than Fukudome. His beard reportedly does.

*Short white guy or short white guy, who’s on second?

*The Bullpen/Bench , which is more boring?

*I love Geo Soto(Thats it, no lame joke.)

Spring training play begins Wednesday February 25th at Ho Ho Kam with Jeff ” The Shark” Samardzija starting against the Dodgers.(yea…F those guys), followed on Thursday and Friday by starts from Sean Marshall and Ted F’in Lilly.

Notes:

WBC- Lilly(USA), Fukudome(JAPAN), and Soto(PUERTO RICO) are the only Cubs still committed to play for their country in this years classic.

TV- For a complete listing of Spring training Games on television visit either www.cubs.com or you can link to this post from their message board(kindly provided by one of their posters)– http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-cubs&tid=351492

Fuku- I told you I would get back to him. In exhibition play he has hit a two run triple as well as a grand slam against Nippen league team opponents. In how many at bats I don’t know, but I’m hoping it is two.

Interviews/Batting practice- Here is a link to Spring Training Interviews with Marshall, Fuld, and Cotts provided by mouthpiece sports: http://www.mouthpiecesports.com/blog/tag/Chicago-Cubs/

And here are links to BP from spring training:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW3bRyPq0q4&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_b5BcH_ww&feature=channel_page

Thats it for my first post of 2009. I’ll be updating regularly with news, rumors, transactions, winning series recaps, losing series excuses and in general lousy humor and shoddy reporting. As I learn how to use this more I am hoping to be able to make it easier to follow links.

Sweetlou

On Wednesday night, the game was all about Ted Lilly who tossed eight innings and only gave up one run. Lilly was awesome down in St. Louis and he improved his record to 14-9.

Kerry Wood had some trouble in the ninth inning as he gave up a two-run home run to Ryan Ludwick but then he retired the next batter to secure the save and the cubs victory. Wood needs to have some 1-2-3 innings out there to take off all this pressure!

At the plate for the cubs, Alfonso Soriano, Felix Pie, and Aramis Ramirez all had one rbi each. The other run for the Cubs came via a Felipe Lopez error in the second inning. The Cubs scored all four of their runs in the second inning and then held on for the victory.

The Cubs and Cardinals play one more game on Thursday night. Hopefully the Cubs can win again and win this series down in St. Louis.

Cubs Blogging

Marquis only lasted five innings as he gave up ten hits and five runs.  Kevin Hart then came into the game and gave up four hits and three more runs.  In relief of Hart, Sean Marshall gave up a run and then Jon Leiber also gave up a run.  Just a terrible performance by all the Cubs pitchers.

Derrek Lee did connect for his eighth home run of the season in the game.  Too bad it was a solo shot.  Mike Fonenot led the Cubs with three RBI has a he had a bases loaded double in the seventh inning.  Reed Johnson, Felix Pie, and Marquis all had one RBI each for the Cubbies.

The Cubs will try to battle back and pick up a win on Wednesday night as they battle the Brewers once again from Wrigley Field Come back to this Cubs Blog to check out the game recap after the game is over!

Cubs Blog

Kevin Hart took the loss for the Cubs as he pitched the eigth inning.  Starting pitcher Jason Marquis pitched ok as he went seven innings and allowed eight hits but only one run.  Marquis should have seen a better result then a no-decision but sometimes that is just how it goes.

Felix Pie and Mike Fontenot both had one RBI each at the plate.  Pie went 2-3 and had half the Cubs hits who could only mange four hits the entire game.

Now the Cubs will fly to Washington D.C. to start a weekend series with the Washington Nationals.

Cubs Blog

Aramis Ramirez hit his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning off John Maine.  It was a two run shot that put the Cubs up 2-1.  Felix Pie hit his first home run of the year in the eigth inning off Jorge Sosa giving him his fifth RBI of the season.  Ronny Cedeno also picked up a pair of RBIs giving him eight for the year.

Carlos Zambrano opened the game up for the Chicago Cubs pitching for seven innings and only allowed five hits and one run moving his record for the season up to 3-1.   Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood came in to pitch the last 2 innings and did not allow one hit.

The Chicago Cubs will take on the New York Mets one more time tonight at home to see if they can keep their winning streak going.

Cubs Blog