Cubs have upper hand in early season rivalry

Thanks to Derek Lee's solo homerun (3rd of the year) in the 8th inning, the Cubs took the lead and held on to win 3-2 against the Cardinals Saturday afternoon at Wrigley. Michael Barret provided some pop also with a 2-run homer in the 7th. This was on a day where the club signed GM Jim Hendry to a contract extension while trying to work out career negotiations with Derek Lee. Carlos Zambrano pitched 6 innings, credited with 2 unearned runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 5 and received another no-decision in his second start of the season.

The Cubs received a good pitching performance from Greg Maddux yesterday. He picked up the win on a 5-1 victory. This team is on their way to sweeping St. Louis in their first series meeting. It's a joy for Cubs fans to see them get off to a good start, plus it's always better when they beat a division rival. Proving they can hang around and survive without their injured flame throwers is going to be tough. One improvement that's been made is adding speed to their offensive attack. Juan Pierre might turn out to be a good bargain made in the off-season. Plus Jacque Jones and Ronnie Cedeno are weapons to use in hit-and-runs and suicide squeeze plays.

I don't like the idea of having Todd Walker as the regular starter at second base. His lack of production and inability to reach base enough last season hurt the club. He stranded too many runners on base. Really when it comes down who deserves the starting job it should go to Neifi Perez. He also had failed to drive in runs at times, but being a consistent contributor while making contact on a regular basis wasn't a problem. He makes a decent no. 2 hitter in the lineup, providing a little speed when needed. I still think the outfield situation isn't in tune yet. The Cubs need another guy in right field to rotate playing time with Jones or even with Murton in left. Too much can't be expected of them.

Back to the deal with Hendry: Yeah, he has made a few smart moves in the past 3 years, acquiring Aramis Ramirez, Derek Lee, and Juan Pierre. The real issue here is, what took him so long to retrieve players like this? The organization wasn't paying Nomar much before they sent him to the Dodgers nor was Mark Prior receiving a whooping contract back then. So rewarding Hendry with a new 2-year contract expansion this soon in the season without producing upscale results is poor decision making. This is assuming the Cubs are already predetermined to win the division or clinch the playoffs. Club management better start using good judgment and not resort on the company buddy system to keep people around or else the organization will slip up again, heading back in the wrong direction.