Nice day at Wrigley…

Well my first day at Wrigley this year turned out to be a real pleasure! I planned ahead for both heat and cold and dressed in layers – and I brought a rain jacket just in case. As it turned out – it did rain, but we had fantastic seats in the terrace reserved section (Aisle 231/Row 14) just behind first base and so we were sheltered completely from the rain by the terrace above. We were sitting behind some Cardinal fans who remarked in the eighth (with 2 down and Dr. Tightpants in to relieve Rusch who received a well deserved standing ovation as he left) how much they remembered and appreciated Kyle Farnsworth a couple of weeks ago in Saint Louis when he threw far more balls than strikes and essentially lost both games for the Cubs in that first series. This time Farnsworth was the model of pitching efficiency, however, and he threw one pitch and retired the batter on a weak infield grounder, and the inning was over!

Northside Report Player of the Game…

I’ll admit - I was grumbling and complaining before the game about my belief that Glendon Rusch was likely going to get shelled and that the Cubs were probably not going to put up many runs against even a struggling Woody Williams – but again I was wrong, and again I was pleasantly surprised! Rusch pitched a great 1-2-3 first inning (although the blast by Renteria in the first gave me quite a fright), and the Cubs dropped 4 runs on Woody in the bottom half of the inning – what a great way to start! Glendon Rusch pitched fantastic – I can’t say enough about what an impressive game he pitched. For most of the game (and especially the first 4 innings) he stayed ahead of the hitters, and he held a potent Saint Louis offense to 1 run through 8 innings. For that fine performance, Glendon Rusch gets the Northside Report player of the game!

Great hustling Todd…

I also want to say that I appreciate the effort Todd Hollandsworth makes to hustle out to the outfield while he’s subbing for Sosa – He charged out to right field at the beginning of the game just like Sosa does every game. And while he doesn’t exactly look particularly graceful galloping out at full throttle, I appreciate the effort he’s putting into it. He also did an excellent job at the plate today by drawing two walks and jacking a 2-run homer off Williams in the third.

Year of the injury…

This is getting frustrating. Mark Prior has been on the DL for nearly two months (Achilles), Woody went down last week and has been placed on the DL (strained right triceps), Sosa has also just been placed on the DL (sprained ligament in his lower back), Grudzielanek has been out the entire season (Achilles), as has Remlinger (off-season shoulder surgery), Alex Gonzalez has joined the ranks of the infirm on the DL (broken wrist) – and now Kent Mercker has been placed on the 15 day DL with a lower back strain.

I can remember saying a number of times before the season started that the only thing that was going to possibly derail a Cubs pennant this year were injuries to key players. It is hard to believe that the Cubs are sitting so close to first place (at the writing of this post – Cincinnati jumped ahead of Houston 8-6 in the bottom of the eighth – a Houston loss would move the Cubs into a three-way tie for first with Houston and Cincinnati) with this many key components out! Nevertheless – I don’t know how long we can sustain this type of competitiveness without the absolute heart and soul of our lineup (Woody, Prior, and Sosa). Apparently the Astros are keeping close tabs on the injury situation in Chicago and they are hoping to capitalize on it and gain a lead in the division:

"Whenever a team can battle through injuries and problems and still stay close, when they get back and healthy, you know they're going to be a tough team," Lance Berkman said. "You hope to build an advantage when they're on the ropes from an injury standpoint but we really haven't been able to open much of a gap. It's certainly disconcerting when you have a team that doesn't even have some of their best players and they're still right there with you."

The good news is that Mike Remlinger rejoined the team on Saturday and is allegedly ready to go. Let’s hope he can display the same effectiveness out of the bullpen he had last year.