A Rerun Worthy of Fred Berry

This all seems somehow familiar… the Cubs put up 16 on Opening Day and Carlos Zambrano doesn’t get five innings in.

Wow, sixteen runs. Hits from every spot in the lineup. Eight different Cubs drove in runs. Thirteen runs were manufactured along with Matt Murton’s three-run exclamation point.

So what were the keys? The leadoff man getting into scoring position. Nickel-and diming. Stringing together hits. Drawing seven walks. Taking advantage of extra outs. Dogpiling. And what on another day would be a game-saving catch by Murton.

With all that chaos and all that offense, it’s just one of those neat little quirks about baseball where Will Ohman can throw four pitches in the middle of the game out of 200+ and get the win.

To poke the bear a little, so to speak, the Cubs did leave nine men on base, but when you score 16 times it’s more like having some meat left on the carcass after Thanksgiving dinner.

Zambrano threw a lot of pitches and let a big lead trickle away, though when 45 runners reach base, all you can ask of a guy is to keep you in the game, which he did. Besides, Zambrano pitching seven or eight innings is more important in crunch time, and you know he’s going to be there. I’m more concerned about four pitchers combining for 10 walks in seven innings. When you’re not facing four pitchers who don’t have their best stuff, that’s going to cause trouble.

All in all, while between Opening Day and a presidential visit it was already a media circus, it sure was nice that the “new-look” Cub offense was the main attraction.