April 14th. (4-4)

I thought it would be fun to try and keep a running blog throughout the baseball season that follows the Cubs. I do it through my Facebook and Twitter status updates anyway. This is probably a better home for it.

Eight games in and the Cubs are at .500. Probably will be where they hover most of the year. So far, the bullpen has been as bad as I suspected, the starting pitching has been very solid (except for Opening Day when Zambrano threw batting practice to the Braves for an inning and third), and the hitting has been very 2009ish (see: awful).

Here's a quick catch up of the first 8 games of the season:
-The Cubs have had a lead in every game.
-Derrek Lee is already out with a bad thumb (no more squashing fontenot between innings!)
-Aramis is hitting under .150
-Caridad has been placed on the DL with a strained forearm, which in this case probably means he was so awful in his first two appearances that the Cubs would rather give him 2 weeks off than send him down and use up one of his options (if that's how options even work)
-Marmol has been throwing like a real closer. I'll admit I was scared to death in the 9th today when the Cubs were up one and Marmol had to face Hart, Braun, and Fielder. He proceeded to strike out the side.
-It is clear that Soriano is a lost cause. He seems to be healthy, but he has lost any capability to play the field. He'd be a great DH if he could still hit. If the rest of the team wasn't hitting under .200, his hitting woes would be more of an issue as well. Only 4 more years of this. Guh.
-Sean Marshall has been great out of the bullpen. And he's still very, very tall.
-Randy Wells has pitched very well. I was (and continue to be) a little hesitant in trusting his success so far in the majors. But he seems to be for real. Could be a very consistent and valuable #3-4 starter for years to come.
-Oh, and Milton Bradley has already flipped off some fans. That's always good news.
-What happened to Soto? He Jerome Waltoned us.
-As usual, Kosuke is our best hitter in April. Unfortunately May follows. And then all the other months.

The good news is the Cubs will probably really only have to compete with the Cardinals in the division. Despite spending about $50 million more on players (if that's what you want to call Alfonso), the Cardinals are clearly the better team. A lineup with Pujols, Holliday, and Ludwick is prettty good. And Wainwright and Carpenter is arguably the best 1-2 combination in the National League. But the race could be a lot closer as the year goes along if Carpenter cannot stay healthy, as he has rarely been able to do in recent years. If he goes down for a lengthy amount of time, or if any of their key players go down- I don't think the Cardinals are deep enough to get by. Ryan Franklin is destined to lose his job as closer. He's just not good. The Cubs also will have the ability to add some help if needed when the trade deadline comes, so that will be an advantage that most of the NL Central probably won't have this year.

The Brewers should finish 3rd. They have a pretty strong lineup led by Braun and Fielder. Being surrounded by Hart, Weeks, and McGehee is not too bad. Of course, they're still trotting out Jim Edmonds everyday too. The Brewers problem is they have no pitching. I mean, it's bad. Gallardo should have a good year and Wolf is average, but after that- yikes. Good luck with alllll that.

The Reds could be a very average team this year. And compared to recent years, that's an improvement. They also could use some pitching. I don't think you're a real contender when Aaron Harang is your ace. Bringing up Aroldis Chapman could help. But not enough.

The Pirates... well, they're the Pirates. I can't even name any of their starting pitchers. They have some good young hitters- McCutchen will probably be an all-star someday, Milledge is showing signs that he could finally live up to the hype and have a strong year, Garrett Jones is producing. They could be a pretty good 5th place team.

And there's the Astros. Bad. They haven't won yet. They're losing to St. Louis right now and if it holds up, they will be 0-8. But let's face it. They will get their first win of the year against the Cubs this weekend. But they are going to lose a lot of games this year and will probably have traded Carlos Lee and Roy Oswalt by the deadline. Berkman is in the final year of his contract, so we could see a completely different Astros team in 2011.

So, that's where we're at. I love baseball season.

-John Mark