Aaron, it's alittle to soon to be talking fire sale and bringing rookies up after the first game. Come on let the guys play and get into the swing of things. Trust me I hate losing, but one game out of 162 does not mean anything, especially the first game of the season.

Neil,

I'm glad somebody other than me noticed the crappy fans in Cincinnati. I've lived here for almost 8 years now. Every year they talk about the "tradition" of opening day in Cincinnati, with the parade, the vets, etc. They make it out to be such a big deal and then the next day they they don't care. Not every one of course, there are a few diehards. But for the most part the whole "fan base" is made of paper. They go to opening day to say they've been there. Thats it. I was bored a couple of years ago on a weekend day exactly like today. Nothing to do so I thought I'd go down and take in a ballgame. Cubs weren't in town and were playing that night so I thought what the hell I'll buy a $5 day of game ticket and have a $6.50 beer and just enjoy a game without having to worry about who wins. The Reds were in 1st place about a month into the season. So I go there and 14,000 people show up. On a perfect Saturday afternoon at Major League Stadium with their team in first place and they can't even fill 1/2 the stadium. AND I got heckled for wearing a Cubs shirt. Classy.

Jeff, well said. I think the announcement was poor timing and that is the reason I have not posted anything on the site yet...and will not for a couple of days. After the off-season the Cubs just had this announcement could have waited one more day and let everyone from the team to Lou Piniella to the fans enjoy Opening Day....today should have been about baseball not dollars and cents.

I will have the recap up soon and I will tell everyone, the Reds fans really disappointed me today. They called it a sellout and the second largest crowd in the history of the park but there were tons of empty seats and most paid attention to their beer and conversations...not the ball game. That is the one that stayed past the 6th inning. It was a beautiful day and there was no reason for anyone to leave.

Is it just me, or has this whole sale of the team kind of put a dark cloud of uncertainty over the season. I feel like the announcement today kind of cheated the fans and the team out of truely enjoying today for what it is, baseball. This is a distraction, and I can only hope it does not take away from the focus of the season. Go Cubs.

It's funny watching you guys mail it in. RELAX, today sucked, but I have no doubts this team will get it going. I'm more concerned about the status of Carlos Zambrano with the sale of the team.

Aaron,

As bad as today was, Zambrano actually had better numbers than last year opening day. Cubs won that one 16-7 and we all know how the rest of the year went. If todays loss means we win 90 I'll take it. I really hope that you don't get ramped up like this for every loss. Don't get me wrong, your obviously a great fan and like me very enthusiastic, but we do have 161 games to go. Remember we went 5-1 to start the year last year including a sweep of the Cards, so its obvious that the season can change on a dime. I just think its a little early to talk about a fire sale. They started like crap in ST too until Lou had the "talk".

IF the Tribune Co. sale affects the signing of Zambrano then they have gotten one final screw of all the Cubs fans. Finally dishing out some money after 26 years of short changing the faithfull only to sell themselves the day before our ace signs a new contract. Although from all the different sources its hard to tell if Z's contract will be affected or not. The sale dosen't go through until the end of the season so how can a guy that dosen't even own the team affect the financials yet?

One final note. No matter how bad or good the Cubs do this year, we still have the best fans in all the world. Example. The City of Cincinnati has this big hoopla with a parade thats happend for something like 85 years or so. Its nice and all. but this is really the only day when they have more than a token fan base. If this year is like the previous 5, it will be the only day of the season they even come close to sellingout. I know it dosen;t mean much but hey, at least our fan base dosen't check out after opening day. As I was be heckled today at the game by some of the "one dayers", I asked about 10 of them how many more games they were coming to. I swear 5 of them said "None". And to top it all off the Mayor "threw" out the first pitch and it landed in the Reds dugout. Nice.

Starting pitching giving up walks and dongs in droves, no patience at the plate, no clutch hitting, arguing calls....yeah this team looks REALLY different! 161 to go!

Indeed, the talks with Zambrano are on hold indefinately until the smoke clears with the ownership exchange. It almost sounds like the Cubs won't be able to sign or extend contracts until the new owners are in place after the season.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070402cubsquestions,1,7888829.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

I tell you guys what....I wouldn't be surprised to see a firesale this year if we don't get it going early on this year. I was just browsing through other games...and I'll tell you what....the Cards, Astros, and Pirates don't scare me all that much, but it's the Brewers and Reds that really do. Sheets just pitched a complete game for the Brew Crew, and with their combo of youth and veterans there makes for a very scary team...same for Reds---young guys like Ross, Freel, Encarnacion, Phillips, Josh Hamilton, and mixing in veterans like Griffey, Harang, Arroyo....look what we have from a purely objective standpoint: Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Jones, and mix in one youngster, Murton, and Theriot. We have Zambrano...maybe Lilly, that you can count on, and a suspect bullpen b/c of Howry and Eyre being overused last year.

I'm telling you....it's not as good of a team as many people think. Consider this....The Brewers have Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, Braun, Jenkins, Hall, Hart, and Estrada---many of which played together in the minors----making it more of the proverbial "team" effort....Think about it for a second....most of the guys we have are playing for themselves---Zambrano, Lee, ARAM, Soriano---all make mega dollars. That's not conducive to a "team" environment----the Yankees know this all too well---problem is---Torre's always found a way to get them winning. Can Lou do the same with us? Can he get into Murton's ear after a 3 K afternoon and light him up like he did AROD, or is he going to become complacent like so many managing before him? My hope is that he lights the team up today for playing like SH*T and light a fire under these guys. It's like everyone was beat after Dunn's first home run---much like we were last year. I'm so tired of these damn lazy flyouts too--Jones, Izzy, etc....at least we can take one bright spot out of this game----our bullpen didn't give up anything, though I'm sure we all thought Cotts would give up something, and Wuertz continued his walking ways, which might make him this year's Novoa...who knows?

What I do know is after June 15th, or whatever it is timeline for trading FA's, we will see movement if we have a slow start, and if guys like Hoffpauir, Pie, Patterson, Fox, Veal, Gallagher, etc., have good starts, then I could see them making moves and bringing a few of them up.

But it's early...but not too early to clearly see we have problems. Ask me next week...if we haven't won by then, I'll hit the panic button, but for now, I'm just chalking it up to guys partying too much in Vegas---let's all hope that's all it was.

This game may not be good but let's not panic just yet. :) Opening day jitters are not uncommon, even for All-pros like Z.

what the hell is going on.....what happened to all our offensive firepower? so much for Theriot being the catalyst---two of the most unlikely strikeout victims---Theriot and Murton---have gone down and accounted for nearly all of our K's...I hope we figure it out, but this can't be a good sign----yeah, it's the first game, but this isn't good

Fortunately with this lineup the Cubs can dig themselves out of the hole. Show some patience at the plate and get it going.

I think he needs to quit thinking about the contract and start pitching.

we need to get Theriot in...I'm telling you guys----he's our spark plug...

hit by pitch...that should get the bullpen up and going...he's already at 76 pitches....what's with the sudden lack of control....I hope the other pitchers aren't like that. They've done great with control in the spring.

wow...Murton actually got on...in-frickin'-credible....too bad this time, it was not when we really needed it...at least he scored on that error...btw---Izzy swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded...remind you of anyone? Neifi, Hairston...take your pick...that's ridiculous. Oh, and also, I think we should always have someone else be the starter opening day, because Z has shown that he blows when it comes to starting the season....but who knows, maybe he holds them at bay the rest of the game

Good to see Rami husslin' to first base though..

Im waitin for Sweet Lou to blow, if the offence keeps up...heh heh..

Well we knew Dunn would be due for a homerun or two but now that means he's due for a couple of strikeouts.

Congrats to DeRosa for having the first hit of the Cubs 2007 campaign. My money is still on Murton for first home run.

Leadoff walks always bite you in the ass.

Ouch. The Reds always give us trouble. Settle down Carlos.

Let's get Zambrano clamed down.

And there's the National Anthem. He we go!!!

In regards to the sale of the Trib. I heard on ESPN radio that the Cubs can't spend any more money until Sam Zell signs off on new expenses. I hope that this guy realizes how much more valuable the Cubs are with Big Z under contract.

almost 10 minutes to go....I think I'm going to take an early lunch....for about 3 hrs---being that I'm in AZ and 2 hrs behind---works out well...too bad there's no cable in the office.

I'm thinking Soriano starts and ends the season with home runs...the last one, to win the World Series.....AHHHHHHHHHHHH....how great would that be---I had a dream about it last night.

anywho..........GO CUBS!!!

My concern is what kind of deals will the Trib. being willing to make at the trade deadline....I think this could be great for the Cubs however overall.

1 hour to go.

I can't wait to get this started.

A nagging concern in my mind, though...how or will the sale of the team affect Zambrano's extension?

only an hour in a half now. Man I can't wait.

Countdown is on, 3 hours, boo-yah!!!!! Cubs in '07.

And the Cubs are going to be out of the grasp of the Tribune Co., how cool is that? We'll finally win a World Series!