I Eat Crow for One Night: Cubs 11 Astros 6

Well this afternoon I ripped into Kosuke Fukudome and all his supporters for placing hope and trying to make it fact. Naturally Fukudome rips off a 4-5 night with a homer. Don't think that means Fukudome will all the sudden be awesome this year because he has done this before, but it was nice to have Fukudome help the offense tonight.

Everybody wanted the offense to step up today and they sure did. A four run first inning that was generated by singles and walks all over the place was followed by a Mike Fontenot 3-run homer in the second. Aramis hit two-run double in the fifth and Fukudome capped it off in the ninth. Overall everybody beside Ted and Milton got hits, but Milton drew three walks today and his approach at the plate continues to impress. He draws a 3-2 count almost every time and eventually his luck will turn around, probably this weekend.

Pitching wise there have been better starting efforts. Ted labored through five innings tonight giving up four homers. It was a classic April Ted start that I hope we don't see again. His control was good enough so that he didn't have men on base when those homers were flying, but Lou still looked peeved the whole time. David Patton came on and gave Hunter Pence a homer right away, but then he settled down and got the next six guys out. Marmol and Guzman both got through their innings with ease to end the game. No walks for the Cubs pitchers tonight which was an awesome thing to see.

Some Notes

After the homer I didn't like Patton, but after watching him work I think he has a future on this team. He just needs to keep throwing strikes and good things will happen. 

Angel Guzman same thing. Throw strikes and your stuff will give you success. Guzman has really encouraged me early and hopefully he can continue this success. 

Milton Bradley, like I said above is soooo close to breaking through with a hot streak. He walks a ton which is really good and he runs up some pitch counts. 

Derrek Lee got another RBI today, but he is still struggling at the plate and unlike Bradley I'm not seeing signs of success. 

Fukudome gets a break until his next bad game, and I refuse to get sucked into any early season hot streak. It happened last season and he fell off, this time around I will remember his fall off.

Finally Ted needs to be better this April and then continue that success into the other months instead of getting hot in the summer. That way he can have a 20 win season and challenge for the Cy Young.

Off day tomorrow and then Brewers this weekend, look for a series preview tomorrow.