Brewers 2-0
Cubs 0-2
POTG: 1B D Lee (HR, 2B)
Runner Up: none
Well. It’s just 2 games. If the Cubs were 20-15 and dropped two games to 20-17, no one would blink. It’s just a big deal because it’s the first two and there’s a lot of zeros to fill in. No need for anything crazy to go down
Yosh Kawano relieved of clubhouse job
Wha? That blog entry reads very odd, as if there’s a secret sinister reason a guy lost his job of 65 years. The SunTimes is a bit more matter of fact (if you ignore the last paragraph of them going off the rails); Yosh is hurting too much to do his job, so they’re giving it to someone else and they’re still going to pay him and there’s going to be Yosh Kawano day at some point. It’s sad he can’t keep doing what he wants to be doing, but he made a long way and there’s worse things to do at 87.
Anyway, it sounds like this was something worked out over the spring and had been in the plans for a while, but the club just kept it quiet until now. There was some thought going on, it wasn’t some snap decision.
Soriano to move back atop lineup
…
Was Lee surprised by the move?
“I guess I shouldn’t be,” Lee said, chuckling. “Lou likes to shuffle things around.”
– Cubs.com
So the story we’re supposed to go with is Lou thought about doing this at the end of Spring Training (presumably not the same day he announced Soriano to 2), kept it in the back of his head, kept it there while telling everyone the lineup wasn’t going to change, and then decided two games was enough to rest Soriano’s hamstrings.
Huh.
Everyone on the team asked is neither surprised nor convinced there won’t be many more days like this during the season. Me, I’m not convinced the lineup won’t go up tomorrow with Soriano batting second again, Lou having flipped again overnight. Pinella’s running short of time he wants to be spending managing, and he’s equally short of patience. Even before the lineup switch, Lou showed during the game that he wasn’t going to wait around for Lilly to get it better on the mound – he couldn’t pulled in the 4th for Lieber if things got worse. That’s a bit more aggressive than you’d expect on the second day of the season.
On the other hand, I was expecting the Cubs to be much more aggressive on the bases against Kendall. It was nice they Fontenot took a base, but they seemed to passing up chances with Fukudome (who ended up in a DP instead), Theriot (twice) and Pie. Kendall’s played very well this series, but I still want him tested at every chance.
Everyone out of the bullpen looked bad. The fielding was bad. The hitting’s been disappointing. The Brewers have clearly been the better team in each game so far.
But it’s only two games.