CHC leads 1-0
Last night the Cubs and Sox met for the first of six games this season. The news coming up to game time and in the 1st inning was all about Carlos Zambrano and his temper tantrum last season at The Cell, which nearly led to him being kicked off the team. But a different Zambrano emerged, despite another bad first inning. He gave up three in that first inning before calming down and staying as cool as the other side of the pillow for most of the game. Through 8 innings, Zambrano allowed only those three runs.
The blow up actually came from the other side as Ozzie Guillen was ejected arguing a fair or foul call on home plate. These disputes are rare because such an instance was very rare but nonetheless the umpire called Alexei Ramirez out after Geovany Soto tagged him with the ball which the ump thought he had picked up off home plate. The Sox claimed the ball had rolled off and Soto grabbed it in foul territory. Guillen, in his frustration, kicked Soto's catcher's mask towards his own dugout, prompting eruptions of laughter and hysteria from the Cubs dugout. Even Soto, standing near Guillen behind home plate, pointed and laughed along with his teammates.
The three keys to winning the game for the Cubs were Zambrano, Starlin Castro, and Carlos Pena. Castro knocked in the first three runs with a two-RBI single and a solo homer, and Pena gave the Cubs the lead for good with a big three-run homer to the right field bleachers off a stumbling Gavin Floyd.
Carlos Marmol, who puts the fire in fireman, aka closer, gave up singles to catcher A.J. Pierzynski and center fielder Alex Rios just to give Cubs fans a headache before retiring Mark Teahen and left fielder Juan Pierre.
This win was huge in my opinion. It proved that the Cubs' improved competitive play against the Yankees wasn't a fluke, and that they can hang around with an American League team. Also, the current Chicago fad of hating on the Cubs takes a big hit with every win they get over the White Sox. It's as if the bandwagon shrinks, if even just a little.
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