Cubs manager Don Baylor delivered the bad news face-to-face, telling Todd Hundley he would not be his Opening Day catcher.
How did Hundley react?
“Like he should,” Baylor said. “Like I [would] if I was a player.”
In other words, Hundley was angry.
“Yeah, I told Don, `I’m not going to lie to you and tell you I’m not upset,'” Hundley said. “`I want to play Opening Day, but I understand where you’re coming from and I trust you as a manager. You’re the boss.’
“He said, `It’s nothing personal.'”
Baylor opted to start Joe Girardi for two reasons. Girardi had worked smoothly with starter Jon Lieber and he entered the game 3-for-8 against Montreal’s Javier Vazquez. Hundley was 0-for-7 against him.
“Sometimes you look at matchups,” Baylor said, “and both things pointed to Joe. The first day of the season, you do not need a controversy and this wasn’t controversial at all. I have two catchers and I have the option to use either one.”
Hundley, who struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the game, said he understood.
“I told [Baylor] I thought I worked well with Liebs in spring training, but the final decision comes down to Don,” he said. “There’s no rocking the boat. I trust him.”
Rough start: Lieber lived up to his reputation Monday for throwing strikes. Unfortunately, the Expos were ready for him.
Peter Bergeron singled on Lieber’s first pitch and Jose Vidro hammered his next one into the right-field bleachers. After two pitches, the Cubs trailed 2-0.
“I didn’t even get a chance to unwind there,” Lieber said. “I can’t remember something like that happening in my career.”
Closer to ready: Baylor said the decision to place reliever Tom Gordon on the disabled list was easy.
“In his own mind, he wasn’t ready to do it,” Baylor said. “He pretty much made the decision himself. Once he’s comfortable with his breaking ball, he’ll say he’s ready.”
That is likely to be this weekend when Gordon is eligible to come off the disabled list for Saturday’s game at Philadelphia.
In the meantime, Baylor said he would select a closer based on matchups.
“It’s going to go by who’s coming up in the ninth inning,” he said.
Numbers game: Of the 30 players on the Cubs’ season-opening roster last season, including five on the disabled list, only 11 are back with the team.
Three players changed their uniform numbers. Courtney Duncan now wears No. 55; Gary Matthews Jr. switched from No. 51 to No. 19; and infielder Augie Ojeda dropped from No. 57 to No. 1.
New Cubs right-hander Manny Aybar will don No. 40.
Cub files: Ricky Gutierrez went 3-for-3 against Vazquez, improving his lifetime average to .769 (10-for-13) against him. . . . The Cubs fell to 69-55-2 all time on Opening Day. . . . With two steals of second base, Eric Young extended his consecutive steals streak to 30, a Cubs record.
You’re out: Montreal catcher Michael Barrett was ejected in the eighth inning after arguing a call by first-base umpire Al Clark. Barrett gestured in protest after Clark ruled Girardi had not gone around on a swing.
