Two pitches. One swing.
A screaming line drive over the left-field wall by Alfonso Soriano … and so began the serious part of baseball’s first 201-game dress rehearsal.
Seldom has more been expected from a Cubs team than this one — a supposedly improved version of the one that won 97 games last season, albeit none in the postseason, the only time that now counts with its fan base.
But nothing happened on Opening Night to make the expectations of another stroll through the National League Central seem like Wrigleyville hallucinations.
To the contrary, the Cubs rolled a 4-2 victory over Houston off the assembly line, almost exactly as Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella drew it up. And to make things even a little sweeter, the rival St. Louis Cardinals — seemingly a contender with ace Chris Carpenter healthy — imploded in the ninth inning of their opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
If the rest of the season follows this script, boredom could be Piniella’s biggest problem in August and September, as it probably has been since arriving in Mesa, Ariz., almost two months ago.
“The way we drew it up before the ballgame is the way it played out,” Piniella said afterward, specifically referring to Carlos Zambrano and his bullpen. “It’s a good formula. Let’s hope it continues to work.”
Before Lyle Lovett sang the national anthem and four freshly returned from Iraq AH-64 D Apache Longbow helicopters did a flyover of Minute Maid Park, it had been a chilly afternoon, at least by Texas standards. Someone asked Piniella if he had brought the weather with him from Chicago.
“No,” Piniella said. “I came from New York.”
He was referring to that grab-for-cash the Cubs made over the weekend, traveling from Phoenix to Houston through New York to play the role of the Washington Generals in christening the new Yankee Stadium. It was an unnecessary extension of the spring training that wouldn’t end: 39 games of overkill that even included a side trip to Las Vegas against the White Sox.
You couldn’t blame players if they complained about the weekend trip to New York, especially given a schedule that doesn’t include a home game until April 13, after six games in Houston and Milwaukee. But these guys seem to understand that their mission is to win games while being professional.
Ryan Dempster had said “adrenaline kind of takes over” when the regular season arrives, and that seemed true in game No. 1.
The guys who had looked so sleepy in New York, losing to the Yankees 7-4 and 10-1 to end an exhibition schedule that began on Feb. 25, were sharp. The Cubs didn’t even need their 2, 3 and 4 hitters.
Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley and Derrek Lee were a combined 0-for-11. Fukudome was the only one of that group who seemed out of his element, however. Lee backed Houston left fielder Carlos Lee up to the wall in left-center to catch one blast and Bradley saw 24 pitches in his four at-bats.
Mike Fontenot’s three hits and homers by Soriano and Aramis Ramirez provided just enough run production, with Soriano’s 50th career leadoff blast quieting a sold-out crowd of 43,827.
“There aren’t many guys around who can do that,” Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot said. “You have to play nine innings, get 27 outs to win — everybody knows that stuff — but, man, what a kick it gives you.”
Zambrano took a shutout into the seventh inning, with his full collection of pitches, including a fastball that got better as he went deeper into the game. When he ran into trouble, Aaron Heilman and Neal Cotts got him out of it. They cleared the stage for Carlos Marmol and new closer Kevin Gregg.
The pitching moment of the evening came in the eighth, when Marmol left the powerful Lee standing at home plate with a shattered bat handle in his hands. Some outs are worth more than others.
In the end, the wins all count the same. But this one suggests that they will be plentiful between now and October. What else does anyone expect?
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progers@tribune.com
