Cubs Lose Opener. Wrigley Still Fun.

From our slightly obstructed view, Terrace Reserved seats behind home plate, The Lovable Lou Sears and I, Son Ranto witnessed a ball game where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.  Yes, 30mph wind was wreaking havoc upon any fly ball hit, too bad the Cubs didn't hit too many balls in the air.  Yes.  Starlin Castro's 9th inning fly out would have been a walk off grand slam, or a bases clearing double 2 innings earlier, but the wind started blowing in, and it was an out.  Yes. If Darwin Barney had been playing second, or Valbuena would have tried to turn two instead of throwing home, the brewers wouldn't have scored 4 in the first.  But that's what happened, and these are all excuses as to why we lost the game yesterday. Excuses excuses excuses.

This is going to a season of excuses.  But I'd like to dig deeper.  Why did Starlin Castro try to hit a homerun when he knew the wind was blowing in?  I woulda settled for a single.  Why is Brent Lillibridge on the team at all?  Granted Barney's hurt and Javier Baez is not ready, but it would just be a few weeks, and we wouldn't have to watch Lilliput...the troll out there not fielding, or hitting!  He's batting .000.  His OBP?  .000.  The most exciting thing he's ever done for the Cubs was yesterday thrilling fielders choice.  Another excuse, and over heard in the stands..."Barney would have gotten to that ball"....You know who else would have?  Javier Baez, or Junior Lake.

Now here's the big mystery of the year.  Why can't our catcher catch the ball?  Beef Wellington's only been charged with one passed ball, but there have been numerous wild pitches and just straight up cross ups.  Other, better defensive catchers would have gotten to some of those wild pitches.  Sometimes.  Castillo just straight up misses the ball with the glove.  All I'm saying is, the whole battery looks shaky.

The boo birds were out for Carlos Marmol yesterday too.  And the vitriol I heard spewing from the fans around me is unprintable.  Here's my question?  Do you want him to do well or poorly?  Why boo the guy?  He's already having a bad time of it?  What if you were at work and having trouble getting something right, and everyone just came around telling you that you suck?  Wouldn't that make it infinitely harder to do your job?  I mean, Christ!  It's not like we're going to win the world series this year.  Let's just support these guys.  It's our team.  Team team team.  Are you on it or just some drunken nay sayers?

Speaking of drunken nay sayers.  The shadow unemployment in our society was well represented and explained yesterday, as on a Monday afternoon, unemployed alcoholics from all over the midwest showed up to watch the Cubbies lose this stinker of a ball game.  They were quite hilarious though.  And I look forward to recording these hilarious low lifes as the season goes on, and giving you out there who can't afford the 6$ to go to a game a window into how drunk Subs fans truly are.  It's gonna be ugly people.

Speaking of the podcast...listen to it here...  https://soundcloud.com/danny-rockett/son-ranto-home-opener.  There's a problem with our itunes feed right now...in the process of fixing it....

Well...Lou Sears and I will be on a rooftop tonight getting shit faced if you wanna look us up....email sonranto@gmail.com , and we can commiserate in our misery....

Excuses excuses excuses.....

Your First Place Chicago Cubs!!

While the hated St. Louis Bird Droppings languish in last place, the Cubs sit atop the NL Central!  Many that has a nice ring to it!  Our magic number is now 161.  And if we extrapolate the performances of the players yesterday, Anthony Rizzo will hit 162 home runs.  Brent Lillibridge will strike out 486 times.  And Carlos Marmol will almost lose every game for us.  But let's stay positive for a moment....

First of all.  A special thanks to Three Aces Bar on Taylor st.  and Benny the bartender for not judging me for drinking in the day time.  The lovable Lou Sears and I had a lovely afternoon drinking Left Handed Stout.  I also ate a delicious pulled pork sandwich, kale salad, and the best tomato soup ever for only 10$.  And yes.  That was a commercial.  The game seemed to zip by, as Samardzija just mowed em down.  9 strike outs, 2 hits, 0 runs, 8 innings.  Do we have a bonified ace now?  Lou Sears is convinced he's the second coming of Randy Johnson.  I still remain unconvinced until his fastball kills a bird.

Yeah...the Shark was great!  Let's hope this trend continues, and when the rest of the staff is healthy, we might actually make things interesting in the Central this year.  Like the Pirates last year.  Castro and Castillo had 2/3 of the Cubs 6 hits, which basically means that the rest of the team, besides Rizzo who homered didn't do anything.  Soriano struck out twice, and Lillibridge, that elf looking MoFo, was horrible.  3 Ks and an error.  We need our Dar Bar back and fast!  

OK.  Marmol.  WTF.  

He should not close a game ever.  It's over for him.  I'm sorry, but it just is.  Marmol was a great 8th inning guy.  But in the 9th.  He's a head case.  Why in the hell do pitchers treat the 9th inning with such a different energy?  Just go up there, execute each pitch, and get the guy out!  No matter what inning it is!  One pitch at a time.  Carlos Marmol is incapable of closing ballgames.  Period.  I have no idea if Fujikawa is any good.  All I know is, he got the save yesterday,and was pumped his fist when he got the fly ball to center to save the game.  So Dale.  Mr. Sveum.  Please.  Don't ever let Carlos Marmol pitch in the 9th inning.  Please.  Thank You.  

So who else sucked?  Lillibridge.  I actually think I hate him.  First of all, he's an ex White Sox.  Second of all.  He sucks.  and he looks like an elf.  Or a troll.  All I know is he's better off on Lucky Charms boxes and not playing second base.  I'd rather see Aaron Fucking Miles hitting weak scribblers to second than watch Brent "Magically delicious" Lillibridge play baseball.  Got it.   Dar Bar come back to us!!!

After the game, The lovable Lou Sears and I went over to the Billy Goat Tavern and met up with friends and did shots of Malort until we were either gonna sleep or fight.  Big thanks to our Bar Tender Jeff who kept me and the boys in line.  We capped off the night with an amazing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert at the beautiful Chicago Theater.  Seriously incredible show.  And the perfect end to what turned out to be the best opening day I've had in a looooonngggg time....

So what's next?  Edwin Jackson debuts for the North Siders against Wandy Rodriguez.  Wandy always seems to pitch the Cubbies tough, and we've seen a lot of him in a Houston uniform.  I actually wish he was on our team.  I'd rather have him than Scott Baker at this point. Anyhow, he's on the Pirates now, and we gotta figure out a way to beat him on Wednesday night.  I'm psyched to see what Edwin Jackson can do  for us.  We've got him for 4 years and 52 million.  So...he better not get injured, and he'd better win 80 games through 2017.  Got it?

Go Cubbies.

Let's Go 2013 Cubbies!

I'm just about to head down to Three Aces Bar on Taylor st. to watch our beloved Cubbies take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.  We better win this one, because it's one of our only chances to be in first place this year.....

There's a podcast, which i really don't remember recording with the loveable Lou Sears, because I drank too much Jesus Blood at Easter Dinner.  I'm actually scared to listen to the cast because i might end up going to AA instead of Three Aces.  Anyway...listen to it here.... http://sonranto.com/Sonranto/SonRanto_Cast/SonRanto_Cast.html

Today we got the Shark vs. AJ Burnette. The tattooed Burnette went 0-2 with a 7.36 era this spring, so that's pretty sweet on paper to face such a loser.  But last year he went 16-10 with a 3.51, which is pretty damned decent.  But hell, it's a new year, and we got our best pitcher going.  It's mullet vs. rocking tats...and I can barely contain my excitement!  Let's Tattoo Burnette!

Sucks that Dar Bar has a hole in his knee, so ladies and gentlemen, your opening day second baseman is Brent Lillibridge who has a leprachaun name.

Today's opening day lineup....

1.  DeJesus CF
2.  Castro SS
3. Rizzo 1B
4. Soriano LF
5. Schierholz RF
6. Castillo C
7. Valbuena 3B
8.  Lillibridge 2B
9. Samardzija P

Alright people.  I know this might be a tough year.  But let's cheer our asses off anyway.  In a year or two when we make a run at the Central you can say you were there when the team was in shambles.  This is any Cubs fan's chance to prove they're no fairweather fan!

Let's Go Cubbies!!