What a night

How about that for a win? The pitching and defense played about as well as they could to keep the team in the ballgame, and the hitters stepped it up to put the game away.

And look at who did come through with the big hits: Ronny Cedeno, battling for a significant role and following two bases-loaded outs, fights a ball up the middle to expand the lead to 4-1. Then Felix Pie follows with a beautiful, line-drive home run into the rightfield bleachers. Kerry Wood, like Carlos Marmol the inning before, was both efficient and perfect.

Michael observed during the game that this game could really send a message because of the quality of opponent. So far the Cubs have done very well against third-tier teams: 8-1 against Pittsburgh and Houston. They couldn’t have proved much more than they did in those particular games. But tonight was a different sort of test, and the team displayed an all-around effort to earn the victory.

They’ll have to keep doing it, too: After the Mets, the Cubs take on the Rockies, Nationals, Brewers and Cardinals … with only Washington being a weak team. There are some good tests in there, and some good opportunities for this team to keep proving itself.

Today’s lineup

Johnson, LF
Pie, CF

Lee, 1B

Ramirez, 3B

Fukudome, RF

DeRosa, 2B

Cedeno, SS

Blanco, C

Lilly, LHP

Nelson Figueroa pitches for the Mets. Strong wind blowing out today.

Two to 10,000

In first place and at 9,998 all-time wins feels pretty good right now, even as early as it is.