And awwwaaaayyy we go!

Don’t it feel good to see baseballs being thrown?  Yeah, the score didn’t favor the Cubs, but its only spring training.  By just looking at the score, you might not be too happy, but it wasn’t that bad.  The Cubs dropped their first spring training game of the season 9-2.  Eight of those runs were given up by guys that are not going to make the team.  New Cub Jason Marquis who gave up one run on three hits over two innings in his Cubs debut.
  "We’re working real hard on keeping my sinker down in the zone, gettingahead of hitters and eventually getting to two strikes and putting them
away," Marquis said. "I’ll take that every time — 20 pitches, two innings,
five, six ground balls."

Unfortunately, the Cubs bats were silent.  Alfonso Soriano, in his first at bat in a Cubs uniform, struck out.  Michael Barrett, Aramis Ramirez, Jacque Jones, Mark DeRosa, and Soriano all went 0-2.   The biggest loser of the day had to be  shortstop Ronnie Cedeno, fighting for a backup infielder job, was 0-3 with an

Lou Pinella  managing for the first time in a year in a half, didn’t feel great about the three errors the Cubs had (1 by Cedeno, 2  by back up third baseman Scott Moore)

"I don’t like throwing the ball around, even though it’s Spring
Training," Piniella said after the game. "From that standpoint, I’m not
pleased. We got our feet wet, and we’ll continue to work."

No beating around the bush with Lou.  He is letting the other guys know where he stands.  This is how Lou is dealing with things.  When Aramis Ramirez said that he didn’t run hard because he was playing hurt and Dusty said it was ok, Lou let it be known that if anyone was hurt, they would be seated and let someone from the bench play until that person got better.  You think Aramis got the message?

Lou added
"I’ve only been in this organization a few months, but I feel like
a Cub, I really do. I’m looking forward to a very successful season,
and it starts with Spring Training games."

"We have a lot of work to do here in the next 28, 30 ballgames, and
it’ll give me a chance to familiarize myself with the players so I can
utilize them the right way. At the same time, I can start the
evaluation process."

Sounds good Lou.

I thought there was also an interesting quote from Derek Lee (who got a broken bat single),

"Last year, things got away from us," Lee said. "This year, we have a
clean slate. Guys have dedicated themselves, guys are motivated and I
think you’ll see a different team."

What does that tell you about the managerial staff last year?  But as Lou says about last year,

"It has no bearing on what happens starting April 1, or actually,
starting today.  I look at the
present and the future, and I think that’s the best way to do it. The
past — what can you do but learn from it?"

Tomorrow Big Z, Carlos Zambrano takes the mound.