(h/t SK)

Carlos Marmol by batter in 2010:

April 8: groundout, single, strikeout (swinging), walk, flyout, strikout (looking)

April 10: strikeout (swinging), strikeout (swinging), strikeout (swinging)

April 12: walk, strikeout (swinging), HBP, lineout double play

April 14: strikeout (swinging), strikeout (swinging), strikeout (swinging)

Filthy.

Stop asking Randy Wells whether he is going to suck this year:

"I just don't get people talking about the sophomore slump," he said. "You know when they should talk about the sophomore slump? When you're in the third year, after you have your sophomore slump. …

"How are you going to tell me I'll have a sophomore slump when the season hasn't even started yet? I don't get it. It's stupid. There's no such thing as a sophomore slump."

With that, Randy Wells sets the world record for saying "sophomore slump" in a 68-word window.

Congratulations, Randy!

Let's have an off-day caption writing contest.

Scene: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom yesterday.

Enter your caption in the comments. Winner gets a free three-day subscription to Wrigleyville23 - or a WV23 T-shirt, whichever you prefer.

(Residents of Hawaii, Alaska and Guam not eligible because we hate you people.)

(Photo via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)

Wrigleyville23 has exclusively obtained a transcript of the team psychiatrist's first meeting with the Chicago Cubs:

We must begin by asking it... "What is losing?"

Losing is a disease...

(click "read more" for full article)

Some insight from the Cubs third baseman:

"Every time you hit a three-run bomb, that's three runs on one swing," Ramirez said. "Then Baker followed with a two-run homer. That's why you need power people in the lineup sometimes."

Later, Ramirez explained that "every time you get a double play, that's two outs on one swing."

After starting the season with a 2-4 road trip the Cubs will be returning to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field to host division rivals the Milwaukee Brewers for their home opener.

Last season the Cubs faced the Colorado Rockies in the home debut.  Rockies pitchers and former Cubs, Jason Marquis and Glendon Rusch, were booed lustily by Cubs fans when they were introduced in pre-game ceremonies.

I realize that fans pay for their ticket and are entitled to boo but in the case of Marquis and especially Rusch one would wonder why fans would bother.

After the curious fan behavior that occurred last year,  which former Cubs players now with the Brewers can we expect to receive the same treatment this season?

(click "read more" for full article)

We give Phil Rogers plenty of deserved grief around here, but he did get one thing right this week. From his Morning Phil the day after Zambrano's stinker on Opening Day:

Win or lose, joyous celebration or humiliating ride back to the hotel, the first game of 162 has almost no bearing on whether a team eventually will prove itself to be worthy of playing in October. Not sure how Carlos Zambrano handles the disappointment of his four-out, eight-run debacle. but history says he probably did nothing with lasting damage.

A quick study of the last five years shows that the teams that reached the playoffs were 20-20 on Opening Day. That would make it among the least telling days of the year.

(click "read more" for full article)

How far has the environment at Wrigley Field strayed from the "Friendly Confines"?

Consider this quote from Marlon Byrd after his second home run in three games:

"It's huge," Byrd said. "It's hard starting off slow. I'm trying to get some hits out of the way before we get to Chicago -- before I get booed."

Got that? Byrd - by all accounts an affable guy and all-around good teammate - hasn't set foot in Wrigley Field as a Chicago Cub and he's pondering getting booed by the home fans.

It's quite the environment they've created there at Wrigley.

Jeff Samardzija has a Web site, one that is goofy as you would expect of a guy with long hair from northern Indiana.

The about section talks about Samardzija playing pickup games outside at all hours as part of an idyllic childhood in the Heartland. It concludes with this tidbit:

In the recent past we watched Jeff on the football and baseball field at the University of Notre Dame. Today we are fortunate to watch him grow into a professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs. With the exception of some new great friends and fans, it's still the same Jeff Samardzija that you could have found in the backyards of Valparaiso, Indiana back in the day.

Jeff had an ERA of 108.00 in his back yard back in the day? Yikes.