Sun 04/30/2000
The Cubs won a mercy rule shortened 7 inning game 23-8 over the Phillies. The Cubs
pounded out 22 hits and were helped by 8 Phillies errors.
The Cubs won their first season opener since 1996 in grand fashion! An impressively
dominating game where the Cubs pounded out 22 hits in a 23-8 7 inning mercy-rule
thrashing of the Phillies. The Cubs had their best offensive game in recent memory
and the defense was solid for the first game of the year. Look out MetroWest
ABL, the Cubs are gearing up for a League Championship chase! This was actually
a close game until the sixth. The score was 6-4 after 5 and 11-8 after 6 and a half.
The Cubs put it away with 3 in the sixth and 9 in the seventh.
Tom Barnes started and pitched 4 strong innings giving up 1 earned run. Tom
only allowed 3 hits and they were all of the cheap variety. Andy Schultz pitched
1 and two thirds and with a little luck could have had a better line score.
Newcomer Earl Carpenter was brilliant in his short stint. Earl faced 4 Phillies
and struck them all out! That was some serious relief!
While the defense had some shaky moments, some great plays were made. Earl
Carpenter had a great game at short making several tough plays. He also helped
stifle a Phillie rally by backing up a play at third and gunning out a Phillie at
the plate! Another newbie, Tim Shaver had a solid game at second almost
turning a double play and making a nice catch on a ball in shallow right.
Offensively, there is no word to describe the Cubs performance. Awesome... The
Cubs did not score 23 runs combined in their first three games last year! All
twelve Cubs had a hit and at least 1 RBI or run scored. Eddie Murray had a
fantastic day going 4-5 with two doubles and 4 RBIs. Mark Grogan had perhaps
his best offensive day as a Cub reaching base in all 4 plate appearances and scoring
every time too! Mark had a booming triple to left center and a single. Chris
Greig caught and had a key 2 run triple with two outs in the first inning. Tom
Barnes and John Sudkin collected three hits a piece. Suds had a double and three
runs driven in. Tim Shaver drove in two with a two out bases loaded single in
the fifth. In his first game as a Cub Dennis Fontecchio scored and drove in a
pair and had a double. Dan Gould had a good day in the leadoff position going
2-5 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs.
Today was a blast Cubbies!! Now we 17 more regular season games to compete in!