Return of the Ted

I would love to talk about Ted Lilly. After all, it's my goal this season to see how many headlines I can force Theodore's name into. But sometimes, the Baseball Gods intervene and present you with a story so odd, so jarring, yet so fitting, that you have to give it precedence.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Cub fan.

Regardless of what baseball's most masochistic delusionists do to open the season, it's hard to outperform a Ted Lilly outing like this one. Lilly went 6 2/3 without giving up a run, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh. It was a drastic departure from the homer-happy performance that Lilly put up in Houston, probably due to his lack of run support on a dreary, the wind-is-blowing-in-and-I-dare-Glenallen Hill-to-try-to-drive-one-out-in-this-crap home opener.

[Side note: please, check out that Glenallen Hill video. On May 11, 2000, Hill became the only player to hit a pitched ball onto the roof of a building across the street from the left field wall of Wrigley Field. That's skill kids.]

Lilly was exceptional, giving us the kind of showing that we needed in the postseason [I stand by the decision to start Dempster, Zambrano, and Harden, but you have to wonder if our hottest big-game pitcher could've won us a game]. That was a mid-season form performance, which begs the question, how did Lilly and Soriano finally figure out studliness at the beginning of the season? Suddenly, never smiling and hopping have become in vogue on the North Side.

Speaking of Soriano, the Cubs lead-off aficionado went 2-for-4 with a [gasp!] walk and a run in another solid offensive performance. Soriano is doing everything we expect from him at the plate, sporting an OBP of .389 and limiting himself to seven strikeouts while coaxing four walks. While Soriano has never walked more than he's struck out in a season, if he can keep that ratio close to one, we're going to have a great top of the order. Now, if only the middle could get it together.

[Yet another side note: just to put Soriano's career performance in perspective, Soriano walked 67 times in 2006, his highest single season total. He struck out 160 times that season, which was also a career high. Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn only struck out more than he walked once - 1982, his rookie year. Gwynn's career numbers include a staggering 790 walks and only 434 strikeouts, including only one three-strike out game in his career. Until Soriano scratches those numbers, I'm not willing to dub him as "disciplined," but he's certainly trying this year.]

The middle of the order, hampered by the loss of Aramis Ramirez, Milton Bradley and Geovany Soto, was a makeshift creation brought to you by Lou Piniella. Lou's scramble proved affective, as Lee finally broke out of his slump with a 2-for-3 performance that also included two walks and an RBI. Fukudome continued to erase or memories of the screwdriver maneuver with a 1-for-2 performance that included an RBI and three walks [yes, Fukudome almost eclipsed Soriano's seasaon walk total in one game].

Outside of Lilly, Lee's performance was the most crucial. While Hoffpauir can certainly hit with the best of them, Lee brings a defensive presence to the team that Hoffpauir never will. Why do you think Ramirez has turned into a Gold Glove caliber third baseman? Yeah, he's made remarkable strides at third, but he's also throwing to Lee. The same goes for Theriot, the pitching staff, and whoever we have plugged in at second. If Lee's hitting, Lou's going to rest a bit easier at night knowing that spot in the order is solidified.

While on the subject of Lee, there's something else I want to address. Derrek Lee will never have another 2005 season. That was a remarkable year, and it set the bar a bit high. Still, we need an improvement in his power numbers. By that do I mean home runs? Not necessarily. Lee is at his best when he's driving the ball, and if that means doubles into the gaps, I'll be thrilled.

We need Lee's RBI totals to jump, as well as his average and OBP, especially when we have so many guys getting on base ahead of him. Lee's high double play total from last season was due in large part to having so many baserunners on before he hit. So Lee driving the ball into the outfield is a win-win: more RBIs, fewer double plays. Hopefully this is a positive sign.

Still, there was one awfully distressing aspect of the game: we left 26 runners on base. While you can attribute this to the loss of our thumpers, it's still a gaudy number. We're not going to get outings like this every game, so we need to capitalize on having that many baserunners. Yes, the wind was playing games with the ball, and yes, Ubaldo Jimenez isn't a bottom of the barrel starter, but these are the kind of numbers that lose you games.

If you strand that many runners, you're not going to win in the postseason, if you even make it there. After all, Soriano can't bail you out if he's on base.