NewsIt's time: Cubs excited to start season
Piniella, Big Z, Bradley recall past openers on eve of '09
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
04/05/09 8:14 PM ET
HOUSTON -- They were still tacking the red, white and blue bunting onto the front of the upper deck at Minute Maid Park on Sunday when the Cubs took the field for one more workout before the franchise's 134th regular season begins."Here we are, and it starts for real tomorrow," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said on the eve of Monday's season opener against the Houston Astros. "We have to get some adrenaline going and get off to a good start."
This will be Piniella's third Opening Day with the Cubs, and his 22nd as a big league manager. And that doesn't include another 23 seasons as a player.
"They're still fun," Piniella said. "You still get up for them, you still get the goosebumps, you still get nervous. If you don't go through that, you don't belong in uniform."
Piniella's first big league opener was in 1969, with the Kansas City Royals, and he recalled being nervous and wondering if he belonged there. His first Opening Day as a manager was April 8, 1986, when he led the New York Yankees against the Royals, winning, 4-2.
"I remember getting a lot of goosebumps that day, especially with big George [Steinbrenner] watching," Piniella said.
Prior to Sunday's workout at Minute Maid, Piniella met with the players to deliver a message.
"Like I told our team, we have a little mark on our back," he said of the two-time National League Central champs. "Everybody is going to be shooting at us, so we have to be ready to play baseball, and I think we will."
Is there pressure to three-peat?
"Pressure is the least concern we have," he said.
The Cubs finalized their roster Sunday by naming Angel Guzman and Rule 5 pick David Patton to the bullpen, releasing Chad Gaudin and optioning Jeff Samardzija to Triple-A Iowa. Now, it's time to play ball. Carlos Zambrano will make his fifth Opening Day start, and the Cubs are 2-2 so far.
"My first Opening Day, I was a little pumped up and a little nervous," Zambrano said of his 2005 start against Arizona, which Chicago won, 16-6. "My second one [a 16-7 win over Cincinnati], I was not nervous, but too excited. Now, I'm a veteran, and I know I have to pitch good and pitch six, seven innings and give my team the chance to win the ballgame."
This will be Zambrano's first game against the Astros since he no-hit them last Sept. 14 at Miller Park in a game relocated because of a hurricane.
"It's a different year," Zambrano said. "Different lineup, also. It's over. I celebrated good [after the no-hitter]. It's a new ballgame, new season. Tomorrow will be different."
It will be different for Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley, the team's biggest free-agent acquisition this offseason.
"They introduce you, and you go out on the line and be with your team and see the other team and know they have the same anticipation," Bradley said. "It all starts from square one there."
He remembers his first big league Opening Day with the Montreal Expos in 2001. They played the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
"It was 25 degrees and freezing," Bradley said of the April 2 game, which the Expos won, 5-4, in 10 innings. "Guys [in the bleachers] didn't have on shirts and were talking about my mom and telling me I'd be back in Ottawa in a couple weeks. They weren't too far off back then. I let it get to me. I know now it'll be a different experience being a Cub."
The Cubs will play six games before Bradley gets to Wrigley for the home opener April 13, against Colorado. Hopefully, the snow that hit Chicago on Sunday night is gone by then. It seems as if it's been forever since they began workouts in Mesa, Ariz., on Feb. 13. The Cubs finished 18-18-2 in exhibition play. It was a long spring.
"I can endure anything," Piniella said when asked if Spring Training was too long. "I don't have to play. All I have to do is ride my bicycle and do a little work on the treadmill. The hardest thing for me was getting the proper balance as far as getting them ready and not over-using them."
They're ready. At least, Bradley is.
"I'm on a personal mission to win a championship," Bradley said. "The Cubs have been in a long drought. Hopefully, we can help each other."
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
