Unfair Comparisons

Now that our new wonder-kid centerfielder is up with the big club, and since he's spent his entire minor league career being unfairly compared to our last wonder-kid centerfielder, I thought it would be appropriate to continue the unjust association. So let's see how the major league debuts of Corey and Pie match up. Corey made his debut on September 18th, 2000 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He would have likely been called up a few weeks earlier when rosters expanded on September 1st but the AA Jaxx were in the midst of the Southern League playoffs at the time. He did not start the game versus the Brewers, but did enter as a pinch-hitter for Sammy Sosa in the fourth inning. I assume it was an injury. Corey promptly flied out to center...let's just go ahead and guess it was on one of the first two or three pitches. It was a rather unceremonious debut as he ended up striking out in his next two at-bats and recording one lone putout in the field. Pie made his debut just two short days ago against the San Diego Padres of course, leading off and playing centerfield. He grounded out to second and flied to left in his first two at-bats, then got his first major league hit, extra-base hit and RBI in his third at-bat with a double in the fifth. He also made the defensive play of the game when he made a perfect throw to nail Russ Branyan at the plate in the tenth after a Marcus Giles single. The Cubs though blew the game in the 14th thanks to Will Ohman and some shoddy outfield defense. Game number two for Corey was his first start and it also came against the Brewers. He started in centerfield and batted third, Sosa must have been sitting with whatever injury took him out the day before. Patterson promptly committed an error in the first inning on a ball hit by Geoff Jenkins which ended up costing starter Ruben Quevedo two unearned runs. Patterson then popped out, struck out and flied out in his first three at-bats. Down 7-6 in the seventh though, he got his first hit, extra-base hit, run scored, RBI and home run with a game-tying blast. Woohoo!! But it was all for nought, the Cubs took an 8-7 lead going into the ninth, but Kyle Farnsworth and a Shane Andrews error conspired to blow the game for the Cubs. (Sidenote: This was Will Ohman's first debut game with the Cubs.) Game number two for Felix was last night versus the Braves. Leading off and playing centerfield once again, he began the game working a 3-0 count but eventually struck out. He tripled in his next at-bat and scored on a Mark Derosa grounder. He worked a walk in the seventh and came around to score on a Derrek Lee double. He ended up 1-4 on the day with two runs scored and a walk. Nothing worth noting on the defensive end and the Cubs lost 8-6 thanks to Scott Eyre and some shoddy infield defense. So to sum up their first two days: Corey: 1 for 8, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, 1 (costly) error Felix: 2 for 10, 1 3B, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, 1 awesome defensive play Cubs record in those 4 games: 0-4 I guess some things never change....