TCR: No Good Will Come of This

King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Cubnut on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:24pm

As noted here and everywhere else yesterday, Lou Piniella has decided to give Carlos Zambrano the Opening Day assignment at Houston. It will be the fifth time Zambrano has had the honor; the Cubs have gone 2-2 in Z's previous Opening Day outings.

Fergie Jenkins started seven openers for the Cubs, while Rick Sutcliffe started five, and Rick Reuschel, four. The real fun in looking over this list at Baseball-Reference.com is noting which Cub pitchers got to go in Game #1 once, but never again. Here are the last ten such Cub pitchers:

 

Year
Pitcher
Opponent
Final Score
 1999     Steve Trachsel  Houston  4-2 (L)
 1998  Kevin Tapani  Florida 11-6 (L)
 1997 Terry Mulholland     Florida  4-2 (L)
 1996 Jamie Navarro  San Diego  5-4 (W)
 1995 Jim Bullinger  Cincinnati       7-1 (W)
 1992 Greg Maddux  Phillies  4-3 (W)
 1991 Danny Jackson  Cardinals  4-1 (L)
 1990 Mike Bielecki  Phillies  2-1 (W)
 1984 Dick Ruthven  Giants  5-3 (W)
 1982 Doug Bird  Reds  3-2 (W)

It's interesting to me that Maddux only got the nod one time and that Jim Bullinger ever got to start an opener. Looking back at the strike-shortened '95 season, however, Bullinger wasn't bad (12-8, 99 ERA+), and God knows he didn't cost the Cubs anywhere near as much as Danny Jackson did.

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#1 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 6:33am.

Doug Bird.....gaaahhhh...Oh the ineptitude of the 1980-1983 Cubs...

#2 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Cubster on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 6:51am.

Jim Bullinger's ears were so big, they needed a wide angle lens when they took his picture for his baseball card

#13 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Seamhead on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:30am.

Someone once described Bullinger as looking like a cab driving down the stret with its doors open.

#3 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 6:54am.

Navarro was actually one of the few good moves of the mid-1990s. 14-6 for just $1.3 million in 1995 and then re-signed to another one-year deal and went 15-12 for $3.6 million in 1996. The Cubs then let him walk and he signs a 4-year $20 million dollar contract with the White Sox, only to go 9-14, 8-16, and 8-13, with ERAs of over 6.00 in the last two years. He's then traded to the Brewers where he goes 0-5 with a 12.54 ERA before being released. Talk about getting out at the right time!!

#8 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Old and Blue on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:17am.

As you get older your memory fades pretty badly, but I seem to vaguely remember Navarro looking really bad really fast near the end of his Cubs career.

#4 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Ryno on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 8:01am.

I nominate Zambrano for "biggest waste of talent" on the Cubs. He has such good stuff but insists on overthrowing everything. You can see when he's struggling, he's just fighting himself. When he's pitching good, the ball is just flowing.

Cubster:
Jim Bullinger's ears were so big, they needed a wide angle lens when they took his picture for his baseball card

Ha!

#7 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by MikeC on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 10:37am.

is this sarcasm?

#10 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Ryno on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:25am.

No. Zambrano is built great and can hit mid 90s on a good day. He's capable of much more.

#5 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 9:16am.

Aaron Miles is expected to be sidelined through the weekend with a sore right shoulder says the Sun-Times.

#6 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 9:19am.

Also, apparently Dempster doesn't give a shit whether Canadians are upset about him not playing in the WBC:

"I don't pay attention to the WBC," Dempster said. "I haven't even seen who's winning. I know Canada's out because I saw Koskie's here. And I know the Dominican's out because I saw Marmol's here. But I haven't seen any other results. ... I've been golfing too much."

#17 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by kmokeefe on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 1:38pm.

haha

fyi:

ryan dempster = big pothead

#18 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by CPH2133 on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 7:30pm.

Source?

#19 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by kmokeefe on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:00pm.

a friend of mine is best friends with a member of the team

#21 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 8:50pm.

and the best inside info that you can get is that dempster is a pothead?

#22 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 03/15/2009 - 3:11pm.

grace and dunston what huh?

hehe...

#9 Re: Esteban German

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:22am.

Cubs sign Esteban German to a minor league deal...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/03/cubs-sign-es...

throw enough spaghetti against the wall, some of it will stick.

#11 More Cubs Tickets

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:25am.

more tickets for Wrigley went on sale today...

#12 Reed Johnson blog

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:27am.

this is going to be awesome...

http://reedjohnson.mlblogs.com/

#15 Re: Reed Johnson blog

Submitted by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 12:06pm.

I suggested the blog name should be Landing Strip, after his chin hairs...

#16 Re: Reed Johnson blog

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 12:06pm.

ha...

#14 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by Cubster on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:44am.

http://www.newarkbearsfan.com/images/players/bulli...

Someone once described Bullinger as looking like a cab driving down the stret with its doors open.
----
I love big ears jokes! ...You can tie them in a knot, you can tie them in a bow.

#20 Re: King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters

Submitted by carmenfanzone on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 9:36am.

I ran into Bullinger one time at Murphy's after a game. We talked for about a 1/2 hour about Cubs' catcher Scott Servais. He was pretty candid about how the Cub pitchers were put off by Servais bull headedness. He was like a little tattle tale kiss up to Riggleman and the pitchers resented him...

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