Bright Spotlight!

Cubs lose 5-1 against the Redlegs. Well, no one thought the revamped Cubs would go 162-0 right?

Big Z still shows his propensity to get over excited on a big stage, but he'll have a Zambrano type of season and perform well. The playoffs of course will present another test for our hot blooded Latin hurler, as big stage will then be spelled with capital letters. We can only hope Randy Marsh, has a month long family vacation planned in October.

When Thunder Matt, has 3 pathetic AB's resulting in strikeouts, you know the pressure and spotlight got to him as well. Still, he'll perform well over the course of the season as his approach at the plate is one of the more fundamentally sound in the lineup.

In both instances however, patience was absent in either players approach yesterday, and this was one of last year's Cubs most inexcusable traits.

Last year's impatience was primarily the result of a lack of discipline, which this year appears will not be tolerated. Piniella is not going to have any Lollygagging on his ball club. But it is interesting to note, that controlling one's emotions with the spotlight on, is not easily mastered.

One game is just that, one game. Still the players will have to overcome the spotlight that is shining more brightly on the team than ever. Sweet Lou, has been there and seems impervious to the attention, but he doesn't hit, play defense or pitch. Can that "cool under pressure" mindset be taught? I don't know the answer, but it's definitely a trait that separates the pretenders from the contenders.