Hill throws a gem

Four games into the 2007 season, and the Cubs starting pitching has looked very good in three of those four starts. Surprisingly enough, the only starter that has struggled in their first go-round is Big Z.

On Friday night in Milwaukee it was Rich Hill's turn to deal. He did just that. Hill had a little added cushion when he took the mound Friday night. The Cub offense came to life in the top of the first scoring 6 runs and sending 10 batters to the plate. After that it was Hill's turn and the, 26 year old oops, 27 years old southpaw stole the show. Hill rolled through the Brewers with 9 pitches in the first. He continued to roll, he was perfect through 5. In the top of the sixth Corey Hart led off with a bomb to left center. That would be the only safety allowed by Hill all night. Rich Hill would end the evening after seven innings. The only hit was Hart's, he struckout six while walking nobody. He only threw 78 pitches and 58 of those were strikes.

I watched the game on the flagship and early in the game Bob Brenly compared Rich Hill's curve ball to that of left hander Barry Zito. That is great praise. (I only hope Hill can develop into 75% of the pitcher Zito is.)

It was great to see the Cub offense come to life. Mark DeRosa hit his second homer in as many nights and Ronny Cedeno hit a pinch hit homer in mop up time. The story of night was the dominance of the Cubs young left hander. Hill's impressive outing follows up a great debut by Ted Lilly on Wednesday and a surprisingly good debut by Jason Marquis on Thursday. This page has repeatedly talked about how important Hill is to the season. Friday night was a great start for his season.

Now it's Carlos' turn--
Saturday afternoon will see a pair of aces going at it at Miller Park. Carlos Zambrano will look to duplicate Hill's performance against Brewers ace Ben Sheets. Sheets is coming off of a dominant two-hit Opening Day complete game versus the Dodgers. It should be a great day of baseball underneath the roof in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon.