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My beloved Chicago Cubs have started the season 0-2 while my beloved team No. 2 the Washington Nationals have started the season 3-0 (three Curly W's are in the books!) I think if you ask most people they'd say they would have thought the reverse would be true.

No need to panic for the Cubs, though manager Lou Piniella has already decided to move Alfonso Soriano back to the leadoff spot in the batting order. Which I agree with. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If they lose to the Brewers again today, then maybe they begin to panic. A bit.

As for the Nats, what a nice start. The pitching has been surprisingly good, though they can't afford to be without closer Chad Cordero for long. But it's nice to see Jon Rauch, the tallest player in Major League Baseball (Ed and I joke about him all the time), picking up a couple of saves in his absence. And they are scoring runs, with RYAN ZIM-MER-MAN! (pictured) slugging two homers already.

Can't wait for the Nats to get back home to that brand spanking new ballpark. And the Cubs are in town in only three weeks. Should be a great weekend...

Lots to do ...

We're getting to the time of year where it's all about being busy, busy, busy. To wit:

*I have a live Fantasy Baseball draft this Friday at noon. Six teams this year. I swore I'd never do that again. But I just can't help it. And get this -- because my sister Cheryl and friend K.C. will be working, I'll be drafting for them, too.
*Saturday is the spring meeting for the Metropolitan Media Softball League. To me, this meeting always signals the beginning of softball season. I just hope the weather starts cooperating. It's really been kind of sucky around here lately.
*Next Friday, I have my first-ever colonoscopy. Oh yea for me! I'm sure I'll be in good spirits, so to speak, later Friday when one of my other Fantasy teams has it's get together at The Brickskeller in D.C. I hope I am in good shape for that -- love The Brickskeller. They have more than 1,500 beers from around the world. And the atmosphere is unmatched.
*Friday's night's festivities are followed Saturday by the league's draft in Baltimore, which I hope will be done in time to get back for the Nationals-Orioles game that night at the new ballpark. I'm not counting on that though. Last year's draft was an all-day affair.
*Sunday night finds the baseball opener between the Braves and Nats at the new park. Never been to an opener, and never been to an opener at a new ballpark. Can't wait.
*After that, it's softball practice every weekend until the season opener April 19. Cheryl and Val come in the following weekend for the Cubs series.

Whew! As you can see, lots of places to go, people to see and things to do. I just hope everybody else can keep up...

President who? Oh, that guy ...

Just what the doctor ordered.

Three out of four Cubs wins against the Nationals, another Brewers loss to the Pirates, and the NL Central is up for grabs, with the Cubs moving within 4 1/2 games of the lead.

The Cubs beat the Nats 4-2 Thursday night, with a makeshift lineup that included Daryle Ward and Jacque Jones, who both came up with some big hits. Carlos Marmol made it a little hairy in the eighth inning, but the Cubs held on and now it's on to Pittsburgh before the All-Star break.

And the Cubs won despite the presence of one President Bush. Didn't even know he was there. I remember Opening Day in 2005 and what a zoo RFK Stadium was when he arrived. This time I don't think anybody knew he was even in the park.

And considering everything going on in the world, that's probably a good thing.

Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari, AP

Ouch!

Well, I guess you can't win them all.

Not only did the Nationals beat the Cubs 6-0 on Independence Day, I didn't get my George Washington bobble-head either. Turns out just about all of the 40,000 people in attendance wanted one too, and they were only giving out 20,000 of them.

I'd have probably gotten mine if I hadn't tailgated and drank beer with my softball friend Travis and his brother. But we waited until just about gametime to enter RFK Stadium, and by that time it was too late.

Oh well. You live, you learn, you move on. There are three more bobble-head giveaways this season, so I'll try and get one of those.

As for the game itself -- not much to cheer about. Rich Hill stunk on the mound, giving up a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman and a grand slam to All-Star Dmitri Young. So now, the Cubs, who haven't scored in 15 consecutive innings, go for 3-for-4 tonight before heading to Pittsburgh to close out the first half before the All-Star break.

The only positive thing to take out of the loss: the Brewers lost too.

Cubs 2, Nats 0

Two more wins and the four-game sweep will be complete.

Carlos Zambrano threw a lot of pitches, but got the win as my Cubbies beat the Nationals 3-1 Tuesday night. And with the Brewers losing to the Pirates, the Cubs are only 5 1/2 games behind in the NL Central.

They are HOT. Three in a row, 10-of-11. The only thing that would make it better would be to just go ahead and sweep. And today's game at 12:05 p.m. ET is as good a place to start as any.

Was great to see so many Cubs fans among the 30,000 at RFK Stadium last night. And sitting next to me in his Nats red shirt and cap was Ed, who actually had a better time showing off his iPhone to the Cubs cutie behind us than he did during the game. Hell, I would have too. Yum. But I digress.

Today is the first of the President bobble-head giveaways. George is the lucky Prez. Ed's going just long enough to get one, then he's off to work before heading home to work on the deck-o-vation.

I think he'll be happy when the Cubs leave town and I get back to work. It's likely to be a bit quieter around the house. Not sure about that, but hey, as long as we don't have to deal with the crazy neighbors, right?

One down, three to go ...

... So the Cubs got off to a good start last night, scoring early and often in a 7-1 victory over the Nationals.

It was a bit strange at first, cheering against the Nats. But they were so inept until about the sixth inning that it really wasn't that hard.

There were about 25,000 fans in attendance last night, and I'd bet that 3/4 of them were Cubs fans. What a great sight. And the sound wasn't bad either, especially every time Alfonso Soriano came to bat (a few boos, but lots of cheers). It was Soriano's first trip back to D.C. since he signed that $136 million deal with the Cubs.

And the Nats got a clue of how much they miss him. Soriano had two hits, an RBI, a run and a stolen base against his former team.

I sat in section 471 last night, near the right field foul pole, which is almost catty corner to our usual seats in section 443. It gave me an idea of what our seats might be like at the new stadium next year -- the three requests we made were all in right field: above the Nats bullpen, below the scoreboard, and the upper deck, somewhat similar to the seats last night and tonight.

Game 2 is tonight, with Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano facing callup Tim Redding, who is pitching in place of Micah Bowie, the latest Nats pitcher to join the disabled list. I like our chances -- Redding hasn't pitched in the majors since 2005, and his ERA in the minors was above 5.00.

It'll definitely be interesting tonight -- Ed is a true-blue Nats fan, regardless of my life-long passion for the Cubs. He'll be wearing his Nats red shirt and cap, and I'll be in my Cubbie blues.

Thank God we'll be in separate vehicles going home -- one of us won't be happy.

Soriano photo by Susan Walsh, AP

Cubs vs. Nats

Well, the day has finally arrived. Tonight is the first of a four-game series at RFK Stadium between my beloved Cubs and second-favorite team, the Nationals.

I had a friend ask who I'd be rooting for. DUH. No contest. I'll be pulling out Cubs shirts this week I haven't worn since they were here last year.

And both teams are heading in opposite directions. The Cubs have won 8-of-9 and just took 2-of-3 from the NL Central-leading Brewers. Ugh again. But a big week by the Cubs here and another next weekend in Pittsburgh and the Cubs will be rolling into the All-Star break. They really are playing their best ball of the season. The Nats won yesterday, but are in last place in the NL East with the same record they had at this point last year. I'm confident 2008 and especially 2009 will be big years for the Nats.

But that's then, this is now. Time for the Cubs to put a whupping on the Nats and beat the teams they are supposed to be beating.

I'll report on each day/game at RFK. I didn't take this week off of work for nothing.

And like the sign says, nothing better than the Cubs and a cold Old Style beer. No Old Style at RFK -- I'll have to pay the $7 for a warm beer there and dream.