Cubs show fans, ownership how it's done

The Cubs found a way to keep their new bosses, not to mention the masses, happy for one day.

Playing their first Wrigley Field game under the ownership of the Ricketts family, the Cubs discovered what was missing on the recent road trip.

They got home runs from Xavier Nady, Jeff Baker and Aramis Ramirez to power their way past the Milwaukee Brewers 9-5 before 41,306 fans who enjoyed unusually warm weather for a home opener.

The main beneficiary of the offensive outburst was starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, who didn't have his best stuff as he battled through 61/3 innings to post his first victory of the season against no losses.

"It's awesome, it really is," said Dempster, who made his first home-opening start as a Cub. "It's great for the city, great for our fans and for our owners and us as players to go out there the first day. I know some of the guys have been catching a little flak (because) we haven't been scoring as many runs as we'd like to. To come out and put 9 up like that and really swing the bats real well, I was real happy for all those guys and happy for us as a team."

As bad as it seemed for the Cubs on their trip to Atlanta and Cincinnati, Monday's victory moved them within a game of .500 at 3-4.

In the three games at Cincinnati over the weekend, the Cubs left a combined 25 men on base.

It looked like things might continue that way Monday, when they stranded two in the first and one in the second without scoring.

But they cleaned up in the third against junkball lefty Doug Davis. Nady, in his first year as a Cub, hit a two-out 3-run homer to left-center. After Alfonso Soriano singled, Jeff Baker homered to left.

"Yeah, it's always nice to get some runs early, especially the way Dempster pitched his last outing, to give him a little cushion," said Nady, noting a wasted good start by Dempster last week. "Baker added to it. Obviously, it's always nice to do that."

The Cubs squandered chance after chance on the road, but Nady said he didn't believe the team was feeling any extra pressure.

"I don't know," he said. "It's like Rudy (hitting coach Jaramillo) said today. It's just happened the little bump in the road happened early in the season. Hopefully, you get guys healthy, get at-bats, get your timing and you can start rolling."

Ramirez gave the Cubs an 8-1 lead in the fourth, but Dempster allowed 3 in the fifth. He wound up throwing 114 pitches as manager Lou Piniella has tried to stay with his starters as long as possible.

"Obviously, it's easier when your team goes out there and scores that many runs," Dempster said. "I made it a little bit harder at times than it had to be, kind of fastball command. I wasn't getting ahead of guys. I was able to make some pitches and settle down a little bit at the end there, which is nice."

Rookie left-hander James Russell and righty Jeff Samardzija were able to hold things for closer Carlos Marmol, who walked one and hit one in the ninth before a lineout double play ended the game.

Newcomer Marlon Byrd had 3 of the Cubs' 13 hits, including a double, as he seemed to warm to the Wrigley atmosphere.

"They're great," Byrd said of Cubs fans. "You've got to keep them in the game. I guess the way to keep them in the game is keep winning."