Cubs living large in 19-5 rout
If Mark Cuban can't buy the Cubs, then Cubs fans need to take up a collection and buy Cuban a season ticket that obligates him to attend every game.
And since the Dallas billionaire apparently doesn't understand how the weather works in Chicago, the fans need to pop for a winter coat as well.
Cuban sat in a long-sleeve shirt in the Tribune Company's front-row seats Wednesday night, a few feet from the home team's dugout at Wrigley Field.
It was almost as if the Cubs could smell the lucrative contracts and lush accoutrements Cuban lavishes upon his only current professional franchise, the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
Almost immediately after Cuban took his seat, his prospective employees started trotting around the bases at Jeff Suppan's expense.
The Cubs scored 6 runs in the first on their way to a 19-5 victory over Milwaukee before 39,908.
Rookie catcher Geovany Soto lined a pair of 3-run homers to fuel the franchise's biggest output since a 20-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 5, 2001.
The Cubs (17-10) maintained a share of the NL Central lead with St. Louis and set a club record for wins in April.
"You multiply 6 times 17, you'll have a pretty good year," manager Lou Piniella said. "Look, I'm saying that in a kidding way. But 17 wins for the month of April is really, really nice. It's a good way to get started."
And it's a good way to jack up the price of Sam Zell's franchise.
Cuban, who stiff-armed all reporters except ESPN's Erin Andrews, stood and clapped several times during the Cubs' early uprising -- once to celebrate the first Soto 3-run homer and once as an excuse to jam his frozen hands into his pants pockets.
"I'm here as a Cubs fan," said Cuban, who proved it by downing a beer or two.
His Tribune patron eventually fetched Cuban a jacket from the souvenir stand to make the 40-degree wind chill more bearable, but there was little anyone could do to make the game more competitive.
Ryan Dempster (4-0) scattered 4 hits and 3 runs over 6 innings to square the three-game series.
"The boys were swinging it right off the bat today," Dempster said. "They didn't need me today. They took care of it all themselves. Hats off to them."
Soto lined a 3-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole to cap the Cubs' 6-run first inning. He later smacked another 3-run homer to push the lead to 12-1. It gave the rookie catcher his first multihomer game and a career-best 6 RBI.
His terrible streak last week in Washington -- 8 strikeouts in 8 at-bats -- is a distant memory.
"Hopefully it doesn't happen again what happened in Washington," Soto said. "I was just trying to stay short to the ball and have good at-bats."
Meanwhile, utility man Ronny Cedeno continues to have such good at-bats that he could soon be a regular. Cedeno, a late-inning sub, walked twice and spearheaded a 6-run eighth with a bases-loaded double.
"This young man, everywhere he's played he's played well," Piniella said. "And he's produced offensively. We'll find a place to get him in. You know, he played some center field in winter ball."
Then Piniella paused to laugh, realizing the can of worms he had just squeezed open.
"Oh, lord, I shouldn't have even mentioned that. Forget it. But we'll find a place."