Cubs spoil Cardinals' home opener by beating them 9-5 on a rainy Friday in St. Louis

The Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-5 during a wet and rainy afternoon at Busch Stadium after an one-hour, 44 minute rain delay and a half hour ceremony celebrating the Cardinals' 11th World Series win. 

Cubs' third baseman Ian Stewart hit his first home run with the Cubs, which was also his first since Aug. 23, 2010.  I joke about that a lot," Stewart said. "It's one of the first things I said.  I almost haven't hit a home run in two seasons.  It was nice to finally get that one." 

First baseman Bryan LaHair hit his first career grand slam in the third inning.  It was the Cubs' first grand slam since Aramis Ramirez hit one on October 2, 2010 in Houston.

Bryan LaHair gets high fives from teammates after hitting his first career grand slam (AP photo)

Jeff Samardzija started for the Cubs and gave up four hits over four scoreless innings and got the win today.

Jeff Samardzija pitched four scoreless innings today against the Cardinals (photo from Chicago Tribune)

Chris Volstad will start for the Cubs tomorrow as they play game 2 of the series against the Cards.  The game will start at 2:05 pm CST.  Let' hope Volstad can get his first win with the Cubs and the team can get their third win in a row!

Darwin Barney and Bryan LaHair hit the Cubs' first homers of the season, but Cubs still lose to the Brewers

The Cubs played their first night game of the season at Wrigley Field tonight and lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5.  Darwin Barney hit the team's first home run of the season in the first inning to tie the game.  Bryan LaHair hit a home run that landed on Sheffield Avenue in the second inning.

Bryan LaHair hit a homer onto Sheffield Avenue in the second inning (photo from Chicago Tribune)

Chris Volstad had his first start for the Cubs and gave up three runs on five hits over five innings.  He also allowed two walks and threw six strikeouts and was pulled after throwing 87 pitches in the sixth inning.

Starter Chris Volstad collects his thoughts Monday night after allowing a solo home run to Rickie Weeks in the third inning. (Scott Strazzante/Tribune photo)

Shawn Camp came in to pitch in the the sixth and allowed a leadoff single to Corey Hart, who ended up scoring on Mat Gamel's triple.  One out later, Gamel scored on Jonathan Lucroy's sacrifice fly for a 5-3 Brewers lead. 

The Cubs threatened to tie the game in the ninth, scoring twice to make it a two-run game and putting runners at second and third with one out, but came up short.

Tonight was former Cubs' third baseman Aramis Ramirez's first time back at Wrigley Field since being traded to the Brewers.  He received cheers and boos from the crowd.  "It's different," Ramirez said. "I spent most of the time in my career, almost nine years, here, on the other side. Being in the visitor's clubhouse is a little weird."

Cubs manager Dale Sveum was also facing his former team tonight.  Sveum was on the Brewers coaching staff for six seasons, including the last three as the hitting coach, before accepting the Cubs manager position last November.  The nice part was that he was able to take over the scouting report.  "I did most of it, to tell you the truth," Sveum said Monday.  "It was pretty easy to go over the scouting report and I might have given some people a series off that way.  I was able to handle the whole deal."

The Cubs and Brewers will play game 2 of the 4 game series tomorrow night at 7:05pm at Wrigley Field, where Paul Maholm will make his first start for the Cubs since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates during the offseason.

Cubs get a "W" over the Brewers, 6-1

The Cubs get second "W" in a row when they beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 in Maryvale today.  Ryan Dempster's first pitch to former Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez almost beaned him in the head.  I wonder what message Demps was trying to send to Ramirez, unless the ball just 'slipped' out of his hand?  Dempster went on to throw three scoreless innings.  Here is link to a recap of the game from cubs.com. 

Former Cub Aramis Ramirez before today's game against the Cubs (photo from Paul Sullivan)

Cubs Pitcher Dae-Eun Rhee and Catcher Micah Gibbs were assigned to minor league camp today. The roster currently stands at 57 players.

The Cubs will play the Los Angeles Dodgers tomorrow at 2:05 at Camelback Ranch, where Matt Garza will square off against former Cub Ted Lilly.  You can watch the game on WGN-TV or catch the webcast on cubs.com.

Only 26 more days until Opening Day!