In the first inning, the White Sox were able to put four runs on the board, mostly thanks to Carlos Quentin’s three run homer that brought in Alex Rios and Paul Konerko.

Zambrano was noticably livid heading into the dugout, the episode ending in being taken into the clubhouse by Lou Piniella and Alan Trammel and being taken out of the game.

ESPN is now reporting that Zambrano has been suspended, but they don’t have information on how many games the suspension is.

The altercation overshadowed another outstanding performance by Jake Peavy on the White Sox, who went seven scoreless innings, bringing his consecutive scoreless inning total up to 21.

As for the Cubs, the bullpen did a great job of stopping the bleeding, only allowing two runs throughout the next eight innings. Tom Gorzelanny was fantastic allowing just one run over the next three and a third innings.

The Cubs bats were silenced as they only had six baserunners throughout the game. Meanwhile, the White Sox were able to score six runs on seven hits and two walks.

The White Sox now lead the crosstown rivalry 3-1 on the season, and the Cubs are going to have to win these next two games to pull off another tie on the season.

It is going to be tough, however, as the White Sox have won 10 strait games since losing the series finale to the Cubs in their last meeting, going 14-1 over the last 15.

Meanwhile, the Cubs are nine games below .500 and are 2-4 over their last six.

I’m Joe W.

Well, he was under-performing.

Coming into this season, a lot of people were expecting nothing out of Silva. He was going to be in the bullpen, possibly the fifth starter until Ted Lilly returned to the rotation.

Then, there were reports coming out of Spring Training that he was working on his delivery and he was looking very good. Still, few expected anything special out of him.

Then, the major league season started, and he came out and won his first start. He gave up just one run over six innings, then Esmailin Caridad gave up four runs in the eighth inning to lose the game and give Silva a no decision.

Still, it’s just one start.

Next thing you know, he is 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA and some more people are starting to come around to the belief that he is a legitimate pitcher who can help the Cubs this season.

All the while, Milton Bradley is continuing his lifelong implosion in Seattle.

Now, Silva is 8-0 through 11 starts with an ERA of 2.93 and every day, more and more people are jumping on his bandwagon.

Making $12 million puts a lot of pressure on a player as they have a lot of people expecting them to be an ace on the pitching staff, something that he has done so far this season.

He leads Cubs starters in wins, ERA and WHIP and he is doing so after few expected him to even be in the rotation.

If he keeps up this pace, by the end of the season he will have set career highs in wins, (he is on pace to go 22-0) ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, and a few more categories.

He has allowed four or more runs just twice this season and allowed no more than five runs in any one start, and never pitched fewer than five innings.

By every account, Silva is having a year worthy of being an All Star, Comeback Player of the Year, and getting an apology from everybody in Chicago who scolded him and thought he shouldn’t make the major league squad.

Meanwhile, Seattle can brew in anger while they watch Milton Bradley throw another temper tantrum.

Oh yea, he’s got more strikeouts than hits and walks combined.

I’m Joe W.

Through two days, the Cubs have taken 18 pitchers, six outfielders, four infielders and two catchers.

So now that Day Two is complete, who has been picked by the Chicago Cubs.

Round 2: Reggie Golden, OF

Golden, hailing from Wetumpka High School, is still deciding whether or not to move to the minor leagues or officially sign with the University of Alabama, where he has a full scholarship.

In 2010, Golden batted .460 with 28 runs, five home runs and 24 RBI. He said he was expecting to go within the first 35 picks.

Round 3: Micah Gibbs, C

Gibbs is a junior at Louisiana State University, where he batted .388 with 47 runs with 10 home runs and 60 RBI.

Round 4: Hunter Ackerman, LHP

Ackerman pitched for Louisberg College last season and pitched very well. He went 8-1 with a 1.41 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings.

Round 5: Matt Szczur, OF

Szczur may be a messed up name, but he was the second fastest player according to Baseball America and the 19th best centerfielder. Last season, he batted .443 and earned All Big-East honors.

Round 6: Ivan De Jesus, CF

De Jesus, no relation to first-base coach Ivan DeJesus, has been part of multiple championship teams in Puerto Rico, being on championship teams in both 15-under and 16-under levels.

Round 7: Benjamin Wells, RHP

Although Wells has signed with Arkansas already, the Cubs will hope to change his mind. He recently lead his high school team to a state championship by pitching a five-inning perfect game.

Round 8: Cameron Greathouse, LHP

Greathouse went 10-2 with a 3.06 ERA in his most recent season as a sophomore at Gulf Coast Community College in Florida.

Round 9: Kevin Rhoderick, RHP

Rhoderick was the All Pac-10 Conference Honorable Mention last season, going 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA and four saves.

Round 10: Aaron Kurcz, RHP

The first pitcher the Chicago Cubs took with a relationship to Bryce Harper, Kurcz played on the same team as Harper this previous season. He struck out with 52 in 35 innings and held opponents to a .225 batting average.

Round 11: Eric Jokisch, LHP

Round 12: Austin Reed, RHP

Round 13: Pierre LePage, 2B

Round 14: Colin Richardson, RHP

Round 15: Elliot Soto, SS

Round 16: Ryan Hartman, RHP

Round 17: Steven Brooks, CF

Round 18: Ronald Pinckard, RHP

Round 19: Dustin Fitzgerald, RHP

Round 20: Ryan Cuneo, 1B

Round 21: Cody Cox, RHP

Round 22: Jeff Vigurs, C

Round 23: Matthew Loosen, RHP

Round 24: Dustin Geiger, RF

Round 25: Eric Rice, RHP

Round 26: Danny Muno, SS

Round 27: Bryan Harper, LHP

Round 28: Joseph Zeller, RHP

Round 29: Casey Harman, LHP

Round 30: Karsten Strieby, 1B

I’m Joe W.

Hayden went 13-1 in 15 starts for the South Arkansas Muleriders during his junior season. He also had a 1.81 ERA and struck out 131 batters compared to just 35 walks in 99 and a third innings.

Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken compared Simpson to major league stars Tim Lincecum and Roy Oswalt, which is big praise for D-ll pitcher.

“I feel Hayden is potentially a major league starter,” Wilken said. “He has four above-average to plus-pitches. He’s a very athletic pitcher, and he has a good feel for pitching. We had really good reports and very good coverage on Simpson.”

Despite the high praise given to him from within the Cubs organization, however, he hasn’t been recognized by those around the league as a talent worthy of being taken this high.

As you can see from the picture above, they had to make a name plate for him on the spot, and on MLB.com didn’t have a draft report when he was drafted.

Simpson was also ranked 191st by Baseball America, but so was Tyler Colvin in 2006 when he was ranked near the tail end of Baseball America’s Top 200, Colvin is now producing in the majors for the Cubs.

Another Cub who was taken higher than expected was Andrew Cashner in 2008. Cashner is now three appearances into his major league career and has yet to allow a run.

Simpson is a pitcher with a fastball in the mid-90’s, a solid curveball and slider, and circle-change that a very good speed differential from his fastball.

It has also been reported that a team with a pick soon after the Cubs was taking a serious look at Simpson for their first round pick, so Wilken may not have been the only one who felt he was worth a first round selection.

I’m Joe W.

The Cubs entered their game against the Philadelphia Phillies with four straight wins and hoping to sweep a second straight two-game series after taking the first game last night in convincing fashion.

This game was much closer, and was included multi-hit games by both historically-underwhelming Mike Fontenot and rookie Starlin Castro.

In the ninth inning, the Cubs were down just one run and going up against former crosstown rival Jose Contreras and started off the inning with a bang.

Alfonso Soriano took somewhere near 500 pitches and broke two bats before getting hit by a pitch. With some good timing, Soriano was able to make it to third thanks to a hit-and-run, the hit coming via blooper to center from Fontenot.

So the Cubs have had back-to-back solid at bats, Contreras has already thrown more pitches than he was expecting to throw and he has yet to record an out with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first.

After Starlin Castro strikes out, Aramis Ramirez comes up, only needing to put the ball in the outfield for the at-bat to be considered a success, and he strikes out while swinging at a ball that he couldn’t have connected with if he were standing on home plate.

Ramirez is just two nights removed from a game winning home run in the 11th against the Colorado Rockies, an event that had some Chicagoans proclaiming that his slump was over and he was ready to start performing again.

Little did those Chicagoans know that he would go 0-8 over the next three games, striking out three times and drawing one walk.

Ramirez has the second-worst batting average among hitters with at least 120 plate appearances, something that no player just a two seasons removed from an All Star game appearance should have.

Having one player who is having a season this bad is something that a team can overcome, but when you throw in the fact that Derek Lee, star first baseman, is 28th on that list with a batting average of .226.

The combo of Lee and Ramirez, usually the meat of the Cubs lineup, have 61 hits this season with 70 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, six Chicago Cubs have batting averages over .300. They have also struggled to knock in runs, Lee and Ramirez are fourth and fifth on the Cubs in RBI, a statistic where they generally fight it out for first place.

They wouldn’t even be that high if it weren’t for their position in the lineup for most of the season.

Lee and Ramirez have always been player with great power and production who only needed consistent production before them. This season, they are getting just that with Kosuke Fukudome and Ryan Theriot batting 1-2 and each having batting averages of .310.

Theriot has even done a good job of becoming a decent base-running threat, stealing seven bases thus far, putting him at a tie for 22nd in the majors.

With the starting rotation, bullpen, and everybody around them getting their act together, Lee and Ramirez are the only two keeping the Cubs from taking charge of the mediocre NL Central.

At only five games out of the lead, a break out by these two players would catapult the Cubs into the drivers seat for a playoff spot.

I’m Joe W.

After all, Silva consistently pitches horribly, and hasn’t had a good season since 2005 when he went 9-8 with a 3.44 ERA. That’s not exactly an All Star season, but it’s the best season he’s ever had.

Well, it was the best season he’s ever had, until this season.

It is still early, but Silva has yet to lose a game, going 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA while losing the stigma that comes with being Carlos Silva.

We heard before the season started that he was working on his delivery, and he did have a good Spring Training, hell, I even figured I would write an article on how good he could be.

Even I couldn’t predict this breakout, I was more thinking that he could make the roster, pitch average in the bullpen, not do anything stupid, and he would have a better season than expected, and be an upgrade over Bradley.

Instead, he is becoming the best pitcher in the rotation and is doing his best to help Cubs fans forget about the other Carlos.

Now Silva isn’t tearing up opposing team’s batting orders, but he is doing good enough to get wins and keep the Cubs in games.

Silva went from being a possible fifth starter who everybody hoped would pitch no more than a few innings a series, to the best pitcher on this staff, leading the starting rotation in wins and ERA.

If you look at some of his stats, he is playing at the level of a solid second or third pitcher in a rotation.

His WHIP is 1.20, which ties him for 36th in the majors. His batting average against is .258, his career best and 56th among pitchers with at least 40 innings. His quality start percentage is 0.71, which is second on the Cubs behind Ryan Dempstrer (0.75) and tied for 34th in the majors.

Will he stay loss-less this whole season? Probably not. Will he become a bona-fide ace in the Cub’s rotation? Probably not. Is it fair to think that he will contribute very well and keep up the way that he has thus far this season? It’s not out of the question.

We don’t know what Silva will do the rest of the season, and it is still only May 18th, but he has the opportunity to make a complete career turnaround.

Although I doubt that he will completely earn the $12 million that he is making this season, if he continues to pitch this way, the Silva-Bradley trade may be one of the more one-sided trades in a long time.

I’m Joe W.

Here are a few stories that have happened over the past few days.

Aramis Ramirez returns to the diamond

Ramirez has missed some time this spring because of a sore right tricep, but he returned on Tuesday against the Royals as a DH and went 2-3 with an RBI. He hasn’t played since March 13th, but he looked like he hadn’t missed any time in his three at bats.

Lou Piniella wanted to get Ramirez 30 at bats before the season started, but Ramirez doesn’t think that’s necessary.

“I don’t need 30 at-bats,” Ramirez said. “Five more and I’ll be ready to go. I haven’t played in 11 days, 10 days, and I felt pretty good today. I don’t need that many at-bats.”

Although Ramirez missed significant time last season, this injury doesn’t appear to be linked to that one, and there shouldn’t be any cause to worry about Ramirez having injury trouble this season too.

Ted Lilly far ahead of schedule

Piniella expected Lilly to be back by May 1st when he originally hurt himself, but with the way that he has been progressing, he is expected to be back well before then. This would be big for the Cubs starting rotation, as Lilly has had some of the best years of his career with the Cubs.

Although he isn’t going to be making a Cactus League start like originally planned, he will be pitching in the minors this weekend. He is expected to return about halfway through April now.

Tim Kurkjian gives the Cubs a legit chance for the playoffs

Although all of the talk in the NL Central has gone to the St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols, the Cubs aren’t looking to just roll over and concede the division, and Kurkjian says that they do have a shot.

He cites Carlos Zambrano’s new health, stability at closer with Carlos Marmol, Ted Lilly returning early, Rudy Jaramillo’s impact on the offense and Kosuke Fukudome making the switch to right field as reasons whey the Cubs should be optimistic for the season.

These are all great reasons why the Cubs, despite making very few changes to to their lineup, should be feeling a lot better this season than they did last season.

Greg Maddux gets rave reviews from Jim Hendry

Although Jaramillo will be helping the offense, Maddux will be working with the pitchers in some capacity, as he works with different people throughout the Cubs organization working on finding a job that he would be able to do in the future.

According to ESPN, Maddux has worked with Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Marshall this spring, which could have a big impact this season, as these are four of the pitchers that the Cubs need to step up this season, along with Carlos Marmol.

If Maddux’s impact on the team is as big as Hendry thinks it is, then the Cubs could see big improvements from their pitching staff.

I’m Joe W.

Although Castro turns 20 in just a few days, he has been playing like a veteran, batting near .500 and striking out just once in 26 at bats before being sent down. He caused Lou Piniella to re-evaluate whether or not he should give the youngster a shot.

“Castro had a phenomenal spring for a young player,” Piniella said. “Nineteen years old, to come in here and look like a veteran and swing the bat … he showed his athleticism. He came in here highly touted and left here even more touted.”

However, Ryan Theriot showed that he wasn’t ready to concede his position just yet, as he has been outstanding this spring as well. Having Castro working with the team and pushing him may have contributed, and it may stay that way throughout the season, as Castro is available to be called up at any time if Piniella thinks it’s necessary.

Theriot has hit .560 this spring so far, and he has been playing well defensively too. If he plays like he has all season, the Cubs may be able to turn shortstop into a strength this season. Piniella said that Castro has helped Theriot this spring.

“Maybe having Castro around has something to do with it,” Piniella said. “You’ve got a nice young player like that pushing you.”

The Cubs have been getting great performances from young players throughout the spring, as Castro isn’t the only one who has stepped up. Carlos Silva has turned around a horrible first start and has been pitching well.

Esmailin Caridad hasn’t allowed a single run this spring, and has allowed just seven base runners in 7.1 innings, and has been doing a good job auditioning for a set-up spot. Justin Berg has already earned his spot on the team, with an ERA of just 1.80 in five innings, Berg is also doing a good job of trying to be the set-up man while Angel Guzman is out.

Brad Snyder has also had a good good spring, and although he was sent down with Castro, he has hit .313 this spring and has shown Piniella that he can play any of the three outfield positions.

The Cubs are going to look towards their younger players to make a big impact this season, and this spring those players have worked to give Piniella and Cubs fans faith.

I’m Joe W.

In his first start of the spring, Silva pitched horribly, giving up six runs on seven hits against the rival Chicago White Sox all in just two innings of work. The bad start was expected by those who looked into Silva’s history with the Mariners and Twins.

However, in his two starts since he has pitched seven scoreless innings, got the win on both occasions, and has done a great job with his pitches as he makes up for his bad first start. He’s allowed six hits and one walk over the two appearances, giving him a very low WHIP of 1.00 in those two performances, and he lowered his ERA from 27.00 to 6.00.

Silva said that his newly found confidence may be stemming from the fact that his mother, whom he is very close with, will finally get to see him pitch live this season. For years she has been attempting to come to the U.S to watch him pitch but was never able to come.

“That was a big headache the last couple years,” Silva said. “She had been getting denied, denied, denied. I think that’s why I was fired up today.”

Silva also said that he is getting a different feeling this season than in previous ones, and that he feels a lot better about his command. If this keeps up, he could be on the fast track to becoming the fifth starter in the Cubs rotation.

“I have to talk to my mother before the game and after the game,” Silva said. “If I showed you the message I sent to her, I said, ‘The way I feel today I haven’t felt for a long, long time.’ The last game was good. I still have to work more. Today, I felt like it was me. I threw the sinker the way I wanted to throw it. I used my breaking ball, and my changeup was good today. I had good command.”

Although Silva has had issues in the past, he has shown flashes of how good he can be, and it seems as though he is working hard to recapture that magic this season with the Cubs. With the loss of Rich Harden, having a new pitcher come in who has a better history of being healthy than Harden could actually make the Cubs rotation better than last season.

Don’t get your hopes up too high, as Silva hasn’t shown a consistent ability to dominate as a pitcher, but having guarded confidence about this season for Silva might be the right way to go.

I’m Joe W.

Although getting rid of Milton Bradley was a great move and took money off the payroll, the Cubs still have a lot of money tied up in two out of the three outfield spots, and they need to start seeing some production from those corner outfielders.

They did make a move to bring in a centerfielder coming off of a career year, and they will need him to produce if they want to be competitive. But he isn’t the only guy that they have their hopes high on, with another free agent outfielder who will back up two out of the three outfield spots and battle for playing time.

Here is a look at the outfield:

LF: Alfonso Soriano
CF: Marlon Byrd
RF: Kosuke Fukudome

Alfonso Soriano comes at the highest price tag, and he has had his moments. He’s hit at least 20 home runs every year he has been with the Cubs, but his total has decreased every year as has his batting average. This season, however, he should be batting sixth all season, which is where he thrived last season.

However, he will need to turn it around a lot this season, after having career lows in average, runs, and RBI in seasons where he played at least 50 games. However, the lows in hitting come slightly surprising as he has done a better job of making contact when he swings this season—the ball just made it’s way to a defensive player’s glove more often than not.

At the other corner outfield position, Kosuke Fukudome has been a big disappointment, especially after he started off so well in his rookie season with the Cubs. Fukudome did a good job of being a more patient hitter while making this hits he did get count.

Although his batting average was nearly identical both seasons, Fukudome took more walks, increased his BB/K ratio, and decreased the amount of times that he swung at pitches outside the zone.

Fukudome also played well in the field when he played right field, and playing there all season should give him stability defensively. The confidence from improved defensive play could give him more confidence at the plate as well.

Marlon Byrd had a career year last season, and he was rewarded with a sizeable contract. But that could work against him in the eyes of the Cubbie faithful. Although he hit 20 home runs and 89 RBI last season, he has never come close to those numbers in any other season of his career.

To expect stats like that would be foolish, and he needs to hope that fans aren’t expecting him to repeat those numbers. Byrd is a good centerfielder and he should give the Cubs some stability at that position.

The Cubs also signed utility outfielder Xavier Nady over the winter, and he should see playing time at both right and left field. Expect him to even battle for a starting spot at right field against Fukudome, as Nady has been better throughout his career than Fukudome has been in his time in the MLB.

Expect Tyler Colvin to also see some time at centerfield. Colvin has had a great spring so far; he robbed Ryan Braun of a home run, he has been batting over .500, and he also has six RBI.

The Cubs have a lot of money tied up in the outfield, and they haven’t had too much production. If they don’t get any improvements this season, it could be another season where tens of millions of dollars were spent for below average play, offensively and defensively.

But maybe Soriano, Fukudome, and Byrd can put together a great season, and we can see some bang for our bucks.

I’m Joe W.