Pena, Byrd Homers Lead Cubs to Victory Over Dodgers 5-1

Usually for the Chicago Cubs, Carlos Zambrano is the "Number One pitcher." This year, Ryan Dempster was chosen by Cubs manager Mike Quade to be the starting pitcher for the season opener, making him first in the rotation. Slowly but surely, "Big Z" is proving the Chicago skipper wrong. All you have to do is witness the Cubs' 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday. This was the first series the Cubs had taken in awhile.

Carrie Muskat provides our reference article posted at MLB.com titled "Cubs club three homers, back Big Z's gem."

The Cubs beat the Dodgers, as Muskat's article suggests, by hitting home runs. However, who hit the home runs is as much news as the fact the homers were hit.

One home run was hit by Geovany Soto, and that is not news. He has been doing a nice job swinging the bat and has been supporting pitchers. However, Marlon Byrd and Carlos Pena both socked balls out of the park. Both of these players have been struggling.

Pena was brought over to the Cubs for his power. While he has a regular-season hitting average of .239, according to the MLB website, he hits home runs each year. The last four years, going from 2010 backwards, include 28, 29, 31 and 46 homers. This is the power the Cubs wanted to see and haven't until just the last couple of days. Pena has now hit two homers. MLB.com has posted his second homer.

Byrd was back in the third slot of the batting order where he belongs. He has gotten his batting average back near .300 at .295. This home run was his first of the season. You can see his first round-tripper at the MLB site. When you consider the fact that Byrd has a lifetime slugging percentage of .422, it is easy to understand the frustration both he and the Cubs felt at his lack of hitting.

All of this run support went with another splendid job by Zambrano (4-1, 4.23 ERA), who went 4-1 on the season and earned his 10th straight road victory.

While the Cubs now have a sub-.500 record at 12-14, with the home runs by Carlos Pena and Marlon Byrd, it would seem that some key bats are waking up. Now, if we could just get our two injured pitchers back, Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells, we could be on our way to bigger, brighter and overall better things.

References:

MLB.com Website, Carrie Muskat, "Cubs club three homers, back Big Z's gem"

MLB.com Website, "Byrd's three-run shot"

MLB.com Website, "Pena's Solo Homer"

MLB.com Website, "Marlon Byrd Statistics"

MLB.com Website, "Carlos Pena Statistics"

MLB.com Website, "Carlos Zambrano Statistics"