I have not watched one MLB game so far this year, believe it or not, but I know that my fantasy team that was playing way over its head in the first week has come down to Earth this week and that asshole Phil Barnes is beating the shit out of me. As for Maddux, I keep hearing that his usual control is way off and he's throwing pitches at speeds where if they were on the corner would be OK but now they're right in the middle of the plate. And it was only a matter of time before this happened, since his control had been sputtering for the last couple of years, pitches you'd never see in the zones they were in were suddenly being seen in those zones. The joy of Maddux was to watch him throw fastballs in 4 different ways, as described by Tim McCarver a thousand times, where he could make a pitch start on the inside of the plate swerve to the outside and vice-versa on both sides, and then he could throw a changeup that was once one of the best. It has always been a location game for him, and the way he kept batters guessing was by the method described above. Now his fastball has evened out, and his changeup is almost the same speed. I'll tell you, we can possibly ask the same questions about Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and maybe even Pedro after today's outing. I saw Johnson's highlights the other day and there's absolutely nowhere near the velocity of before.

As for the Cubs, I like what I've heard so far, but Mark Prior should not be throwing complete games this early in his career. I know it's great for the fans to see him in a grand performance, but I remember Kerry Wood doing the same thing with his 20K game and he threw his arm out and did not recover until maybe this year--although a lengthy season should prove whether or not he's ready to be back.