What an unexpected and pleasant surprise Maddox has been.
LOS ANGELES -- Having celebrated his 40th birthday on Friday, Greg Maddux wanted to make a point that he's still King of the Hill, not over it. Not that he admitted to any special significance in his first start as a 40-year-old.
"Age is just a number," said Maddux. "I heard Julio Franco say it a million times. I used to laugh at him, but now I know what he means."
Staked to a one-run lead on Todd Walker's first-inning home run, the 100th of his career, off Dodgers starter Brett Tomko, Maddux had the Dodgers feeling like they were facing the 28-year old Cy Young Award winner of 1994 in the Cubs' 4-1 win in the series opener. The three wins in his first three games is his best start since 1994.
So glad we picked him up- when (if) Prior and Wood come back, we will have quite the pitching staff. Just have to get Z on track, too, and we will have the best rotation in the bigs.