To say that the Pirates don’t look like an improved ball club over last season would be a gross misstatement. They are. The hiring of Clint Hurdle almost insured that they would be. But they’re not contenders. They are, as they’ve been for the better part of the last 20 years, in a “rebuilding” stage and the Cubs—beyond any reasonable doubt—should have run over them.

The way I see it the Cubs are not 1-2, they’re 0-1. So they lost their opener, big deal. Those grand slams will kill you nearly every time. They were able to fight back on Saturday to pull even in the series, even overcoming a three run deficit to post a 5-3 win. But then today, to have the game within their grasp only to have the Pirates steal it away by scoring two in the top of the 9th when we weren’t looking, was just, well as Ronnie would say, “Unbelievable.”

When I say that they’re 0-1, I’m referring to their season series record. Of course I could also be referring to season series at home, they’re 0-1 after opening the season at Wrigley. You could also say that they’re 0-1 in one run games, another benchmark that needs to be improved upon from 2010′s 22-32 record.

Undoubtedly, this is not the way Mike Quade hoped to begin his “non-interim” managerial tenure at the “Friendly Confines” nor is it the way the Cubs needed to get this season started. They need a strong start and to at least keep pace with the rest of the division in order to contend. We’re off on the wrong foot but there’s still time to get back to .500 before the Cubs hit the road to face the Brewers, Astros, and Rockies. The Diamondbacks are in for three on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and we cannot afford to go to 0-2 and then go on the road. It’s an early nail in an even earlier coffin…and nobody at the corner of Clark and Addison wants that this early in the year, trust me.

Now nobody’s questioning Lou Piniella’s reasons for leaving when he did. We all know and understand them. But had Lou lost his fire before he left? Or was his mind just so far removed from the Cubs and the things going on with this team on the field that he didn’t realize himself that, by sticking around for as long as he did, he was really doing an injustice to the organization and its fans? Doesn’t really matter, does it? Not now. The Ricketts family gave Lou the time he needed to do what he had to do with the respect and dignity that he deserved. Still, the question remains about Lou losing his fire.

Tonight though, we celebrate a series sweep of the rival Redbirds though we can’t help but wonder where we would be at this point in the season if Mike Quade had been at the controls all season long. So we’ll do what we’ve learned to do best: wait till next year and maybe then we’ll find out. Or maybe next year at this time we’ll be wondering, “What if Mike Quade had been named the manager for 2011?” Time will tell one story or the other. I just hope we’re not left to wonder that age-old question, “What if…?”