Ryan Dempster is ready to dominate in 2010 and if he pitches like he did on Sunday, he will do just that.  The Chicago Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0 as Dempster tossed 7 shutout innings.  Dempster allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 9 batters.  He was the 1st Cubs pitcher to make it into the 7th inning this spring and he was firing on all cylinders.

Dempster made these comments after the game — “I’ve been waiting for the season to start and that was as good as I’ve thrown the ball all spring by far.”  After getting himself into a bases loaded, no out jam in the top of the 7th inning, Dempster struck out the side to preserve the 1-0 lead.  He was excited about his ability to get out of the jam: “I was able to make pitches and bear down.  Even though I didn’t get extended pitch-wise a whole bunch, the intensity of pitching into the 7th and having that be your most stressful inning, it was a lot of good work and a real good stepping stone for getting ready for the season…I put a lot of pressure on myself to prepare to do that and once the game starts, I figure the preparation I put in — and I did a lot this winter, I worked really hard and I’ve worked hard this spring to go out there and be ready for the season.”  WOW – gotta like the attitude. If we get a re-focused Dempster like we had in 2008, the Cubs are going to be a much better balanced pitching team during the 2010 MLB schedule.

Two reliever finished off Dempster’s gem — Jeff Samardzija pitched a scoreless inning with 1 strikeout, while John Grabow picked up the save with a scoreless 9th inning.  I hate to get too far ahead of myself, but the Cubs pitchers are doing a helluva job.  Could this be the year?…

On offense, the Cubs managed just 5 hits, but Kosuke Fukudome’s lone hit on the day drove in Jeff Baker with the winning run.

One side note — Milton Bradley did not play in the game – what a pansy…