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Miami, Florida - All Adam Greenberg and Matt Murton were told on
Thursday night was that they were being "left behind" as the Chicago
Cubs' Double-A West Tenn team left Jackson, Tenn., for a bus ride to
Carolina.
They were told to stay in a hotel room and wait for a call. So Greenberg
cradled his cell phone on his chest so he wouldn't miss the call.
When West Tenn manager Bobby Dickerson did call late, he told
Greenberg to switch to a speaker phone. And the two youngsters got the
news -- they were going to The Show. Both players could hear their West
Tenn teammates cheering for them in the background of Dickerson's
phone.
"It's a thrill of a lifetime," Greenberg said Friday, wearing the Cubs' big
league uniform. "I was certainly surprised. We know in the Minor Leagues
you never know when you'll get your chance. Fortunately, yesterday, the
phone rang and my chance has come.
"We were so excited. All the hard work -- you think of all the things you've
done in your career, every level from Little League to pro ball," he said. "It's
wow, it's the pinnacle. It's where you want to be."
Greenberg and Murton joined the big league team on Friday in Miami,
replacing Corey Patterson and Jason Dubois on the roster. Murton, who
was batting .342 at West Tenn, was in the starting lineup in left field on
Friday.
The two couldn't stop smiling.
"I'd be lying if I said we weren't excited," Murton said. "We were sitting there
the entire night knowing there was a possibility of us going somewhere.
We couldn't get to sleep last night, knowing we were going to get an
opportunity to come here and play with this great team."
Greenberg was hitting .278 at West Tenn, and will sub in center field
against right-handers. Jerry Hairston will get most of the starts against
lefties, Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.
"I'm here to try to help the team win," Greenberg said. "Baserunning,
defense, get on base, whatever they need me to do, I'm ready to do."
How eager was he? Greenberg was assigned No. 17.
"They could've given me '99 1/2' and I wouldn't care," he said.
Murton has had quite a year. He was dealt to the Cubs on July 31, 2004, in
the Nomar Garciaparra deal, and now jumps from Double-A to the big
leagues.
"Any time you get an opportunity to fulfill a dream of yours, it's a great
opportunity, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to play
baseball and help this team win," he said.
A first-round pick in 2003 by the Red Sox, Murton made the most of his first
Major League start on Friday when he singled in his first at-bat off Florida's
Dontrelle Willis. What type of hitter is the right-handed redhead?
"The approach is very important," he said. "I try to stay through the center of
the field with the baseball. I try to make sure I get good pitches to hit, and
when I get those pitches, it's important for me to put the barrel of the bat on
the ball. Just simplify it as much as I can, and stay back and see the ball
as well as possible so I give myself the greatest chance to hit the ball."
But this year, Murton seems to have accelerated his hitting. He had eight
homers, 17 doubles and 46 RBIs in 78 games, as well as 36 multi-hit
games and 11 multi-RBI games. He started this season as a career .290
hitter in the Minors, and played at the Class A level last year.
"I think it's a development where this is my second full year," Murton said
of his progress. "Once you get in the flow of how Spring Training goes and
how the length of the season works and what the organization expects
from you as an individual, I think it becomes a lot easier for you to take
care of things off the field which will help you on the field.
"The more you play pro ball and the more you become comfortable and
the harder you work on a consistent basis, I think ultimately it will start to
show, and we'll get better as ballplayers," he said.
What does Baker expect of the new kids?
"It's up to them," he said. "Hopefully, they can contribute some energy and
some quality and help us win. That's why they're here, to play and help us
win."
The Cubs saw how young players can contribute in the four-game series
against the Braves. Jeff Francoeur, called up from the Minors on Thursday,
hit his first big league home run off Chicago's Glendon Rusch.
"The youth has to be able to play," Baker said. "[The kids] aren't here to
paint, they're here to help us win and play."
Both Greenberg and Murton got to know the big league Cubs during
Spring Training.
"They understand what we might be coming from and some of the
anxiousness we might have and some of the emotions we might be
feeling," Murton said of the veterans. "The big thing for us is to try to relax
and realize we're still playing baseball, and we need to go out and play
hard and play hard every day."
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