Michael Barrett was still remorseful, even after he tuned out game-long boos and helped the Chicago Cubs stage a dramatic rally to beat the White Sox.

One day after he punched the White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski to set off a melee, Barrett delivered a game-tying eight-inning triple and Jacque Jones followed with a two-run homer to spark a 7-4 victory Sunday.

"I've known A.J. for a long time. It's tough when you know somebody that long for something like that to happen," Barrett said. "And looking back on it, obviously I would have done things differently. ... To be caught up in this situation is not something I'm proud of."

The brawl started Saturday shortly after Pierzynski ran over Barrett at the plate. The Cubs catcher then jumped up and threw a punch to the jaw.

Even though Pierzynski sent a message to the Cubs clubhouse that he would be willing to talk, they apparently didn't speak until a brief conversation - at the plate again - before Pierzynski's seventh-inning at-bat.

"I'll leave that between me and A.J.," Barrett said of the conversation.

"None of your business what was said," said Pierzynski, who sparked another heated exchange Sunday with a homer off Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano had to be restrained by his teammates after Pierzynski homered in the fourth inning and pointed to the sky - as Zambrano does when he comes off the mound.

He said he was upset that Pierzynski said something to him as he rounded the bases, not the pointing. And he added that he was yelling at White Sox's third base coach Joey Cora to keep Pierzynski under control.

"He said something, but I didn't hear because the crowd was so loud," Zambrano said. "I looked at him and that was a mistake. ... I just said to Joey that I would remember that. I didn't have to say that to Joey. I just said, 'Keep your guy calm.. ..."

Pierzynski said he pointed to sky for personal reasons and that he wasn't trying to show Zambrano up.

"I clapped my hands and the next thing I know he and Cora are yelling at each other. I have no idea. I didn't say a word. I didn't do anything. I didn't stand there and watch it, I ran," Pierzynski said.

Zambrano (3-2) got the win, allowing four hits in seven innings, including two homers to Paul Konerko.

The struggling Cubs trailed 4-2 entering the eighth against White Sox starter Jose Contreras, who looked strong in his first start since May 4 after coming off the disabled list. But they rallied, thanks to a poor throw from White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe on a potential double play.

With one out, Juan Pierre bunted for a single and went to third on a bloop hit by Ronny Cedeno. Neal Cotts (0-2) replaced Contreras and got Todd Walker to hit a double play grounder to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

But Uribe's relay throw was wild as Pierre scored to make it 4-3. Barrett then hit a ball to right center that Rob Mackowiak couldn't reach and it rolled to the wall to tie the game. Jones followed with his seventh homer and the noisy contingent of Cubs fans among the crowd of 38,645 at U.S. Cellular Field had something to cheer.

"It was a lucky hit, a lucky play," Barrett said, adding he expected the boos.

"I expected the crowd to react in the way they did. That is their right," he added. "It was bad. But nobody came on the field to try to hurt me and I appreciate that."

Aramis Ramirez homered twice off Contreras, who got a no-decision and still hasn't lost a regular-season game since last Aug. 15. He'd been on the DL with sciatica and was activated before the game. He gave up six hits and four runs in 7 1-3 innings.

Mackowiak had an RBI double in the seventh to score Pierzynski and make it 4-2.

The Cubs sent Saturday's losing pitcher Rich Hill back to the minors in a move announced before the game. Hill had called Pierzynski's running over Barrett before he had the ball "gutless" and "pathetic" and not the way the game should be played.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, of course, had a comment on Hill's opinion.

"What's the guy's name? He should be in Triple-A. He's going to make Dusty Baker get fired. Shut up," Guillen said. "When you make a comment that was a cheap shot, you don't know the game."

The Chicago Cubs will attempt to put the brakes on a seven- game skid this evening when they take on the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Chicago is 0-6 on its current eight-game road swing and sustained an 8-3 loss in Monday's series finale of a four-game set against San Diego. Greg Maddux had his shortest outing of the season, pitching only 3 2/3 innings and allowing seven runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Jacque Jones went 2-for-4 with a home run for the Cubs, losers of 10 of their last 12 games.

The Cubs will send left-hander Rich Hill to the mound on Tuesday. Hill was called up from the minors on May 1 and allowed five runs and six hits in four innings in his first start of the season on May 4 against Arizona.

Hill has faced the Giants before in his career and gave up two runs and five hits in five innings of work. Hill, though, has never faced seven-time NL MVP Barry Bonds.

The Giants are expected to have Bonds back in the lineup on Tuesday. He missed Monday's game against the Houston Astros to rest his sore knee in preparation for the Cubs.

Bonds belted career homer No. 713 on Sunday night at Philadelphia and needs one more to tie Babe Ruth for second on the all-time home run list.

Without Bonds in the lineup, the Giants ended a four-game losing streak with a 7-5 win over the Astros. Pedro Feliz went 2-for-4 with a home run and three runs batted in at AT&T Park.

Randy Winn added two hits and scored two runs and Mark Sweeney added an RBI triple. Noah Lowry, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game, made his second start of the season and got the win after going seven innings and allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and three K's.

San Francisco is 1-0 on a seven-game homestand and will rest its hopes on ace righty Jason Schmidt in Tuesday's series opener.

Schmidt has won his last two starts and tossed a five-hitter against Milwaukee on May 3. He also struck out seven Brewers.

In 18 career games versus the Cubs, Schmidt owns a 9-5 mark with three complete games and a 2.77 earned run average in 123 1/3 innings.

Chicago and San Francisco are meeting for the first time in 2006 after the Cubs won the 2005 season series by a 5-2 count. The Giants took the '04 series with Chicago 4-2.

Lost in all the hoopla surrounding Greg Maddux's seemingly miraculous mid-life, late-career resurgence -- though, really, shouldn't we have known he had a few more tricks in that rubbery right arm of his? -- is the absolute dead-on perfect timing of it all.

Has any team in this young season, in any young season, needed a pitching pick-me-up quite like the snakebitten Cubs? And has any player been better at supplying that early-season jolt than the slight 40-year-old they used to call the Professor?

Maddux, in his 21st season in the major leagues, has soft-tossed his way to the best April in his Hall of Fame career, leading the league in ERA (a staggering 0.99) and tied for the top spot in wins (4-0). If it weren't for him, the Cubs -- still without gimpy starters Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, and now without first baseman Derrek Lee as well -- would already be buried beyond redemption under the Astros and the Cardinals in the National League Central.

A surprising turn for Maddux and the Cubs? Maybe. But again, shouldn't we have guessed this was coming?

"I've seen him all too many times from the other side," said former Marlins center fielder, and now Cubs' center fielder, Juan Pierre. "The guy's just amazing, you know what I mean?"

We know. We know. The mystery surrounding Maddux isn't so much that great start -- the man is a 300-game winner, after all -- but how he's managing it.

Remember, last year Maddux had his first losing season since 1987. He didn't get his fourth win until early June, and his ERA never went below 3.80, let alone below the 1.00 it is now. He's not a power pitcher -- he never has been -- so he's certainly not blowing people away with his stuff.

Did we mention that he's 40?

None of that seems to matter now. Maddux still can't throw all that hard (he tops out, when the going's good, in the very low 90s). He still gets hit hard on occasion (in his last start, the Cardinals' Scott Rolen smacked three shots off him, the last one a line drive that missed going over the center-field fence by inches).

But somehow -- and Maddux will swear he doesn't know how -- he's turned the losses of last season into wins.

"If he tells you that [he doesn't know], you gotta believe it. I believe whatever he tells me," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said last weekend in St. Louis.

"If Greg has done something different or is thinking something different, or maybe changed a pitch or two, we're not smart enough to figure it out," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "That's what makes him so special.

"I'm sure he's done things different that I'm sure he would choose to share with no one."

Said pitching coach Larry Rothschild, with a smile, "You're not going to get much out of me on that. I will say he's throwing a lot more like he did in the middle of last season."

And from Maddux himself: "I wish I could explain it. Personally, I'm just getting ready to pitch like I always have. I'm just catching a lot of breaks. Sometimes you catch a lot of breaks in this game, and right now I feel like am."

The real truth, or at least a major part of it, is simple: Maddux is in better shape than he's been in years. Maybe ever. After failing to win 15 games in 2005 for the first time since '87, Maddux approached Keith Kleven, a physical therapist in Las Vegas, and asked for help.

Kleven started Maddux on a new workout last November, a couple of months before he normally begins his offseason regimen. The results are speaking for themselves.

After watching a different team win every World Series in this decade, after watching the last two champions end a collective 174 years of drought, after watching Johnny Damon cut his hair and leave Boston for the rival Yankees, these probably are the three words said the most by millions of fans:

"I can't wait."

The wait is finally over. The White Sox and Indians formally opened the 2006 Major League Baseball season Sunday night in Chicago, and now it is time for the rollout of Opening Day everywhere else. A record 74 million fans went to the park in 2005, and even more are expected this season. Here are some of the things we can't wait to see:

Will the Braves extend their pro-sports record of consecutive division titles to 15 years, or is this the year that a power-packed club like the Mets finally steps in? Will the Yankees and Red Sox finish 1-2 atop the AL East for the ninth consecutive year, or might they reverse the order or see a team like Toronto change things? Many people are waiting to see if major acquisitions such as A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan will put the Blue Jays back into their first postseason since they repeated as champs in 1993.

"I think they all know the expectations," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "The last few years that I've been here, you came in just hoping you would improve on the previous year. This year, we made some key additions, and you add that to what we did last year, and there's some optimism."

Optimism always reigns supreme this time of year in Cincinnati, which greeted its first Opening Day in 1876. There was no parade, no hoopla, no sold-out crowd. On Monday, Reds fans celebrate the traditional opener with the usual downtown parade, and there will be something completely different for this opener against the Cubs. For the first time in all of that glorious history as the traditional opener, a sitting president will throw out the first pitch. It's Aaron Harang vs. Carlos Zambrano, with the first pitch thrown by George W. Bush.

It marks the beginning of what Cubs fans hope will be their turn in the new Major League Baseball trend. The Red Sox won in 2004 for the first time in 86 years, and then the White Sox won for the first time in 88 years. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and last reached the Fall Classic in 1945. Is it their turn?

"I told my wife that before I signed here," new Cubs reliever Scott Eyre said. "It's been 80-some years for the Red Sox, they won. It's been 80-some years for the White Sox and they won. It's been what, 98 for us? I'm a baseball history guy. Usually things go in patterns."

Back yet again with the Cubs is Greg Maddux, ready to push his Hall of Fame numbers even further beyond 300 wins. It all started 20 years ago with the same Cubs, and now he is 318-189 with a 3.01 career ERA. The only active pitcher with more wins could be a month away from returning for a chance at his 342nd career win. Roger Clemens is eligible to re-sign with Houston on May 1, and has given no indication yet whether he will do that, or sign with another team ... or retire at age 43. Most people around the game seem to be banking on the first of those scenarios, but it's just a guess on this Opening Day.

Something old and something new
An improving Brewers club has brought back the friendly ball-in-the-glove logo, evoking memories of its 1982 World Series team. But Busch Stadium will not remind you of the place in 1982 where the Cardinals won that Game 7 against the Brewers, because when those two clubs meet in the first game at this Busch Stadium in a week, it will be at a brand-new facility in downtown St. Louis.

It is the latest example in a streak of seasons with new parks (that will end in 2007), and as with all the recently opened parks, it will be interesting to watch what "playing personality" new Busch takes on. The Phillies' new park emerged last year as a power park for hitters, San Diego's park has been more favorable to pitchers, and the only real question with Busch is whether it will be just another comfort zone for Albert Pujols. The Cards' first baseman enters 2006 as the only player in Major League history to hit at least 30 homers in each of his first five seasons, and he comes into Year 6 with an amazing .332 career average to go with 201 longballs and 621 RBIs.

Who's hot? Jimmy Rollins. Never before has a Major League season started with the focus on a hitting streak that is worth mentioning the great Joe DiMaggio. Rollins carries over a 36-game streak from 2005, and this year marks the 65th anniversary of DiMaggio's record 56-game streak. Sixty-five years is a natural time for retirement, but retiring that "unbreakable" record will require some amazing offense right out of the gate -- extremely rare when pitchers usually are ahead of hitters coming out of Spring Training. But the Phillies' shortstop will be front and center as Tommy Holmes of the 1945 Boston Braves is next up on his list with a 37-game streak, and the first chance is Monday at home against the Cardinals.

"That's one heck of a long hitting streak," Rollins said of DiMaggio's run. "When I looked back after the season, it was like, 'Wow, that's 36 days of working to be successful, but he did it for 20 more games.' It's almost unimaginable that someone can even hit in that many games straight, but here I am across the halfway point. This is when it gets tough."

It will be tough for Jim Leyland to do for Detroit what he did for Pittsburgh (reached NLCS) and Florida (won World Series), but Tigers fans can't wait to see whether he can rekindle the magic after some rough years. Their season begins with a rather unusual phenomenon. One year after Jeremy Bonderman became the youngest Opening Day starter in Tigers history, 41-year-old Kenny Rogers now becomes the oldest when he starts their opener at Kansas City.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano has made it no secret that one of his goals is to win the Cy Young Award. That used to be Greg Maddux's goal heading into a season.

Maddux won four Cy Young Awards from 1992-95, the first pitcher to do so four consecutive years. He's not really focused on collecting a fifth in this, his 20th season in the big leagues. Maddux already has notched his 300th win and his 3,000th strikeout since returning to the Cubs in 2004. However, the veteran pitcher is headed toward a personal milestone in April.

Greg Maddux is turning 40.

"It's true when they say time flies," said Maddux, whose birthday is April 14. "You always hear the older coaches coming in or older players come in and say, 'Cherish the time you have now because it flies.' They were right."

The right-hander, who has a career 318-189 record and 3.01 ERA, is in better shape than last spring. Asked what he did differently, Maddux won't get any more specific than to say, "just stuff."

Last season's 13-15 record was his first losing record since 1987. It was the first time he did not win at least 15 games after doing so 17 consecutive seasons. Maddux says he wasn't able to "steal" any games, which means winning close games, 2-1, 3-2 or 1-0.

Could he have had a better record last year?

"If I got lucky, maybe. But it's not about being lucky, it's about being good," Maddux said. "I'd rather be good than lucky. I don't buy that 'lucky, good' [stuff]. I don't buy that for a second. I had my chances last year. Starting pitchers can blow a save, too, and I blew a couple. I don't look at, 'Oh, we didn't score.' I look at the games I didn't hold the lead. It goes both ways. Had I pitched better at times last year, I might have gotten a win."

To win another Cy Young would be tough, Maddux admits. Zambrano does have a chance. But Maddux is capable of winning 15 to 20 games again. He's always emphasized innings over wins, and has topped 200 innings in 17 of the last 18 seasons. The only year he missed was in 2002, when he totaled 199 1/3 innings.

That also was the only year he was on the disabled list, due to a back problem. Maddux does believe in throwing nearly every day, whether it's just playing catch or an early morning bullpen session with Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild as his catcher. How has the right-hander stayed healthy?

"It's knowing how to manage yourself a little bit, and it's a lot of luck," he said. "You have to know when to back off and know when to do a little more. It's just listening to your body. Some days you need to back off, and some days, when you think you need to do more, you do more."

He's optimistic about the Cubs this year. Zambrano, Glendon Rusch, Mark Prior, Jerome Williams all look good. He also likes the bullpen additions of Bob Howry and Scott Eyre.

"I like to be optimistic," Maddux said. "It's still early. We're not really in a routine yet, and guys are still learning each others' names and playing together."

Maddux is a different pitcher now at 39 than he was at 29.

"As a young pitcher, you get by with stuff, and as an older pitcher, you get by knowing how to pitch," Maddux said. "That's why you see pitchers when they pitch the first year or two, they have great potential and have a lot of success early, and then they either taper off or take it to a new level."

The 2006 season is the last year of Maddux's contract with the Cubs. Does he want to keep going?

"We'll see," he said. "It's what I do. I enjoy coming to the ballpark every day. It's a good life. Mentally, I don't want to give it up.

"It's easy to sit here right now and say I'd love to go out and have a good year and play next year. I'd love to do that, no question," he said. "I'm going to do what I can to have a good year this year. I'd love to get a shot at postseason in Chicago. I think there would be nothing better than that. I'm going to do everything I can to play my role in that. When it comes time to decide on next year, I'll decide. It's not time for that. There's too much in front of me right now to worry about the following year."

If he has a solid year, he could lower his career ERA under 3.00. This is the first year it's been over since 1994. He also has a chance to finish with less than 1,000 walks (he's issued 907 free passes).

But winning in Chicago could trump all the personal stats.

"In Atlanta, we went [to the postseason] all 11 years I was there," he said. "It wasn't that big a deal. That's how it is. In Atlanta, you're going to pitch in the postseason. I know there's no sure things, but we knew it. We didn't know how we were going to get there, but we knew we'd get there. That's how it is.

"It seems like the people in Chicago and the organization and the people who work around the ballpark would appreciate it," Maddux said. "It would be something special, like it was when the Cubs almost went a few years ago [in 2003]."

Maddux had a front-row seat in 2003. The Cubs beat his Braves in the National League Division Series in five games. Do the Cubs have what it takes?

"The pitching is good enough," Maddux said. "You get [Kerry Wood] back, you have Prior, Zambrano, myself, Jerome -- the pitching can be good enough to get there. The biggest difference is that in Atlanta, you knew you were going to get 600 innings out of three guys. Three very good pitchers. You knew you were going to get 600-plus innings out of three guys. When [the Cubs] start to get that, you'll see this team win."

The Lincoln Saltdogs Catcher Kevin Sullivan recently signed with the Chicago Cubs organization.

The 28-year-old Stevens Point, Wisconsin native played two stints with the Saltdogs, in 2001 and again during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. This past season Sullivan hit .313 avg. with 107 hits and 10 home runs in 342 at bats. In 2001, Sullivan took home Northern League "Rookie of the Year" honors batting .333 with 6 home runs, 39 RBI and 15 doubles for the Saltdogs. Sullivan will begin his 7th year of professional baseball in 2006. Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies organization in the 32nd round of the 2000 draft, he reached the Triple A level playing for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Colorado Rockies) in 2003.The Lincoln Saltdogs, members of the American Association of Independent League Professional Baseball, will begin their sixth season of professional baseball on May 11, 2006 in Pensacola.

This weekend is the annual Cubs Convention, when 15,000 fans jam into the Chicago Hilton downtown to sneak a peek at some of the players, past and present. Most try to get an autograph. Many also want to share their opinions, pro and con, with general manager Jim Hendry. He's ready.

Coming off a 79-83 season and fourth-place finish in the National League Central, Hendry has revamped the Cubs this offseason. They acquired premier leadoff man Juan Pierre in a trade with Florida, and signed free agents Jacque Jones, John Mabry, Bob Howry and Scott Eyre. They lost in the bidding for free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, dealt outfielder Corey Patterson to Baltimore for two Minor Leaguers, and decided not to keep Nomar Garciaparra or Jeromy Burnitz.

Did the Cubs do enough?

"I think we attacked our needs in a very positive way," Hendry said Tuesday. "I think we all agree we needed to get better in the bullpen, we needed to get better in the leadoff spot. We got a lot more versatile in the outfield and a pretty good balance with left and right hitters.

"I think what people don't factor into the changes is that we feel [Ronny] Cedeno and [Matt] Murton are ready to play," Hendry said of the two youngsters who will start at short and in left, respectively. "If we went out and signed another left fielder, then the questions would've been, 'How come you're not going with the young guy?' We think the young guy showed he can play, and we feel the same about Cedeno.

"If we started tomorrow, there will be four different guys who weren't here out of eight in the lineup," he said, "and we've gotten younger and more athletic and gotten better defensively."

The 2005 Opening Day lineup was Patterson, Todd Walker, Garciaparra, Aramis Ramirez, Burnitz, Derrek Lee, Todd Hollandsworth, Michael Barrett and Carlos Zambrano. Walker, Ramirez, Lee, Barrett and Zambrano are the only holdovers, and Walker has been rumored to be traded by Opening Day 2006.

"Right now, we have three second basemen," Hendry said of Walker, Neifi Perez and Jerry Hairston Jr. "If that's the way we go into camp, then that's up to the three of them to compete to try to win playing time. Obviously, Neifi is a valuable guy because he's not only an outstanding defensive player, but he can play both spots easily.

"With Jerry, I think you'll see a greatly improved guy. He came in here with some [minor injuries] and hadn't quite fully recovered from them in Baltimore. I think he's extremely committed to come in here and try to win a job. Those guys are all capable of being everyday guys."

Walker, who hit .305 in 110 games last year with the Cubs, appears to be the odd man out. One emphasis this offseason has been to find better defensive players. Walker has played better than anticipated, but Perez and Hairston rank higher.

Hendry will have to deal with questions from fans regarding the recent trade of Patterson for two Minor League players. The Cubs have been accused of rushing Patterson to the big leagues, of overloading him with too much information. He hit a disappointing .215 in 2005.

"I don't think you can explain how it happened," Hendry said. "I remember when he came out of [Class A] Lansing and went to the Arizona Fall League and hit .380, our Major League staff that spring begged Andy [MacPhail] and I to keep him in the big leagues out of 'A' ball. Then, a few years later, people want to say he was rushed and didn't get enough time in the Minor Leagues.

"[Atlanta's] Jeff Francoeur got a year and a half [in the Minors]. Every situation is different," Hendry said. "It's how people make the adjustments. I don't think any of us thought Corey would have the season he did in '05. Hopefully, he'll make some adjustments now and move on and do outstanding.

"To lay the onus on certain hitting coaches or what month he came up, that's counter-productive," Hendry said. "We're not going to lay it all on him. It's part of the game. He was a guy we all felt was going to be outstanding and up to now, it didn't work out like we thought it would."

The addition of Jones hasn't been greeted with much hoopla, primarily because the outfielder is coming off a .249 season. It doesn't seem like an upgrade.

"I look at two things -- what he's done career-wise and what our scouts tell me," Hendry said. "I'd go by that besides looking at the last line of his bubble gum card. You don't acquire guys trade-value-wise when they are coming off their greatest year. That's why there's such a premium on good scouting."

Jones doesn't care if his signing is greeted by fireworks or not.

"I wasn't brought here to be a savior," he said on Tuesday. "There are people who might like the signing, some people who might not. If I do the things I'm capable of doing, and go out and play and have fun, that's all I can do. Hopefully, that'll be enough for the fans here."

The 2006 season is the last of Hendry's contract as well as Cubs manager Dusty Baker's contract.

"I'm not worried about it," Hendry said. "I think winning takes care of itself. Obviously, what happened last year isn't good enough. As long as I'm the general manager, a 79-win season is not going to be tolerated."