The Cubs were looking to win their third straight game and things looked good with Carlos Zambrano on the mound for them. However, the offense never showed up and the Astros would end up scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win by the score of 2-1. This loss completely goes on the offense who played like crap.
The one run that the Cubs did manage to get came off the bat of Geovany Soto who hit a solo home run to left field off of Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez. It was Soto’s second home run in four games so hopefully he is seeing the ball better and will heat up and get out of his slump at the plate.
The terrible side of the offense once again was Milton Bradley. Bradley has been stinking it up and is 1 for 9 in the series so far. On Wednesday night, he left runners on base everytime he came to the plate. It’s time for Milton to start hitting and earning his pay check. If not, Bradley is going to be a big time free agent bust.
Ok, enough with the negative talk as it was actually a game the Cubs should have won. The starting pitching continues to be awesome. This time it was “El Toro” Carlos Zambrano who got the start and allowed just one run in eight innings. The one blunder in the game for Big Z was in the seventh inning when the Astros scored their first run on a fielders choice. Zambrano’s pitch count was at 104 when Lou decided to pull him from the game and bring in Angel Guzman to pitch the ninth inning. In the post game interview, Zambrano was asked if he could have went back out there for the ninth inning and he replied:
“If I go another inning and I give up two runs, it’s Lou’s fault and ‘Why did Lou let him go in the ninth?’” Zambrano said. “It was good — 104 pitches, eight innings, let the bullpen do their job. I did my job. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
As you know, Guzman would end up giving up the winning run in the ninth inning when the bases were loaded and Geoff Blum hit a single to center field to score Miguel Tejada. Tough inning for Guzman who left some pitches up over the plate that the Astros took advantage of.
The rubber game of the series will be played Thursday afternoon and the Cubs will send Ryan Dempster to the mound. I like the teams chances of winning and taking two out of three against the Astros in their place. What do you think?
- Cliff
The offense finally showed up for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night as they opened up a three game set with the Houston Astros down in Houston. The Cubs bats were hot right from the get go as they pushed across three runs in the first inning and never looked back with Ted Lily on the mound.
Lilly improved to 7-4 on the season as he tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings to pick up the win. Lilly did throw 114 pitches but he and the coaching staff were ok with that as the bullpen needed a rest after all of the extra innings games that club has been playing.
“From the starting pitchers’ standpoint, we look at that as an opportunity to go out there and do our job. There are going to be stretches where we’re going to have to pick each other up.” Lilly said after the game.
The Cubs offense however was the story in the game. Before the third inning was over, the club was already up 5-0 as they knocked Astros starting pitcher Brian Moehler out of the game after just three innings. Alfonso Soriano doubled on the fourth pitch and scored on Kosuke Fukudome’s ground-rule double that one-hopped into the stands in right. Fukudome scored on Derrek Lee’s single and he later crossed home on Geovany Soto’s RBI single to put the Cubs up 3-0.
The Cubs scored single runs in the second and third innings to push their lead to 5-0. Fukudome scored on an error in the second while Fontenot went deep for a solo home run in the third inning.
The final two runs would come off the bat of Andres Blanco who got the start at second base. With the bases loaded, Blanco came up to the plate and hit a ground rule double to deep right field to score Lee and Fontenot.
The only run the Astros would get in the game came via a solo home run by Lance Berkman in the ninth inning when he took Sean Marshall deep.
It was a great game for the Cubs as they moved into a tie for second place in the division. The team will have Carlos Zambrano going to the mound on Wednesday night and they also received good news that Rich Harden will make his return on Saturday. Now lets just get Aramis healthy and this team can move into first place!
AP Photo/Pat Sullivan
Good morning everyone, I was recently sent a 3D Wrigley Field Model from HomeFields.Com to review for them. HomeFields makes 3D replicas of stadiums and race tracks through out the country and do a pretty good job of what they do. The model is not round or really built up like most models you will see in shops, instead the model is laid out as a optical illusion of a 360° stadium when viewed from about 4’. The actual model is 1.125′ thick and 9′ long and 4′ tall to give you an idea.
When I first opened the box, the first thing that came to my mind was how well it was packaged. Bubble wrap around a white box which also had padding inside. There is no way UPS or FedEx could damage this modem the way it was packaged! The nice display case that the sent along was a nice addition that they sent along as well.
The model retails on HomeFields.Com for $35.00 and if you would like the case it is an additional $25.00 but well worth it in my opinion.
If you do not want to order one yourself, we will be giving this one away in a contest next week. I have a few things left to setup on the site and I will announce the contest on Monday or Tuesday! Stay tuned!
- Cliff
It was a pretty good weekend for the Cubs as they took two out of three games against the Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Two out of the three games went extra innings with the teams splitting the extra inning affairs. The Reds got the best of the Cubs on Saturday with a 4-3 11 inning victory while the Cubs bounced back on Sunday with a 6-3 14 inning win. The first game of the series went the Cubs way as they defeated the Reds 2-1.
So with the two wins in Cincinnati, the Cubs are in tied for third place in the division with a 28-26 record. They are 3.5 games behind the league leading Milwaukee Brewers who have a 33-24 record. The team is currently 3-2 on the road trip and have three games down in Houston starting Tuesday night. If they can take two out of three in Houston I’m liking this teams chances of moving closer to first place.
Sorry I don’t have a whole lot to talk about regarding the Reds series. I wasn’t even able to watch more than three innings combined in the series as I had family staying at my house for a local baseball tournament that was going on. I’ll be back on track with regular updates for the Astros series though.
See you all back here on Tuesday night! – Go Cubs
AP Photo/Al Behrman
