It was a good night down in Houston for the Cubs as they bounced back and picked up a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. The Cubs took advantage of a tired Astros team that has now lost four of its last six completed games. They had to wait out a suspended game in Washington in the 11th inning on Tuesday.
Reed Johnson got the Cubs scoring started in the first inning when he knocked in three runs with a base clearing triple off of Astros starter Mike Hampton. It was Johnson’s first extra base hit of the season and it came at a great time for the team. The triple almost didn’t happen as Astros center fielder Michael Bourn almost made a great diving catch but the shallow playing fielder came up just short by a few inches.
Johnson was pretty happy to finally come up with a big hit with runners in scoring position as he mentioned after the game:
“The way things have been going for me with runners in scoring position, I’d hit a line drive right at somebody or somebody would make a good play,” Johnson said.
Cubs starter Rich Harden took advantage of an early 4-0 lead and pitched seven innings to get the victory. Harden gave up three runs in the game and struck out four batters. Two of the three runs he gave up came off the bat of Lance Berkman who took him deep for a two run homer in the eighth inning. I had blogged yesterday how big it would be if Harden could throw seven innings and help out the bullpen and that was exactly what he did!
Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg finished things up as they both had 1-2-3 innings. No walks for Marmol, and Gregg not allowing a base runner! What got into those two Wednesday night?!
**Before the game the team did make a roster move as they optioned Jeff Samardzija back down too Triple-A Iowa and called up Chad Fox. Yeah Fox the old guy that hardly has a pitching arm left. I’m thinking this is the last go around for Fox and the Cubs will get everything they can out of him.**
AP Photo/Pat Sullivan
The four game win streak that the Chicago Cubs were riding came too a stop as the San Francisco Giants and their ace starter Tim Lincecum shut down the Cubs on Tuesdsay. For the second game in a row the offense only had five hits however this time it was against a starting lineup that had a lot of reserves playing. Lincecum didn’t have any problems as he threw seven innings and struck out seven batters as he picked up the win for the Giants.
As I sat here and watching the game, I thought wow can the Cubs really beat Lincecum? It looked like they had a good chance until the eighth inning when Sean Marshall allowed the first two batters to reach base and then Jeff Samardzija hit a batter to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Aaron Rowand doubled in two runs and then Randy Wynn singled in another run. Marshall took the loss and is now 0-2 on the year. He was charged with five runs while Samardzija was charged with one in the 6-2 loss.
I know plenty of people were giving the Cubs no shot in the game when Lou mentioned that he would be giving some regular players the day off. Joey Gathwright, Aaron Miles, Micah Hoffpauir, Bobby Scales and Koyie Hill were all in the starting lineup for the Cubs. Yeah, that is almost half a team of minor league players! I will say goodjob to Scales who did pick up his first career hit and also made a nice diving stop out in the field. After 11 years in the minor leagues, that hit and defensive play was very much earned!
The team is already on a flight down Houston where they will start a quick two game series with the Astros on Wednesday night. Rich Harden will be taking the mound as he tries to get the Cubs back in the win column.
Mr. Grit Ryan Theriot showed off his power once again as he hit his third home run in the last four games and the Chicago Cubs beat the visiting San Francisco Giants. Theriot’s two run shot came in the second inning and gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead at the time. I just hope with the recent power stroke that Theriot doesn’t forget to hit the ball to right field and not try to hit flyballs everytime he is up to bat.
It was nice to see Ryan Dempster pick up his first win at Wrigley Field this season. Last season he was awesome with a 14-3 record at home. Dempster threw seven strong innings while giving up five hits and two runs. The Giants were able to get to him in the sixth inning to score a couple of runs but that would be all they would get. Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Kevin Gregg picked up his fourth save by shuttind down the Giants in the final inning. Great job by the pitchers.
The cubs offense wasn’t that good on the night to be honest but were helped out by seven total walks. Giants starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez walked in Alfonso Soriano in the first inning to score the first run of the game as he struggled with his control. As a team the Cubs only had five hits on the night. Thanks to Theriot’s home run the team was still able to come away with the victory.
Expect to see a little bit different lineup on Tuesday afternoon when the two teams finish up the short two game series. Piniella said in his postgame interview that he would make a few changes to the roster to give some regulars some time off. The Cubs will also be facing Tim Lincecum on Tuesday so it should be a pretty fun game to watch.
The team did make a roster move before the game on Monday as well. Carlos Zambrano was added to the disabled list and will probably miss at least two or three weeks with strained left hamstring. Career minor leaguer Bobby Scales was called up from Triple-A Iowa. Randy Wells is expected to be called up to pitch in Zambrano’s spot on Friday.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
I wasn’t able to watch either game this weekend, but from watching highlights and reading game articles it appears that the Cubs had a great weekend. With wins on Saturday and Sunday, the team finished off the Florida Marlins and won three out of four games in the series. The offense really picked things up over the weekend and that was a great thing to hear.
For the game on Sunday, Derrek Lee provided the big blast which was a grand slam in the fifth inning. The grandslam came right after Carlos Zambrano left the game with a strained hamsting however. It is possibly that Big Z will miss his next start to rest the hamstring. Zambrano did pick up the win on Sunday however and is now 3-1 on the year.
It was nice to read and see that closer Kevin Gregg finally pitched a scoreless inning when he picked up his third save of the year. We need to see more outings like that from Gregg.
It was also awesome to see the team win on Sunday when they retired #31 in honor of Greg Maddux and Fergie Jenkins. Both pitchers had great careers with the Cubs and it’s awesome to see their flags up on the left and right field foul poles. Jenkins’s flag is on the left field pole while Maddux’s is on the right field pole.
Jenkins and Maddux join Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ryne Sanderberg in having their number retired by the organization.
I should be able to watch the game Monday night against the Giants and hope to have a detailed game recap up after the game. Hope you come back and read and also leave some comments!
