CubsChic

For those of you who went to sleep before the final out last night in San Diego, the Cubs almost gave this one away. And of all people, it was Marmol who gave up a 3-run homer in the 9th to make it a 1-run game. Ex-Cub Barrett finally flew out to the warning track to end the game around 12:15 CT, allowing exhausted Cub fans everywhere to finally turn in.

Zambrano was wild to start, walking batters, hitting one and allowing three 1st inning runs. But he settled down on the mound and continued to be hot at the plate (3-3, 1 RBI).  Big Z had both a triple and a bunt single and now has the highest average on the team (.366). Lou left him in to bat for himself in the 6th inning even though Lou knew he wouldn’t be putting Zambrano back on the mound in the bottom of the inning. Nice to have that flexibility.

So it’s now eight games in a row, the longest Cubs winning streak since early 2001. It’s always great to win the first game on a road trip. This team is having fun and expecting to win. It helps that the bats have been active. When pitchers know that they don’t have to be perfect to get the win it helps them to relax and pitch better. Last night it just took Zambrano an inning to remember that.