Must Bring Bats North
Sunday’s game was a great come-from-behind victory for the Cubs. Down 5-0, the bats finally came alive and the Cubs were able to take back sole possession of first place. Soriano, Lee and Ramirez seem back in the groove and Lou made all the right moves, including putting Fontenot in as a pinch hitter so that he could hit the game-winning, bases clearing double. Marquis didn’t have his greatest outing, but the bullpen combo of Gaudin and Samardzija supplied three scoreless innings for the win and save, respectively. It was Samardzija’s first major league save in only his second appearance. His stuff looked good and he even remembered to cover first base on one play. I wonder if he’ll be the one sent down when Wood comes of the DL, which isn’t a given to be Tuesday due to his slowly healing blister.
It was a great day to be at Wrigley, where most fans were paying as much attention to the scoreboard as they were the play on the field. We saw the Cardinals go down early to the Mets, which made the Mets fan next to me very happy. He was visiting from New York for the first time and couldn’t get over how friendly Chicagoans were. Being that the Mets are battling the Marlins in the East, he was more than happy to be a Cubs fan for the day. The Brewers/Astros game was even more important and the crowd broke into applause when the scoreboard announced a 7-spot for the Astros in the 5th inning. They later tacked on 3 more runs, so even thought their game wasn’t over yet as we left Wrigley singing “Go Cubs Go,” we felt pretty confident that the Cubs would be heading to Milwaukee ahead by one game.
So now we head into the first of many “Must Win” series. Tonight’s game against CC Sabathia will be a tough one, as he’s 4-0 since joining the Brewers, pitching three straight complete games. Maybe we’ll get lucky and his arm will be tired tonight. The key to beating the Brewers is to not give up home runs. Their offense is reminiscent of the Cubs of a few years ago, very homer reliant. The Brewers are 50-27 when they hit a homer and only 10-18 when they do not. Let’s hope Lilly can keep the ball in the park tonight.