Aug 22 2008
cubs fall to bottom dwelling nats
The Cubs got blown out today at Wrigley by the worst team in baseball. I was at the game and I felt like I had watched two different games. Let me explain. The first four innings, Jason Marquis pitched very well. Marquis allowed no hits going into the fourth inning. He kept the Nationals shut out through five innings. The Cubs offense was sparked by home runs from Mark DeRosa and Derrek Lee. As the game went into the sixth inning, it looked as though the Cubs were well on their way to being thirty games over .500. And then the wheels fell off. Marquis allowed an infield hit followed by back to back walks with nobody out. With the bases loaded, Lastings Milledge hit a sacrifice fly to put the Nationals on the board. Ronnie Belliard (Cubs killer extraordinare) hit a double to put the Nationals within two. Neal Cotts replaced Marquis and walked the first batter he faced. And then Willie Harris hit a grand slam to the right field bleachers to put the Nationals up for good. The Cubs offense would go on to score one measly run in the final five innings while the Nationals scored seven more times after their six run sixth inning. Bad bullpen, bad offense, it was just a bad second half for the Cubs.
The Cubs look to bounce back tomorrow. Ryan Dempster (14-5) will pitch against Odalis Perez (5-9). The Cubs haven’t lost back to back games since July 26th when they lost two in a row against the Florida Marlins. The Cubs are also in jeopardy of losing their first series since July 22 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Go Cubs!
Hey kev…thanks for your comment on my page and on my article. Lincecum has been awesome for our Giants and I wish we had a good bullpen otherwise he would be head-to-head with Brandon Webb for the Cy Young as he has had 5 blown wins for him when he left with a lead in the late innings. Anyways I am going to put your site on my blogroll so I was wondering if you could do the same for me. http://eastbaybaseball.today.com Thanks! I am going tonight to see Tim Lincecum pitch against the lowly San Diego Padres squad. Ahh Cubs will be alright. Just a bad game, they will bounce back tomorrow with Dempster on the hill.