Aug 26 2008
Cubs up, Big Z not looking sharp
For the third time in his last four starts, Carlos Zambrano has not looked like the ace of this pitching staff. Over his last four starts, Zambrano has given up: nine earned runs, five earned runs, one earned run, and tonight he has already given up five in 4.1 innings pitched. He will not factor into tonight’s decision as he was removed with the score being 6-5.
Pirates just scored to tie it back up at 6-6.
Zambrano wasn’t all bad as he continued to hit the bat well. He has hit in thirteen consecutive games after tonight. He had an RBI as well to give him thirteen RBI’s on the season.
And Neal Cotts is in to replace Jeff Samardzija. What do you know, Cotts got the final out of the inning to limit the damage.
Cubs offense needs to get it going as six runs are obviously not enough. This is another one of those games that you feel like we should win: you have your stud ace on the mound against a pitcher whose ERA is in the high 5.00’s, you are playing a team that is the worst in your division, and you’re playing a team that you have a 12-4 record against. This really shouldn’t be that hard, no?
Well, let’s see if the Cubs can score some more runs and have the bullpen shut the Pirates down for the rest of the night.
Meanwhile, it looks as though the residue from Hurricane Faye will be making it’s way down the east coast. There’s something like an 80% chance of heavy rain tomorrow so there’s a good chance the final game of the series may not be played. In the event it isn’t played, I believe that they would make the game up on an off day; however, Pittsburgh only has two more off-days and they both happen to fall on days when the Cubs are playing someone else. Therefore, if I remember correctly, that game would not be played unless there were playoff implications. I kind of hope this game does get played tomorrow as I would rather the Cubs get one last shot at the Pirates this year because those seem to be guarenteed wins. We are going to need as many of those as we can as our only remaining series against a sub .500 team will be against the Cincinnati Reds.
Geovany Soto starts off the sixth inning with his twentith home run on the year to give the Cubs the lead back. Meanwhile, Milwaukee leads St. Louis: 2-0, behind their ace, Ben Sheets.
Go Cubs!
EDIT: CUBS WIN! What a wild game at PNC. 14-9 Final.
It certainly looks like their year in the NL.