The bad news is that Alfonso Soriano had a pretty bad night, going 1-for-6 with three strikeouts. The good news is that his one hit was a 13th inning game winning grand slam that gave the Cubs a 5-1 win.
Carlos Zambrano got the start for the Cubs and pitched well, going 7.0 innings and giving up just three hits and an earned run. He struckout four and walked four. Wandy Rodriguez was every bit as good for the Astros, going 7.0 innings, giving up six hits and one earned run. He struckout seven and walked two.
Both bullpens battled it out for the next six innings. But in the bottom of the 13th inning, Houston’s Chris Sampson faced Alfonso Soriano with the bases loaded and Soriano delivered a blast to deep center field to end the game.
Aramis Ramirez was the hitting star, going 3-for-6, including a sharply hit single that led to the Cubs eventual victory. Ramirez is hitting .338 and has looked great since his return from the DL. I guess his shoulder is doing okay (*knocks on wood*).
Derrek Lee was 2-for-3 with a homerun and three walks. Milton Bradley went one-for four with two walks. Bradley hasn’t completely turned the corner on his hitting (he’s still hitting just .248), but he is looking better up at the plate and he is finding a way to get on base. It’s still not enough, but it’s a start.
The series with the Astros continues tonight with Roy Oswalt (6-4) going for Houston against the fresh-off-the-DL Ryan Dempster (5-5).
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The Cardinals beat the Dodgers to keep pace with the Cubs, while the Astros lost to the Cubs and the Brewers lost to Washington. Houston is in third place in the division, three games behind the Cubs. The Brewers are now one game under .500 and 4.0 games back in fourth place in the division.
With Milwaukee falling under .500 so close to the trade deadline, does that mean they may tun from being buyers into sellers? Baseball is a game of faith, but you also need to know when to cut your losses and set your sights on next year. If the Cubs were in the same position, I would say they should keep fighting. But the Brewers don’t have nearly the pitching that the Cubs have and adding Jerrod Washburn (as has been rumored) won’t improve them enough.
I don’t want to write off the Brewers. They have a tremendous offensive team, but their pitching staff needs work. If I were either GM Doug Melvin or owner Mark Attanasio, not only would I be driving a nicer car, but I would play out the string this year and focus on making my pitching staff better in the off-season. Or maybe a better way to say it is that I wouldn’t make any moves this year unless those moves help to make the team better in the future. A one year rental won’t make things better in the future.
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Ted Lilly had his knee scoped yesterday and everything went well, at least that’s what Paul Sullivan with the Chicago Tribune say. According to noted physician Lou Piniella, Lilly’s shoulder should be healed by the middle of August and his knee should be ready to go by then as well.
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Add Washington’s Joe Beimel and Pittsburgh’s John Grabow to the list of relievers the Cubs are looking at. This, according to Bruce Miles at the Daily Herald. George Sherrill of Baltimore seemed to be the Cubs first choice for lefty reliever, but Orioles GM Andy McPhail has placed a rather high price on his left-hander.
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JP Ricciardi will not budge off of his price for Roy Halladay, so teams are beginning to turn their attention to Cleveland’s Cliff Lee. I’m sure Cleveland is not going to just give Lee away, but they are in a dealing mood. According to MLB Trade Rumors, yesterday the Indians sent outfielder Ryan Garko to San Francisco for LHP prospect Scott Barmes. The Indians reportedly still have interest in moving Lee as well as catcher Victor Martinez.
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According to MLB Trade Rumors, East Windup Chronicle is reporting that the Cubs have signed Taiwanese pitcher Wang Tsu-an. Tsu-an (or is it just Wang) reportedly received a $300,000 signing bonus.
