Cosmic Things Are Happening, Part Deux

You know things must be going the Cubs' way, when a guy with a .147 AVG (and OBA, and SLG) is given another start, and winds up winning the game with his first home run since last July.

That's what Tom Goodwin did in the 9th inning today, and Joe Borowski closed out the inspiring 3-2 win over the Pirates.

I do love Dusty Baker as an inspirational leader, and he has to be that when he puts Goodwin, Lenny Harris (batting FIFTH??), and Paul Bako in the same lineup, and expects to win with it. Not only that, you'd have expected four automatic outs in this lineup with Matt Clement, normally a terrible hitter, as the starting pitcher. Wouldn't you know it, Clement got three hits (he hadn't had any this year before today), but because of a boneheaded play by 3B coach Wendell Kim, he was thrown out at the plate to end the 7th inning, instead of having the bases loaded and Moises Alou up. Even that wasn't enough to cost the Cubs this one.

The bad news is that this will probably give Tom Goodwin some undeserved playing time. Yeah, it was great that he won the game, but he's really not a very good player any more. The HR was his first extra-base hit of the year. The Cubs don't really need a left-handed-hitting OF on the bench; they should release Goodwin and bring up Trenidad Hubbard, who had a great spring and is hitting great at Iowa. Maybe someone can convince Goodwin that he should retire immediately and have his last ML at-bat be a game-winning HR.

The best news, apart from the win, was that Clement seems to have gotten back on track and threw really well tonight. Once again, the Cubs leave a city with an inspirational win on a Thursday. It didn't have much good effect in St. Louis, but then again, this one didn't take 17 innings to finish. The Astros will be a good challenge; it'll take only one win to come home in first place, and with a winning trip, but I'd love to see the club come out of the Juice Box with a series win, then come home to a 12-game homestand. Mark Prior throws tomorrow.

The Cubs also announced today that they will make up the rained-out game from Mother's Day as part of a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday, September 2; tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 8 am CDT. So they don't lose the date after all, though considering that day, the day after Labor Day, is traditionally a back-to-school date, it probably won't draw as large a crowd as the original date, which was a sellout.