if you watched the game, it was easy to see what the problem was.  Lilly was overthrowing everyone of his pitches and had very little command of anything.

Maybe the expectations and pressure got to him a bit, I don't know, but he did not execute his pitches, plain and simple.

I agree with the sentiments from MPH73 above.  Lilly had his collar buttoned a little too tight and choked.  It almost makes you wish Hart had started, though he had some control issues too.  It's an old story for Cub's fans and frustrating to see when your pitchers continue to pitch from behind in the count, while the opposition seems to continually be ahead in the count when they pitch.

Scouting ain't gonna help that situation!  The "book" to pitch the big 3 is probably in its 4th printing by now, so there are no big secrets on where to spot the ball for Alf-Lee-ARam.  The few mistake pitches they did get they were not able to convert to hits.  

When Cruz came in last night it should have been the time for Soriano to swing at the first pitch, as a reliever wants his first pitch to be a strike.  He ended up throwing a fairly hittable pitch, but Alf check-swinged it foul.  It could have been a different ball game had Alf done a better job, as he didn't get any hittable pitches after the first one.

Scouting cannot cover over the lack of execution the Cubs have displayed the last two nights.  This has been going on all season, where the pitching is good and hitting stinks, or vice versa.  Unless the Cubs can get off the roller coaster and get more consistency, the ride will be stopping soon.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2007/10/fast-food-for-3.html

Here's the blurb:

Acting on the advice of their advance scouts, the Arizona Diamondbacks have made stopping Alfonso Soriano their first priority against the Cubs.

"It starts with [Soriano], and a lot of times how he's playing ends up to be how their club plays," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said before the series began.

...

Soriano hadn't gotten beyond first base in his first nine trips to the plate before an error by second baseman Augie Ojeda allowed him to be safe at second in the ninth inning. His first hit was a double he turned into a single by Cadillac-ing out of the box. His second was a grounder up the middle off closer Jose Valverde.

"I think they have a very good scouting report," Soriano said afterward. "They know how to pitch. They're doing a good job."

Was it so much scouting or just lack of execution by Soriano?  Stop Soriano and you stop the Cubs?  Not exactly high-level scouting reports.  I did like the "double turned into a single by Cadillac-ing" mention.  To compound it the announcers on TBS were trying to cover it up by mentioning the quad injury and how he has to "be careful".

If things don't turn around tomorrow he'll have a good long recovery time before he returns to AZ.  I don't want to sound like I'm just bashing Alf, as Lee and ARam having been stinking it up themselves.