Just before Ted Lilly stroked his RBI single up the middle, I said to Howard, "Man, he has about the worst swing I've ever seen." Howard agreed. Lilly had fouled a couple of balls off and flailed rather wildly at the pitches, looking like he had never stepped in a batter's box before.

And then, suddenly, with runners on first and second, Reed Johnson having been intentionally walked by Dan Haren to get to Lilly, Ted sliced a ball through the infield to score the Cubs' first run and score Mark DeRosa, who had doubled with two out and no one on (love to see that!), to tie the game. Alfonso Soriano hit the next pitch down the left-field line for a double, scoring Johnson, and as it turned out, that was all Lilly needed in the Cubs' impressive 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks. I'm not sure where Lilly learned to hit -- he hit only .137 in 2007 -- but he's now 3-for-11 this year (.273) with a double and two RBI.

You could call this a "statement" game if you wish, but it may be too early to say that. Remember, though the D'backs have looked great in posting, before today, a 23-12 record for the best mark in the major leagues, a year ago at this time the Brewers were 24-10 and a lot of you were wailing, "The Cubs will never catch those guys!" And yet, they did. And though Arizona is playing well, today the Cubs and Lilly and Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood shut them down.

Lilly was outstanding -- he mixed up his pitches really well and struck out ten while walking only two and allowing only three harmless hits. OK, let's call it two harmless hits (one of which, a triple by Stephen Drew past a diving Johnson, might have been caught by Felix Pie if he had been out there), because the first one was a HR by Chris Young in the first inning -- and I was so glad to not see Lilly slam his glove down as he did in the NLDS last October. In the last ten games Young has played against the Cubs (the six regular season games last year, the three in the NLDS and today), he has homered five times. Enough, already.

Fortunately, Lilly shut down the rest of the D'backs lineup, and left it to Marmol and Wood. Marmol caught a break in the 8th when, after allowing a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda, he struck out Eric Byrnes while Ojeda tried to steal second. The throw came in over DeRosa's head and he had to leap to stop it from going in to CF. The umpires correctly ruled that Byrnes had interfered with Geovany Soto and thus Ojeda was out. No other D'back came near to getting on base after that, and Kerry Wood threw nine pitches, all strikes, in getting a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save, after Derrek Lee had hit his ninth HR to give a little more breathing room.

The crisply played game (two hours and 31 minutes) was played in crisp weather more suited to the last time the D'backs were in Wrigley Field, last October 6 (when it was 85 degrees), an official temperature of 46 at gametime, with a wind blowing in. That didn't stop the HR of either Young or D-Lee, though, and I'm sure most of the crowd of 40,236 (probably about 5,000 no-shows today) appreciated the fast pace. I know I did, along with fellow BCB readers mrcubsfan, ihatethecards, and Drew in attendance in the bleachers. Mrcubsfan and ihatethecards introduced me to a man who said his last trip to Wrigley was sixty years ago when he was fourteen years old, to which I said: "It's about time you came back!" And he got to see a nicely played win on his return, too.

Just like that, this team that looked so sloppy on the road the last couple of weeks played a sharp game today. It is possible to have a very successful season playing, say, .600 ball at home (that'd be 49 or 50 wins) and .500 on the road -- do that and you've won 90, which would likely give you the division title. This one snaps a five-game losing streak against Arizona (including the NLDS) and I'm sure the players are happy to have that proverbial monkey off their backs. And with Lilly, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano all throwing well, can we stop stressing so much about the starting pitching?

Remember: tomorrow's game is on Fox, and the starting time has been set at 2:40 CDT. I'll post a list of cities tomorrow in the game thread -- double bad news: it's only going to 37% of the country and the announcers are Kenny Albert and Mark Grace. (Ugh.) Incidentally, I had to visit the men's room and the timing had it during the 7th-inning stretch. There's nothing stranger than hearing the disembodied voice of Mark Grace coming through the men's room speakers while visiting the troughs. Or maybe that's strangely appropriate, I don't know which.

Finally, I see that a couple of you posted game threads in the FanPost section -- and I'm not sure what happened to the main page posts. If someone could quickly summarize in the comments, I'd appreciate it.

No glove-slamming, please.

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Morning notes:

• Paul Sullivan says Felix Pie could get sent down -- but not for a pitcher. Instead, Andres Torres, who is hitting well at Iowa, could come up to be a bench player.
• More info on the proposed ISFA/Wrigley Field deal. They say "no tax money" would be used. Others have said a "tax increment financing" deal like this one means that other taxes might have to be raised. I'd like to hear more details about this. Also of interest in that article:

  [Cubs Chairman Crane] Kenney also said the Cubs want to restore Wrigley Field to "its original look," which would include removing exterior chain link fences and concrete panels. The renovations also would include upgraded luxury suites and premium seating behind home plate that would require the destruction of the team's offices.

• Gordon Wittenmyer joins the Dead-Horse-Beating crowd with yet another rehash of TTTSNBN. However, he does raise a good point:

  The guy whose name came up as part of every potential package for Roberts, pitcher Sean Gallagher, pitched so well at Class AAA Iowa in five starts (2-2, 3.10 ERA, .196 opponents' average) that he was called up to take demoted Rich Hill's place on the roster last weekend.

  Now Gallagher and lefty Sean Marshall -- whose name was in and out of the Roberts rumor mill all winter and spring -- are considered part of the Cubs' much-needed starting depth and options for replacing more veteran guys who are scuffling.

  On top of that, Marshall has been invaluable in a converted lefty short-relief role after rookie Carmen Pignatiello stumbled out of the gate and as the team awaits the return of Scott Eyre this weekend.

Enough. On to baseball this afternoon!

Today's Starting Pitchers

T. Lilly Cubs vs. D. Haren Diamondbacks 2-4 W-L 4-1 5.97 ERA 3.12 29 SO 36 14 BB 8 6 HR 4 vs. Ari -- vs. Cubs

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The day that Dan Haren last faced the Cubs, June 10, 2004, was the day that I invented the Tomato Inning, which occurred when I accidentally dropped a piece of tomato on my scorecard:

Howard showed up late, with a sandwich of his own from Jimmy John's (I hadn't asked him to bring me one today) and he ceremonially dropped a tomato piece on my scorecard, right in the fifth inning.

You're saying, no, the Cubs scored the ten runs in the fourth inning, and you'd be right.

But by the time they reached the tomato square, which was at Derrek Lee's position, they had already batted around, and Lee's homer was the tenth run of the inning, and the square that I scored this in, was in exactly that place, in the fifth inning.

So, Howard and I are now completely convinced of the Tomato Luck.

The Tomato Inning worked pretty well through 2004 -- the Cubs didn't always win the game, but they did always score in the Tomato Inning. Perhaps we'll have a ceremonial drop today. In that inning, D-Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano, the only Cubs still on the team who played that day, all got hits. Alfonso Soriano is 5-for-13 (2 HR) vs. Haren in their time together in the AL.

When Ted Lilly last faced the Diamondbacks, this is what happened:

via chicagotribune.com

You can see Chris Young rounding the bases after his NLDS Game Two HR and Lilly about to slam his glove down. That enduring image is, unfortunately, one of the memorable ones from last year's NLDS. It was the first hit Young had off Lilly, who threw six decent innings against Arizona last August 25 at Phoenix. After a tough start Lilly is 2-1, 2.84 in his last three starts.

Today's game is on WGN and Fox Sports Arizona. The D'backs are in the forefront of what I think will become a trend among all teams -- all their games are on FSAZ this year, no broadcast outlet. More at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Today's overflow comment thread will post at 2:45 pm CT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.