Wow! The Cubs scored six runs in an inning!
Oops! The Cubs gave up six runs in an inning!
And unfortunately, it was the same inning, the seventh inning today, and they were down four runs when the inning started, and well over an hour after it began, after twelve runs and a long rain delay (during which we were subjected to Josh Lewin, Mark Grace and an amazing amount of nonsense from the Fox-TV studios), the Cubs were right back where they started... four runs behind, and they wound up losing to the Phillies 11-7, making tomorrow's game really a must-win, as there's no way you want to get swept in a series like this, and already being eight games behind the streaking Brewers, who annihilated the Mets today 12-3, falling further behind would really be depressing, not to mention digging a hole that might not be fillable.
There was so much wrong with this game that I hardly know where to begin... but there was also a lot that was right, coming from four runs down to take a two-run lead on a pinch-hit three-run homer (see? it IS possible to get runners on base before homering!), and also then putting together a "long-form" rally with three singles and a double following the home run. But then a bad baserunning play by Jacque Jones perhaps cost even more runs. (This was after Alfonso Soriano also ran into an out at the plate, giving some of you -- in the comment thread -- the idea that his hamstring is probably still hampering his running, which I think is probably true.)
But the proper lesson learned today, class, is: do not try to run on Shane Victorino!
And then, the bullpen, specifically Will Ohman and Bob Howry, gave it right back, and the worst thing about the Phillies' matching inning was that all of it happened after two were out and no one was on base. That's nearly inexcusable.
There's not much more to say about this game; I suppose I could try to focus on the positive -- sixteen hits by the Cubs, who finally were able to score more than one run in a game off Freddy Garcia, and a decent outing by Angel Guzman (three earned runs in 5.1 innings, only one walk, six strikeouts, although he gave up a long home run to Chase Utley, after which Scott Eyre relieved himself (from the Yahoo PBP):
- C. Utley homered to deep left
- P. Burrell flied out to right center
- G. Dobbs singled to center, G. Dobbs to second on J. Jones' fielding error
-
S. Eyre relieved S. Eyre
- A. Nunez tripled to deep left center, G. Dobbs scored
- C. Ruiz sacrificed to third, A. Nunez scored
- F. Garcia grounded out to second
Well, I suppose that could be part of the problem. You can't have pitchers doing that sort of thing out in public, you know.
Yeah, I know. Gallows humor. We could use some laughs right now. It'll be up to Ted Lilly to right the ship tomorrow, and prevent the sweep.