Cubs Defeat Astros, Win 'Battle Of The Bad' Series

Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners threw the 23rd perfect game in major-league history Wednesday afternoon in Seattle against the Tampa Bay Rays. It's the first time in major-league history that three perfect games (Philip Humber, Matt Cain) have been thrown in one season.

Oh. You wanted to hear about the Cubs' 7-2 win over the Astros. That was three hours and one minute of mostly mediocre baseball on a sticky, humid afternoon at Wrigley Field, giving the Cubs the series win, and saving them the ignominy of being only the second team (after the White Sox) to lose a 2012 home series to the Astros, who are now 12-48 on the road this year.

It wasn't all mediocre. David DeJesus hit two home runs -- half of his season total -- and had his second four-hit game of the year. Starlin Castro also homered and had three hits. Brett Jackson had his first major-league extra-base hit (a RBI triple) in the second inning, and followed up with his second such XBH, a double. (He also struck out twice. Progress, though.)

And Justin Germano pitched into the seventh inning for the first time as a Cub -- in fact, his first time pitching into the seventh inning in the major leagues since April 2008 -- giving up just five hits and two runs.

The second run scored in bizarre fashion, after Germano had exited for James Russell; Russell got Brandon Barnes to hit a ground ball to shortstop with a runner on first base; he forced Jason Castro at second, but Barnes was safe at first. Meanwhile, Ben Francisco had hesitated taking off for third and was tagged out to end the inning -- but not before Scott Moore, who was on third base when this play began, scored.

That's how you hit into an inning-ending double play and get an RBI on the play.

Hey, we don't have much this year. Unusual plays like that are one of the only things keeping things interesting.

Astros starter Bud Norris had to leave the game in the fourth inning when Josh Vitters' comebacker hit him in (it appeared) the left ankle. That brought Chuckie Fick into the game to replace him, resulting in a long delay which led to a number of off-color jokes about certain letters being switched around in his name.

Hey, we don't have much this year. Unusual stuff like that is one of the only things keeping things interesting.

Late in the game, word came through that Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Marmol had both cleared waivers. Obviously, with the Melky Cabrera suspension, there was immediate speculation that the Giants might be interested in Soriano, but he had been quoted before July 31 as saying he wouldn't go there. What about now, Alfonso?

Sori on possibility of changing his mind about SF Giants with Melky suspended: "I don't think so."

— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) August 15, 2012

So much for that. I suspect both of them stay put this year; Soriano could be dealt in the offseason, presuming the Cubs eat most of the $36 million remaining after that (although, who do you replace him with?); Marmol might be attractive to a team looking for a closer with just one year left on his deal for $9.8 million.

Meanwhile, the Cubs have Thursday off and then will play the Reds in a four-game series (Saturday is a split doubleheader necessitated by a rainout in May) in Cincinnati beginning Friday. Don't expect many, or any, wins this weekend.