Final Record: 33-42
Games Behind First: 8.5 GB
The Cubs should've known heading into Seattle that if they were going to score a lot of runs in this series, it was going to have to be in the first game against Jason Vargas. Vargas is a solid pitcher, but doesn't compare to the likes of Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, the starters for the next two days.
Franklin Gutierrez provided the only scoring on Tuesday night, cranking a two-run homer off Ryan Dempster who otherwise had a great start. Jason Vargas didn't allow a run and the Cubs were finished just like that. Any chances the Cubs had offensively were wasted.
Cliff Lee didn't make it any easier the following night, only allowing a solo homer to Tyler Colvin. A whole bunch of RBI hits and a home run by Michael Saunders made it a big mess that finished 8-1. Cliff Lee had a huge lead to work with and the Cubs were done Wednesday.
The Cubs grinded out a win Thursday afternoon in extra innings. Ted Lilly got a real nice start and Marlon Byrd singled in the winning run in the 13th allowing Tom Gorzelanny to pick up his first career save. Good baseball was to be seen today fundamentally (no errors) and smart decisions put the overwhelming fact was that the Cubs just need to score more. They managed just four runs in the entire series! Four runs! Combined with the Sox series, and there were only 14 runs on the entire road trip, over six games! Over the first five games of the trip, the Cubs scored six runs! Sometimes how bad the Cubs offense is can just be amazing.
For info on the second Sox series, read the Crosstown Classic: Round Two post right below this one.
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