Four Nights in August

After the big 10-game road trip started off so terribly for the Cubs, dropping all three in Milwaukee and the first two in St. Louis, it seemed hopeless to think any positives could be taken from it.  But after a surprising win on national TV Sunday night in St. Louis, the Cubs came to Pittsburgh for a four-game series and did something they hadn't in over 50 years.

On the other side of Chicago, the story unfolding at the same time was nowhere near as bright.  In fact, some of the ugliest baseball the White Sox have played in quite some time.  The fact that the Yankees' only loss in Chicago in 2011 came against the Cubs is extremely rare; actually, that's never happened before.  The Sox were completely incompetent against the Yanks this season, and the series appeared to give the Sox little postseason hope remaining.

Outscoring the Pirates 24-15 and outhomering them 10-5, the Cubs took all four games for the first time since 1959 to incredibly break even on the trip.  While this series probably represents the only bright spot on an at-first atrocious 10-game swing, plenty of positives can be taken from it.

The Cubs beat the Bucs in all four games, they beat them in pretty much every fashion that a team can be beat.  On Monday the Cubs scratched together runs from sacrifice flies and fielder's choices and such, winning a tight battle 4-3.  On Tuesday, the Cubs blew them out in humiliating fashion with six homers in the first four innings!  Geovany Soto, Aramis Ramirez, Marlon Byrd, Tyler Colvin, and Alfonso Soriano (twice) all went yard as the Cubs won 11-6.  In all my years of watching baseball, I have never seen such an amazing power display.  On Wednesday, there were 16 total runs less scored than in the game before; just one.  A classic pitcher's duel between Matt Garza, the most under-appreciated starter on the planet and Charlie Morton, scrub, was destined for extra innings when Starlin Castro homered to help his cause for National League Player of the Week honors, which he ended up winning.  Final score: 1-0.  On Thursday the Cubs pulled out with an early lead, only to blow it and then make a marathon comeback in the 8th to win 7-6.

This compilation of victories is nothing short of a masterpiece, and will not soon be forgotten by this writer.  The term 'textbook' baseball applies.  This sweep effectively knocked the Pirates out of postseason contention, not just because of the four losses, but because of the drastic effect the losses must have had on the team morale.  The Pirates did go out and acquire Ryan Ludwick and Derrek Lee at the deadline, but these moves appear to have backfired and the NL Central is now a two-team race.

After the White Sox were swept by the Yankees, they handily swept the Twins in Minnesota.  In reaction, a panelist (and Sox fan) on CSN wondered why his team is 'doing this to me again', referring to the Sox blowing important games and look hopeless only to win games out of nowhere and be back in contention in no time.  The panelist just wished the Sox would lose and stop toying with their fans' minds.  When a team's own fans want the team to lose, the team has definitely been through some confusing and ridiculously aggravating stretches.

The Yankees series was one such stretch.  A lifeless stretch for the Sox saw all four starters get the loss in Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and Phil Humber.  The Yankees also played around with different variations of beatdowns, in the form of a blowout (18-7), a tight win (3-2), and simple superiority (6-0 and 7-2).  The series left the Sox in third place behind the Indians and Tigers by a total of 6.5 games.

As a Cubs fan, obviously I'm very pleased with the outcomes of both series.  Although this is probably not a harbinger (in that the Cubs will probably go back to consistently and the Sox back to hovering in a tentative in-contention holding pattern), it was fun while it lasted for sure.  And it probably isn't going to happen again anytime soon, so I am taking advantage of this for all it can be.  Not just the four-game sweeps on both sides of town (and winning on the right side, no less), but the authenticity of the the wins provides a lesson: in how many ways can a team beatdown another?  A comical and interesting question in the same, and it was definitely explored by our two Chicago teams last week.        

Crosstown Showdown: White Sox 3, Cubs 2

Rain nearly ends close game prematurely, but Cubs return from delay flat

Series tied 1-1

After the Cubs took a surprising win in the first game of the series, the Cubs came back and played another competitive game Tuesday night.

Matt Garza was unable to contain Paul Konerko and for the fifth night in a row, Konerko homered, tying a franchise record.  Garza also gave up a run in the 3rd on a sacrifice by Juan Pierre.  The Sox had an early 2-0 lead, but the Cubs came back again.  Carlos Pena homered in the fifth to get the Cubs on the board, and the Cubs loaded the bases in the 6th when the weather began to change unfavorably.  Jeff Baker, batting with no outs and those loaded bases, needed to just put the ball in play somewhere and hope to get the tying run home from third to tie the game, no matter how he did it.

On the Cubs telecast on WGN, Len Kasper even said the Cubs would be happy with a double play ball just to get that one run home before the delay could possibly end the game.  Because if Baker wasn't able to get that run home, the game could be ended as a rain-shortened final score of 2-1 through six innings.  And the way the wind was wreaking havoc didn't suggest the storm was going to let up anytime soon.  Baker struck out looking, and the umps went straight to delay before Aramis Ramirez could have a chance to bat.

Luckily for the Cubs, Ramirez got his chance nearly two hours later and drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly.  But it only took an inning for the Sox to get the run right back, Brent Morel driving it in with a sac fly.  There was no comeback this time, and the Sox evened the season series at one apiece.  

The Cubs played a hard game, although they certainly got lucky after Baker's strikeout could have cost them the game.  The pitching has done a great job of containing a powerful offense thus far, although stopping Konerko has definitely been a problem thus far.  But the Cubs offense was alarmingly aggressive, and only made Mark Buehrle throw 70 pitches into the 6th inning and didn't a single walk the entire game.  The Sox bullpen was even less unforgiving, allowing only two hits, no walks and no runs over 3.2 innings.  Patience should be the key against hard-throwing righty Jake Peavy, fresh off the DL and possibly rattled.  The Cubs need to make him earn strikes, especially because it will take some time for his pitches to start getting the full movement on them.  For pride's sake, just win tonight, please.  

Milwaukee Massacre

For the second time in three years, the Cubs have brought down Miller Park (Wrigley Field North).  I haven't ever seen the Cubs beaten this badly, but still I don't have much sympathy for the Brewers.  They are the team with the big, league-leader type stars and they are always labeled as underrated.  They can hit but they can't pitch, the type that fans like but those teams can become frustrating.  8-1, 5-1, and 12-2 the final scores, the Cubs outscoring them 25-4.  Each game was a blowout and the pitching was unbelievably good.  The Cubs pitching has certainly been a strength and they showed it in Milwaukee.  This was the weekend that they put everything together.  Tyler Colvin and Kosuke Fukudome both had two homers over the weekend, and Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto each added one on Sunday.  Carlos Zambrano allowed a run in his relief appearance, but it didn't matter and he otherwise looked sharp.  I really had a hard time seeing the Cubs rotation being as good as they used to be with Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden, and Marquis of 2008, by far the best rotation the Cubs have put out in decades.  With only two of those remaining, I thought the rotation wouldn't be as good, but it has been amazing lately.  Like I said, everything is coming together.  This is the way the Cubs need to win baseball games this season: great pitching, good, patient offense, and efficient defense.  We have an easy part of the schedule coming up, with Washington, Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati over the next two weeks.  I see us coming out in first.

Chicago teams (Cubs, White Sox) went 6-0 over the weekend with different styles of play.  The Sox won on three go-ahead homers in the 8th or 9th, first a walk-off by Andruw Jones, then a walk-off by Alex Rios, then a go-ahead homer in the 8th by Paul Konerko.  Despite their attempts at smallball, I think this will be the same fill-em-up-and-homer-em-in team that they have been for so long.  Konerko has been a nice surprise for them, but they do have plenty of struggles.  Jake Peavy can no longer pitch.  One thing I know for sure, is that Seattle isn't too happy with their bullpen.