05/12/08 vs. Padres; W 12-3; (23-15)

Chicago jumped out to an early lead over the Padres tonight. In the first inning Ryan Theriot singled and scored on a double by Derek Lee. The Padres tied the game in the third, and then took the lead briefly in the fifth with a solo home run by Jody Gerut.

The Cubs quickly responded in the fifth. Carlos Zambrano started the fireworks himself with a lead off double. Then things got really interesting. Alfonso Soriano homered to left on a 1-2 count to regain the lead. Eight batters later the inning finally ended, with the Cubs tallying six runs in all. They didn’t even record an out until the 9th batter hit that inning. It looked like this:

Zambrano doubled
Soriano homered making it 3-2
Theriot walked
Lee singled
Ramirez singled making it 4-2
Fukudome walked
Soto singled making it 6-2
DeRosa singled making it 7-2

Reed Johnson was up next and hit the ball sharply up the middle. Randy Henn got a glove on it to slow it down and Iguchi fielded it right at second base making for an easy double play. Zambrano struck out to end the inning.

Zambrano retired the Padres in order and the Cubs half of the sixth looked a lot like the fifth inning did. Again they sent ten hitters to the plate and scored five more runs. If the Cubs can hit like this when it is cold, what will happen when it warms up?The team seems to be surging at this point. Of the starters, Fukudome was the only one not to get a hit. That probably had to do with him drawing three walks in his five plate appearances. Five of the nine starters…including Zambrano…had two hits. Both of Soriano’s hits were extra base knocks. Which makes me question the decision, reported on cubs.com, that the Cubs are considering adding Jim Edmonds. Why screw around with something that is working? Is a left handed hitter worth messing with the chemistry of this team right now? For that matter, he is hitting .178. Pie is hitting .222 now. For more options on left handed hitters available, you need to read Show Is Crazy When It Comes To Cubbies.

My vote goes to leaving the team alone while we sort out pitching. We are back in first place, leading the league in runs scored, let’s not fix that which isn’t broken.