5/17/08 vs. Pirates; L 6-7; (26-17)

Alfonso Soriano....seems like we're starting with that a lot lately...went five for five today. He has five straight games with a leadoff hit. He gave the Cubs the lead in the second, homered in the fourth to extend the lead, and homered again in the seventh to tie the game. But it wasn't enough. Nate McLouth homered off of Carlos Marmol in the ninth to give the Pirates a two run lead. Soriano scored again in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to one, but the Cubs still fell short.

Zambrano wasn't sharp today, getting pulled in the fifth inning. That was his shortest outing of the season by two full innings. He still didn't get saddled with the loss thanks to Soriano's seventh inning game tying home run. Carlos Marmol had his first real negative of the season. He hadn't recorded a loss, blown save, or even messed up a hold so far. Nate McLouth put an end to that. The bullpen had done a fine job shutting down the Pirates since taking over for Zambrano in the fifth. The shot by McLouth was the only mistake, but proved to be most costly to the Cubs today.

Offensively, (besides Soriano) Ryan Theriot had two hits for the Cubs. The second allowed him to pass Derek Lee for the season lead in total hits on the team. He now holds the highest batting average of any position player on the team. DeRosa was the third Cub with a multi hit day. The hole in the lineup was in the three, four, five hitters. Lee, Ramirez and Fukudome went a combined zero for twelve. That isn't going to happen every day.

This game is one of those 60 losses you know you'll end up with. The key for a championship caliber team will be to bounce back tomorrow. With the series tied at a game apiece, the Cubs will look for a win on Sunday to take their third series in a row on this homestand.