5/25/08 @ Pirates; L 5-6; (29-21)

The Cubs appeared to be on their way to a win to wrap up this road trip. It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and one on base. Nate McLouth was facing Carlos Marmol, again. This time he didn’t hit a home run. He hit a fly ball that pushed Alfonso Soriano to near the warning track. Game over right…..wrong! Soriano lost it in the sun and it hit off his glove for a game tying double.

So for the fourth time this year, the Cubs and Pirates played extra innings. Today it only took two extra frames for Pittsburgh to get the best of Chicago. Soriano will be blamed for today’s loss, and in reality we do win the game if he makes the catch. There was a way to prevent that error, and it has nothing to do with Soriano. Marmol could have not walked Freddy Sanchez. Then McLouth never comes to bat.

Soriano’s dropped ball is inexcusable…unless you allow for the sun…but this is a 27 out game. The walk could have been an out if Marmol forces Sanchez to put the ball in play. There are certainly other opportunities to get an out during games that aren’t capitalized on, but the 27th out is most memorable. Offensively, the Cubs had chances to score more runs and make that dropped ball meaningless as well. It is a team game, and the Cubs lost today….not Soriano.

Early in this game the Cubs appeared to rolling towards another high scoring game. In the third inning they scored four runs. Soriano did his part in that inning with a two run homer to give the Cubs an early 3-2 lead. Paul Maholm had something to say about this being a high scoring day for the Cubs. He faced the minimum batters if five of the eight innings he pitched. The Cubs really only had scoring chances in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings. They didn’t capitalize in the sixth when they had two on and only one out with Fukudome and DeRosa hitting.

The Cubs head home still tied for first place in the central. The 2-4 road trip didn’t knock them out of first place, but tightened the race. Two blown saves, resulting in extra inning losses, to end the trip hurt so much worse. Especially when you consider that winning those would have given you a two game lead in the division and the best overall record in the major leagues.

There were positives individually on this road trip. Lee and Ramirez had struggled at the plate in the last home series with Pittsburgh. They broke out in a big way with DLee going 11 for 29 (.379) and Aramis going 11 for 27 (.407) on this six game road trip. In addition, DeRosa kept up his hot hitting, going 9 for 23 (.391) despite going hitless in a game at Houston to break up his hitting streak. He ended at eleven, and has already started a new three game streak.

Soriano went cold for about four games, but has his stroke back it appears. Micah Hoffpauir appears to be able to hit major league pitching and gives us another left handed bat when needed.

Starting pitching was decent. They allowed 20 earned runs over six games, and handed the bullpen the opportunity to win four of the six. The bullpen wasn’t horrid either, until the last two games with blown saves in the ninth.

Home sweet home. The Cubs are headed back to the friendly confines for seven games to try and get themselves right. They need to as they will be tested with four of their first five series in June being on the road.