Ryan Dempster shut down the Cardinals for six innings on Sunday night. His offense had spotted him a one run lead in the second, but had failed to cross the plate again since. In the sixth inning, they managed to add an insurance run and then some.
With one run in, Adam Kennedy's error not only botched a double play, but allowed Chicago to go on and score four more runs in the inning. Three consecutive hits following the error plated three runs and extended the lead to 6-0.
Dempster ran into trouble in the seventh and allowed two runs. He yielded to Jeff Samardizja to face Pujols, who drove in the second run with a double. Samardizja struck out Mather for the final out of the inning.
The last three innings were scoreless on both sides, as the Cubs picked up the rubber game of the series. They have now won four straight series and are 12 - 5 since returning from their west coast trip. Included in that stretch, they are 6-1 against the Cards and Brewers. Their lead increased from one game to four over the two plus weeks. It got me thinking, what is different about this team than Cubs teams from the past.
When I was at the game Saturday, listening to the lineup, what struck me most about this team is the depth. While Tony LaRussa chooses to hit his pitcher eighth, we were hitting rookie of the year candidate Geovony Soto. The worst hitter (year to date average) in the lineup was Jim Edmonds.
Sunday was typical of that depth. Soriano, Ramirez, and Soto each had two hits. DeRosa and Cedeno each had two RBI. And Derek Lee had a hit, a run, and an rbi. Top to bottom there isn't an easy out in this lineup. Theriot is the only hitter you would question getting an extra base hit when needed, but he leads the team in average. He will at least get you to the next hitter.
More and more this appears to be the year.
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