Benchwarmers to the Rescue!

Funny thing happened during today's game. As I was relaxed comfortably on the couch, the Cubs were up 2-1 and Scott Eyre was pitching. Shortly thereafter, I woke up from an unintentional nap and we were down 3-2 with Bob Howry on the mound. That is not what you want to wake up to.

The Cubs were not to be kept down however, as a 9th and 10th inning rally served to tie the game, and then win it, respectively. This victory marked the completion of our first three game sweep of a team all season, as the lowly Nationals behaved as expected: rolling over and playing dead. Adding on to our recent list of accomplishments, today's win stretched our winning streak to five games, it is the first one-run game we've won all season, and the team has won 8 of their last 9 games. Impressive indeed.

None of this would have been possible without some risky managing decisions and clutch hitting by our bench. In the 9th, Cliff Floyd came in to pinch hit for Cesar Izturis and he drew a walk. Due to Floyd's ailing back, Jason Marquis reprised his role as an emergency pinch runner and took Floyd's place on first. Daryle Ward then came in to replace the pitcher, Neal Cotts, and he reached on a single to left. Normally he would be taken out here for a pinch runner, because he is the slowest man alive, but Jason Marquis was already busy. Theriot then comes on and pulls off a clutch single to drive in Marquis and tie up the game. Somewhere in that inning Soriano, Ramirez, and Jacque Jones all failed to get hits. If even one of them had the game would have ended right there.

In the 10th inning, Matt Murton, who had earlier replaced Mark DeRosa in right field, led off with a double. Michael Barrett then grounded out, bringing up the intrepid Henry Blanco. Hank hit a bloop single to right that should have scored Murton, but the redhead hesitated at third base. Again, the game should have been over at this point. So up comes Daryle Ward, who would have normally been replaced by a pinch runner already but we ran out of non-slow people in the 9th. About five seconds before the pitch, Bob Brenley mentions that the left fielder is playing way too shallow. So Ward of course lofts a fly ball over his head. Game, set, series.

Notice in all of that two inning rally that won the game for us, the only person who started the game that got a hit was Ryan Theriot. Our bench finally pulled through in the clutch. Awesome.

Game Summary for May 6th, 2007

• Score: Cubs defy all odds to beat the Nationals, 4-3.
  
• Player of the Game: The entire bench. We used the whole thing, and needed every single player that played.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Bob Howry. I fall asleep and the guy gives up two runs, but gets charged with neither of them. Bad form sir.
  
• Comments: Angel Guzman pitched surprisingly well considering his stats in Iowa, giving up one run over five innings. Lou always talks about trying to conserve his bullpen/roster, but did none of that here. In the 7th inning when Washington scored two runs, he used 4 different pitchers to get 3 outs. The number of players used in this game was an astonishing 21, everyone except Zambrano, Lilly, Rich Hill, and Rocky Cherry. I guess I can't complain much when we win a game, but for just a 10 inning game that seems a little ridiculous. Things were so messed up that Soriano ended up playing 2nd base for an inning, a position he hasn't played since 2005.
  
• Magic Number: 138. Cubs just swept the Nationals, and the Brewers just swept the Pirates. Now we're swapping opponents. I don't see us gaining much ground in the next three games.

Cubs have the day off on Monday, then resume their homestand with Ted Lilly facing off against Ian Snell and the Pirates. Snell has very good stats, but come on it's the Pirates. I'm expecting good things. I'll pop in sometime tomorrow with an explanation on why the Cubs should actually have the third best record in baseball.