Rich Hill Does Not Dig the Long Ball

The Cubs continue their recent stretch of failures with today's game against the Phillies. After a very uplifting stretch where the team 8-1, they've now lost three of their last four games and everything is changing. Jason Marquis becomes the ace of the staff, Alfonso Soriano actually hit for power, Felix Pie is sent down for someone whose name is a religious contradiction, and Rich Hill gives up too many home runs en route to a 7-2 loss. Captain Lou needs to right this ship quickly or we are going to have some serious issues.

Game Summary for May 11th, 2007

• Score: Cubs are crushed by the Phillies, 7-2.
  
• Player of the Game: Alfonso Soriano. Went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in the 3rd inning. Looks like he's finally starting to get back into his groove.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Rich Hill. The prodigy is not performing well as of late, and today was no different with 5 earned runs given up in 5 innings. Even with this latest setback, however, he's still sporting an impressive 2.51 ERA.
  
• Comments: Unlike Big Z, Hill actually started off very well in the first three innings. Even afterwards, all of this carnage was due to two bad pitches to Pat Burrell. The Phillies outfielder rocked Hill for two home runs, one with two men on in the 4th and one with 1 man on in the 6th. These two bad pitches accounted for all of the earned runs Hill gave up, so there is still hope. Not much, but just a glimmer.
  
• Magic Number: 136. Apparently all the Brewers needed was some stiff competition, and the Mets gladly obliged.

Tomorrow's game is on FOX at 2:45, so that's pretty exciting. The kid Angel Guzman tries to prove that his 1.80 ERA outing last game wasn't a fluke, and the Cubs prepare to take a bite out of former White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia. Should be exciting.