Friday’s festivities in Wrigley Field produced one of those good-news, bad-news scripts for Cubs fans in the crowd of 32,257.
The good news: The Cubs hit five home runs for the first time this season. Brian McRae, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, Doug Glanville and Kevin Orie connected. The Cubs also totaled 14 hits and nine runs.
The bad news: They lost 13-9 as the Dodgers led 7-0 before McRae’s homer and 10-1 before Sandberg’s. Los Angeles amassed 20 hits in dealing the Cubs (43-67) their ninth straight loss.
An incurable optimist of The Glass is Half-Full School might chirp, “Why, we’d be only one game under .500 if it weren’t for this losing streak and the 0-14 streak at the start of the season.”
Losing pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez (7-5) and his manager Jim Riggleman took a more realistic approach to the Cubs’ woes.
Gonzalez blamed high pitches he served up with the wind blowing out at 16 m.p.h. as the reason he was shelled for six runs and six hits in just two innings. Riggleman said the Cubs have under-achieved because they rarely combine good hitting and good pitching in the same game.
“I threw it, and they hit it,” said Gonzalez. “And I got behind the hitters.”
“I know we can be more consistent,” said Riggleman. “It’s like a scout who clocks a pitcher throwing 93 m.p.h. Then in the game, he throws 88. The scout says, `I know he can throw harder. I’ve seen it.’ I know we can put together hitting, pitching, fielding. We just haven’t done it.”
Hideo Nomo improved his record to 10-9 and struck out 10 Cubs in the 6 2/3 innings he pitched.
The Dodgers hit two homers, one by Wilton Guerrero and a three-run shot by Todd Zeile, who had the lowest batting average of his career, .229, the one year he played for the Cubs.
That figures.
