Just a week ago, a veteran scout was asked his assessment of the Cubs.
“The thing I don’t like about them is they can go one, two, three games without scoring any runs,” he said. “Their starting pitching should keep it close, but their bullpen isn’t good enough to win close games, so if they aren’t hitting, they are in trouble.”
Since the scout’s evaluation, the Cubs have lost four of five games to the Mets and Reds, teams that started Wednesday a combined 29 games below .500, 55 games out of first place. They are two of the four worst hitting teams in the National League.
The Cubs have scored only 11 runs in 44 innings in those losses, and two of them were because the bullpen couldn’t win a close game, including Wednesday’s 4-3, 12-inning heartbreaker to Cincinnati.
And so, as manager Dusty Baker says, “We have no choice. We either keep fighting or roll over and die.”
Despite it all, the Cubs are not dead–yet–in the three-for-all National League wild-card playoff race.
Houston pulled a half-game ahead of the Cubs and San Francisco by defeating St. Louis 6-4. The Giants lost to the Padres
4-3 in 10 innings.
“We have four games left and we have to run the table,” starter Glendon Rusch said.
What happened after Rusch was relieved in the seventh with a 1-1 tie is the stuff that will become part of Cubs history, whether it turns out to be negative or positive.
They looked like winners when Moises Alou’s sacrifice fly gave them a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning.
They looked like winners when closer LaTroy Hawkins got the first two batters out in the ninth.
And then …
And then Hawkins gave up a triple to D’Angelo Jimenez and a game-tying double to Austin Kearns on an 0-2 pitch.
“I gave up a run, but it could have been worse,” Hawkins said after blowing his ninth save in 33 chances. “I could have given up another.”
Jon Leicester did. In fact, he gave up two of them in the 12th, when Kearns hit a homer after Jimenez walked. And the Cubs’ offense was left spinning its wheels again, even though Corey Patterson scored on Alou’s double-play grounder in the bottom of the 12th.
“I don’t think there could be a more frustrating loss than this one,” catcher Michael Barrett said.
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WHIZZER SAYS
RedEye’s prognosticating pooch gives the lowdown on the Cubs’ final four games.
Thursday (vs. Cincinnati)
The Cubs couldn’t get swept, could they? They could, but they won’t. Good news: They also tie the Astros. Only because they’re off.
Friday (vs. Atlanta)
Looking up. The ‘Stros let one slip to Colorado and our guy Kerry–the pitcher, not the candidate–saves the Cubs. But he raises taxes. These late starts of San Fran’s are cutting into my nightcaps. Giants beat those L.A. martini-sippers to stay tied. Pour me another.
Saturday (vs. Atlanta)
I love that Carlos Zambrano. Doesn’t get rattled in big games and puts out a nice spread at dinner parties. It’s a close one, but Cubs win. But so do the Giants. It’s on, G-Men.
Sunday (vs. Atlanta)
Can you feel it? I can feel it. Can you feel it? Did I ask that already? Who says you can’t sweep a team as good as the Braves? They do. Meanwhile,
Giants and Astros win, not that we care anymore. Our magic number is 1969. Good night, Chicago.
