It should have been billed as the resistible force versus the movable object.
On a glorious day and night for baseball alongside Lake Michigan, arguably in the best weather conditions Chicago fans will enjoy in 2011, the Cubs welcomed the World Series champion Giants back to Wrigley Field on Tuesday with starts by Doug Davis and Rodrigo Lopez.
Good luck with that.
The Giants, playing without 2010 catalyst Buster Posey and former National League batting champ Freddy Sanchez, ranked last in the majors in scoring upon arrival but were still too much for the team with the highest starters’ ERA in the majors.
They bombed Davis to win the opener 13-7 and followed home plate umpire Tim McClelland’s debatable call to take control of the second game, winning 6-3 with Brian Wilson picking up an easy save for Barry Zito.
This was the same old story for the Cubs, who usually lose when they start someone other than their top three starters. They have been a .500 team behind Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Garza but are 8-24 behind everyone else.
Never mind that the Giants had averaged 2.7 runs in their previous 22 games. They pounded out 18 hits in Game 1 and needed only five innings to add another 12 in Game 2.
“They’re a pitchable team,” Davis (1-7) said. “There are holes in everyone’s swing. If you are able to execute your pitches, you can be successful against them. Every hitter slumps. It’s just a matter of when you get them. They were slumping before they came here and today broke out a little bit.”
The combined line for Davis and Lopez: 9 IP, 20 H, 11 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO.
“We have been real inconsistent in those (last two spots in the rotation),” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “I believe (Randy) Wells will get better. Dougie has been good in spots but wasn’t good today. You just keep trying to (help) those guys, get the best out of people.”
If there was one inning that summed up the day, it was the fifth in Game 2.
With the Cubs leading 2-1, center-fielder Reed Johnson threw home to try to cut down Andres Torres after catching a fly from Pedro Sandoval. The throw was on the money and Geovany Soto did a good job of blocking the plate, seeming to tag Torres as he knocked him to the side. McClelland initially called Torres out but then saw the ball on the ground and reversed his call.
Soto was stunned. Replays appeared to show him control the ball before it came out of his glove. Quade charged out of the dugout and was able to get McClelland to consult his crew, but he did not reverse the call that allowed the Giants to tie the score 2-2. They took a 3-2 lead later in the inning when Nate Schierholtz greeted reliever John Grabow with a single to center, and then blew the game open.
Grabow gave up hits to the first three guys he faced, with Brandon Crawford’s two-run double and Eli Whiteside’s bloop single following Schierholtz’s single. The Giants wound up with five runs in the inning — none of which would have scored if the Cubs had gotten the call from McClelland.
Quade said from his vantage point the play was “caught, tagged and out,” but pointed out that it was still just a 2-2 tie after the call. Soto too went out of his way to be kind to McClelland, saying he didn’t have an angle to see the ball.
“Tough break there,” he said.
Tough day, and night, at the office.
Twitter @ChiTribRogers
