While you were sleeping…

PUBLISHED: July 17, 2014 at 12:29 AM CDT | UPDATED: June 18, 2018 at 3:58 PM CDT

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Cubs fans made themselves at home at Chase Field in Phoenix. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

What if . . .

By Dave van Dyck

PHOENIX–This was the game the Cubs knew they had a good chance to lose just because Brandon Webb was pitching. Webb is good, obviously a bit better than Carlos Zambrano after a 3-1 victory.

The difference in the game? The Cubs’ top five batters were a combined 1-for-20. The hit was a single by Derrek Lee and that turned into the Cubs’ only run.

Meanwhile, the D’backs top five hitters were 4-for-19, but that included solo home runs by No. 2 Stephen Drew and No. 5 Mark Reynolds.

As manager Lou Piniella said afterward, “Let’s not doom-and-gloom this thing.”

Epilogue

Now it comes down to Ted Lilly, who was almost unbeatable after a Cubs loss in the regular

season. The bad news is Lilly already has lost to Arizona’s Game 2 pitcher Doug Davis at Chase

Field this season.

But the Cubs offense needs to show up if they are to go back to the Friendly Confines

without an 0-2 deficit. The bad news is that Cub hitters were 19-24 against left-handed starters

this season.

It is not mandatory that the Cubs win Thursday, but the reality is they need to win one

game in Arizona to win three games. So that makes Thursday even more important. If not, then it

makes Game 5 back at Chase Field absolutely mandatory.

“It’s gonna happen! It happens! It happened!”

First things first

9:07 p.m. (Chicago time): Everybody knows Alfonso Soriano will swing at anything any time, including Brandon Webb. So Webb throws the inevitable sinker on his first pitch of the Division Series … and Soriano, of course, swings. It’s a meek grounder to third base.

That seems to relax Webb, pitching in his first postseason game, and he gets through the first inning with only a walk to Jacque Jones.

Now onto Mr. Unpredictable. It looked like it might be a long night for Carlos Zambrano after Chris Young hit his second pitch up the middle and then stole second base. But Big Z kept his cool and ended the inning with a strikeout of cleanup hitter Tony Clark after falling behind 3-0. That was huge for Zambrano, huge.

Carlos Zambrano had to work his way out of a jam in the first inning. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

First things first

9:07 p.m. (Chicago time): Everybody knows Alfonso Soriano will swing at anything any time, including Brandon Webb. So Webb throws the inevitable sinker on his first pitch of the Division Series–and Soriano, of course, swings. It’s a meek grounder to third base.

That seems to relax Webb, pitching in his first postseason game, and he gets through the first inning with only a walk to Jacque Jones.

Lou Piniella had time to survey the scene for Game 1. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez)

Feeling their way

9:21: The second inning seemed like a feeling-out process for hitter vs. pitcher. After Cliff

Floyd struck out to lead off the inning, Mark DeRosa poked a single into right field, not a bad

move against a sinkerball pitcher. But Webb’s sinker was working, as groundouts by Geovany Soto

and Ryan Theriot show.

It was a big at-bat for Soto, who played only 18 games before starting the first game of

the postseason. This time up was just to get the jitters out. His main job was keeping Zambrano

calm anyhow.

As for Z on the mound, he did walk unknown right fielder Jeff Salazar but got No. 7 hitter

Chris Snyder to hit into a double play. So far so good.

Brandon Webb gave up a double to Carlos Zambrano, but struck out three Cubs in a row. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

See Z run

9:31: Look who’s lumbering around the bases. It’s none other than Zambrano, who smacks a ball off

the left field wall. At least he has the sense to stop at second, unlike at times during the

season.

But Zambrano gets to catch his breath, as Soriano, Jones and Derrek Lee all strike out.

Aaah, so that’s why Webb won a Cy Young two seasons ago. He seems locked in now.

The Diamondbacks become the first team to go down in order and that’s important for

Zambrano. He’s on a somewhat limited pitch count because he may pitch again Sunday on three days

of rest.

Stephen Drew’s homer off Carlos Zambrano broke the scoreless tie. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez)

Oh-oh, 1-0

9:50: Stephen Drew, who just misses out on being a rookie, swats a 1-0 pitch from Zambrano over

the wall in right-center field. Way over the wall.

Will Zambrano crumble? Nope. He comes right back to get the next three hitters—Nos. 3-4-5

in the order. Impressive. Kind of what you would expect from an $18-million pitcher.

The Cubs again have trouble getting anything going, even though DeRosa is hit by a pitch with

two outs. Soto makes the last out on a fantastic play by shortstop Drew.

Shortstop Ryan Theriot tried to make the play, but former Cub Augie Ojeda was safe with an infield single. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

Take the fifth

10:10: The crowd is announced at 48,864, which is a sellout. This isn’t Wrigley Field, you know.

The Diamondbacks still had tickets left Tuesday morning. How many Cub fans were present? Not as

many as expected, or maybe they were widely scattered. This is definitely a pro-Snake crowd.

Webb does a nice job of surviving a leadoff error and Bob Melvin proves prophetic. The

Arizona manager said beforehand he was starting the 6-7 Clark at first base because of his

“swingspan,” which might help a ground ball pitcher. It did, as Clark dived for a Jones grounder,

stopped it and scooped it to Webb for the third out, saving a run.

Except for the score, everything is going right for the Cubs and Zambrano, who ends the

inning with his 69th pitch striking out Webb. Zambrano give a little celebratory hop.

Derrek Lee scored the tying run on Ryan Theriot’s single, a happy moment for Carlos Zambrano. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez)

Time to tie

10:28: Zambrano gets new life and Ronnie Woo Woo incites the crowd. While the Cubs were batting

“Woo Woo” was in the third deck whooping it up to cheers and boos.

Meanwhile, the Cubs take advantage of Webb’s two-walk, wild pitch wildness, with Theriot

bouncing a bases-loaded infield chopper over the head of third baseman Mark Reynolds. Hey, they

all count. Not to be overlooked in the inning was a two-out walk to Soto that loaded the bases

for Theriot.

While Webb seemed to be wearying, Zambrano is zinging again, perhaps with renewed spirit

from the tie score. He makes quick work of the Backs, despite Drew’s single.

Reliever Carlos Marmol huddled with teammates and manager Lou Piniella after the tie is broken. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez)

Time for 2nd-guessers

10:52: So Lou Piniella pulls Zambrano after six innings, four hits and only 85 pitches. Then

Reynolds deposits the fourth pitch from Carlos Marmol over the left field wall for a 2-1 D’backs

lead.

It got worse when former Cub Augie Ojeda doubled Snyder to third and pinch-hitter Conor

Jackson stroked a sacrifice fly for a two-run lead.

Was Piniella right? Probably, if he really wants Zambrano fresh Sunday. It’s an easy

decision to second-guess, but what would have happened if Zambrano threw 25 more pitches and

still wasn’t done with the inning. Relievers don’t like coming into games with runners on base

and Marmol might have done the same thing.

Either way, the decision was magnified because Webb recovered his poise and stuffed the

Cubs, including a third strikeout of Lee.

Back here, the Lopez family–Marie, Peyton Thomas 3-1/2 months and Valentin–stayed up to watch the game with about 35 other people at the Pavek Community Center in Berwyn. (Tribune photo by Charles Cherney)

Time’s running out

11:14: The Arizona bullpen has been lights-out, with the eighth inning usually going to Brandon

Lyon, as it does to Bob Howry for the Cubs. Lyon did his job by getting the Cubs in order.

The inning started with Aramis Ramirez flying out to the right field wall, a carbon copy of

the ball he hit to lead off the fourth inning. With the roof open, the ball usually shoots out to

left but Ramirez got two balls in the air to right field.

Cliff Floyd also flied out to right, making him 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. At least Howry

looked sharp, his fastball hitting 95 m.p.h.

Arizona closer Jose Valverde finished off the Cubs in the ninth. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

Wait till tomorrow?

11:30: Mr. Excitable, Jose Valverde, the D’backs answer to Big Z, is the closer. He comes running

from the bullpen to the infield to the cheers of the crowd, then stops, takes his cap off and

says a prayer. Some of the time he needs it because he is an escape artist, rarely going through

a 1-2-3 inning.

Wednesday was one of those palm-sweating ninths, because he walked pinch-hitter Daryle Ward

with two outs in the ninth and had to face Soriano. Two pitches later it was over as Soriano

bounced to Drew at short.

The Cubs had gone down quietly, getting only four hits all night. The only extra base hit

was by Zambrano, who at least was not the loser.

Arizona closer Jose Valverde finished off the Cubs in the ninth. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo)

Epilogue

Now it comes down to Ted Lilly, who was almost unbeatable after a Cubs loss in the regular

season. The bad news is Lilly already has lost to Arizona’s Game 2 pitcher Doug Davis at Chase

Field this season.

But the Cubs offense needs to show up if they are to go back to the Friendly Confines

without an 0-2 deficit. The bad news is that Cub hitters were 19-24 against left-handed starters

this season.

It is not mandatory that the Cubs win Thursday, but the reality is they need to win one

game in Arizona to win three games. So that makes Thursday even more important. If not, then it

makes Game 5 back at Chase Field absolutely mandatory.

Inning by inning »

Intro

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Pre-game

–>

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

Post-game

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