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Cubs bounce back, 56-83
Pirates drop, 56-84
POTG: 1B D Lee (2H, HR, 4 RBI, R)
Runner Up: SP Rich Hill (7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11! K, QS, but an E), CF Juan Pierre (2 H, R), 2B Ryan Theriot (2 H, R), LF Matt Murton (2 H, R, SB), C Henry Blanco (2 H, RBI), PH Angel Pagan (2 H, R, RBI)
percentage points!
I guess I’m okay with Derek playing on his birthday. I GUESS. My first thought when I saw that ball in there air was “wow, we’re actually not going to lose this.” If that’s anyone else, it’s somehow an inning ending triple play.
13 hits with 12 singles is not the way to go thru life. It does help when relievers go completely off the rail. (That inning was sorta why the Pirates are just as bad.)
I watched this game on TiVo delay; I did use some of the timegap to work on other things and catch up on watching things (why didn’t my TiVo record House?, trying It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and passing on it, random programming), but I still started watching about an hour in and still caught up by the end; that’s what 2:27 games with two good starting performances will do for you.
Rich Hill can’t actually be this good, can he? I believe the bad parts – I believe, like every other Cubs pitcher, he can’t hold a runner to save his life. (That actually seems to be a ML thing, and I wonder if we’re going to see a fast OBP guy put up near triple digit season SB numbers in the near future, again.) I also believe he can’t field, because that’s the rest of the team too. The good stuff – striking out 11, only allowing 1 ER, 4 hits, that’s some crazy numbers and a 180 from how he started the season. I’m figuring on the league catching up to his curveball to some extent, because if they don’t, he’s a legit #2 starter and a much cheaper Barry Zito. (And that can’t be possible, so he’ll get shelled soon.)
I sure hope Derek rests today. I sure hope we stop using valuable pitchers with 5 run leads. But I’m happy to get a win here.