Guess Who's Back...Back Again

Welcome back, Al. Your table is ready.

Coincidence or not, Soriano's return to action came along with a 10-6 Cub victory at Arizona. A game they needed badly. Hanging on to a 1-game lead in the Central over a Milwaukee team buoyed by the Hefty Lefty, the Cubs can't afford to languish on the road.

Lilly pitched a nice game, though laborer from behind at times (get your mind out of the gutter!). One of those fan-favorite rebound games he's hung on opponents since becoming a Cub. Six strong innings, giving up 3 earned runs. After Lee homered in the first (yes, he can still hit it out!), the Cubs managed to let Arizona stake the lead with 2 runs in the fourth. Before it started to look like this might be another one of those games, the Cubs broke out with 3 runs in the fifth, including a Lilly RBI single, a Soriano ground-out RBI and a Lilly steal of third that resulted in an RBI for The Riot on another groundout. That is the greedy, opportunistic offense that got them in first.

The game tightened in the bottom of the fifth after Lilly walked the leadoff man, put him on second after a wild pitch and gave up an RBI triple (Jackson). Lilly struck out Reynolds, then induced a fielder's choice from Young, which ended with Lilly tagging Jackson in a rundown and Young, who advanced to second on the rundown, getting picked off by Lilly while trying to steal third.

The big blow came from Reed Johnson's grand slam in the eigth, putting the Cubs up 10-3. The lead held despite a weak effort from Howry (3 earned runs in 1 inning) as setup for Marmol, who also looked a little shaky, but didn't give up a run.

It think (hope?) a little rust came off last night. Lee hit his first dinger in 26 games. Ramirez and Soto both ended 0-fer streaks and Fukudome, though he didn't get a hit, did manage to walk three times and score a run. Soriano went 1 for 5, with an RBI ground out and a late, rather meaningless double. However, he put the ball in play (striking out once, in his first at bat) and eked out an RBI that put the Cubs up 3-2 in the fifth. Also good to see Johnson with a big game, especially with Edmonds unavailable with a sore knee.

The Cubs get a breather at home with four straight against the Marlins before heading to a big face-off in Milwaukee. Emonds is having tests on his knee today and Wood's blister remains a big concern. I don't know that the Cubs will make a move for relief help (are the A's going to help them out by dealing Houston Street on the cheap?). It looks more likely, at least right now, that Samardzija might come up to help if Marmol has to close for an extended period. On the other hand, with Milwaukee breathing down their neck, maybe the Cubs make a deal for another solid bat or a dirty dealing relief man.

Speaking of...

The Brewers seem content to pitch C(no period)C(no period) into the ground with the half season they have him for. He has responded with 4 straight wins, including 3 straight complete games. If the Brew Crew may have concerns in the pen, Sabathia isn't going to let it concern him. Let's not make Harden think he has to finish the game to get a damn victory.