No No, No Problem!

The Cubs finally played a game against the Astros. They played it in Milwaukee of all places, where the ghost of Milt Pappas (OK, just the repeated use of Pappas - alive and kicking - as the easiest "obscure" trivia answer in Cub lore) was laid to rest.

Big Z felt right at home. After an 11-game rest and a ton of hair pulling and woe-is-me discussion by Cub fans and Chicago sports media, Zambrano got a win.

Not just any win. A no-hitter. The first in Miller Park history. Big Z gave up 1 walk and 1 HBP over 9 innings and 110 pitches. He also went 1 for 3 at the plate and scored a run in the Cubs 5-0 victory over the beleaguered Astros. The one walk came in the 4th and was followed by a Tejada double play ball. Z also hit Pence in the 5th with 2 outs, which was followed by a nice leaping catch by Lee on a hot liner to first.

This may not rank as the best no-hitter ever pitched. The Astros have certainly had a lot on their minds of late and having a supposed home game in Milwaukee didn't help. Neither did the fact that the 'Stros arrived in Milwaukee just a few hours before first pitch and had been sitting on their asses for two days waiting for some decision to be made.

You no doubt will read all the teeth gnashing over how poorly this was handled by MLB and Houston ownership, but it was a tough situation. They should have made an earlier decision, but hindsight is like that. Milwaukee may have seemed like Wrigley Lite on Sunday night, but many parks would have produced a majority Cub fans. Their appeal is evident every time they play an away game. With scheduling such a bitch anyway and weather everywhere in the shitter, the dome in Milwaukee was not a ridiculous choice. Unfortunate for the Astros, for sure, but not ridiculous. Would they prefer to lose a home game or be forced to ruin the potential playoff rotation with games after the season is over? Not to mention, depending on how the revenue is doled out, Milwaukee would certainly produce the most, if not close to the most, tickets sold of any other "neutral" venue.

Nevertheless, Houston was riding a hot streak, winning 14 of 15 prior to Sunday and had leapt into the Wild Card race. The slumping Cubs had been doing a similar amount of sitting around (though clearly with less angst) and Zambrano was coming off a string of bad outings culminating in bench time to rest his aching shoulder.

Big Z hadn't pitched a shutout since 2004 and hadn't had a complete game since June 16, 2007. His performance was stellar, with a zipping fastball and excellent command. 73 strikes, 37 walks, 10 strikeouts, 13 groundouts, 4 flyouts (only 2 balls left the infield, total) and 28 batters faced. It was also a good day for what has seemed like a shaky defense recently for the Cubs.

Soriano started the game out with a HR. That would be all she wrote, but the Cubs added four more in the third in typical fashion. Two singles started off the inning and with 2-out, Lee doubled in Cedeno and Zambrano. Ramirez singled in Lee and advanced to second on an error. He was immediately picked up on an RBI double by Soto. DeRosa walked and Johnson, the ninth batter of the inning, recorded the last out swinging at air in the 10th pitch of the at-bat (having recorded 5 fouls on a 2-2 count).

Now the Cubs stand 7 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee in the Central despite having won only 4 of their last 10 games as the Brewers dropped both ends of a double header to Philly. The Brewers and Phils are now tied for the Wild Card, Houston is 2 games back, St. Louis 4 1/2 back. So much for the Central being the dregs of the NL. Magic Number: Division and WC - 7 games (15 remaining)