Cubs Sat May 01 2010

Cubs Come From Behind Again; Beat Arizona 7-5

By Brian Livingston

After an 11-5 beat down of the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday the Cubs played spoilers again this afternoon at Wrigley. With the wind blowing out as it has been since the start of this series on Thursday it appeared to be another high-scoring, slugfest. Usually when the television and radio announcers predict these kinds of games it turns out to be a low-scoring snooze-fest, however, that would not be the case.

Down 5-3 as late as the seventh inning Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano played heroes in this one. Many words have been used to describe Soriano since he came to the Cubs in 2007. Some good and some bad. However, when Soriano is right he can carry a team for days even weeks in some instances. His hot September was the reason the Cubs reached the playoffs in '07. In the last two days he has been hitting like a mad man.

Today was no different. Soriano hit a two-run shot into the left field bleachers to tie the game at five all. It would be his fourth homer of the season, his second in as many days. What made the home run even sweeter was that it came off former Cub reliever Bobby Howry. It is comforting to know that he can blow the lead for teams other than the Cubs for once.

The game wouldn't stay tied for long. In the bottom of the eighth Derrek Lee drove in two with a single to left. It would be all the Cubs would need to win this one. Both Lee and Ramirez are struggling, but hopefully a new month brings them around. Cubs starter Carlos Silva wasn't as sharp as he has been in his previous outings, however, he did what he needed to do.

Silva to the best of his ability kept his team with in shouting distance. Any pitcher who can limit the damage on a day when the wind is blowing out at Wrigley did their job. Silva went only five innings and gave up eight hits. For someone who has never pitched at Wrigley full time he didn't do too bad. Speaking of doing their job, the bullpen came in and kept the D'Backs off the board for the rest of the game.

Carlos Marmol came on to close it out, but it wouldn't be a Cubs ninth inning without a little bit of drama right? Marmol would eventually strike out the side, but not before loading the bases. To his credit home plate umpire Sam Holbrook had a specific strike zone. He earned his fourth save of the season.

Not really much to complain about when they win. If they lost it'd be a different story, but a W is a W. They finished the month of April 11-13. Its not great, but it could be a lot worse. A positive way to look at things would they ended April with a win and started May with a win. Five months of baseball left. If the starting pitching can producing quality starts and the offense begins hitting with regularity and the bullpen starts putting up goose eggs this team should be right there when everything is all said and done.

The Cubs are 12-13 and they wrap up this four game series with Arizona tomorrow. They can win the series with a victory tomorrow. Tom Gorzelanny (0-3, 2.45) whose record isn't as bad as it looks will take on Arizona's Edwin Jackson (1-2, 6.67). Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT. WGN TV and Radio 720 AM will have the finale tomorrow.