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Cubs Tue Aug 24 2010
Cubs Thrash Nationals 9-1
After an emotional Lou Piniella stepped after yesterdays game against the Braves a new era was set to unfold in our Nation's Capital Monday night. Cubs third base coach Mike Quade took over as interim-manager for the remaining 37 games of what has been a disappointing 2010 season. The Cubs took on a lowly Nationals team, who like the Cubs, have been out of contention for quite some time. They were opposed by an old nemesis in the form of Livan Hernandez. The same Hernandez who mystified the Cubs in Game three of National League Division Series in 2007.
The Cubs offense began their scoring in the third inning. Blake DeWitt lead-off the inning with a solo-homer. Alfonso Soriano would hit a bloop triple that would score two. A triple that for all intents and purposes should've been an inside the park home run. The triple came to be after Nationals right fielder Willie Harris dove for the ball and proceeded to lay on the ground as the ball scooted down the right field line.
They would score again in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. This would be enough to earn Cubs starter Casey Coleman his first big league and Cubs win of his career. Coleman went six and a third innings allowing only one run and striking out three. The bullpen did not allow a hit the rest of the way.
While it's nice to see the Cubs a get a win for their new skipper it is somewhat of a moot point. They are going nowhere this year and now it becomes a waiting game until the end of the season arrives and General Manager Jim Hendry can begin his search for the new manager. The top two candidates for the spot are without question Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg. Who knows if we would be having this discussion if the Cubs were in contention and not sitting 20 games out of first in late August. It'll be an interesting next three to four months to see how this all plays out.
Until that time comes the Cubs will continue onward and play out the stretch. They continue their series against Washington tomorrow night as Carlos Zambrano (4-6, 4.97 ERA) will take on the Nationals John Lannan (5-5, 5.13 ERA). Game time is 6:05 p.m. CT and can be seen on WGN TV and heard WGN Radio 720 AM .
