July 8th, 2007
Cubs; Friday, July 13th; 2:20 PM ET; Starters unkown
I'm befuzzled. I went to the Cubs game today, expecting a win, as it's been automatic these days when Big Z takes the hill. Well, not so much today. He pitched a good game. Quality start if you ask me. In fact, 3 runs, 3 walks, 4 hits over 7 innings is the stats. I was there, and I watched him leave in the 8th inning down 3-2.
With Bobby [Howry]coming on for the 8th, I thought our chances were good. Unfortunately the unexplainable happened. A good reliever- our best a year ago- couldn't fool the hitters he faced. Single. Single. Single. Then Jason Bay comes to the plate with the bases chucked, and Bobby said to himself, "Only 3 in a row? Hey, let's make it 4!" So he tosses a pitch in there, and much to the delight of Bucco fans at PNC, Bay had himself a 2 RBI single, 1st and 3rd, 0 outs.
Then, he got a sacrifice fly to take place, 1 more run. 6-2 Pirates. He then got out of the inning, pitching like 2007 Scott Eyre, or April version of Howry. The thing that caught me though was this: Big Z: 7 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, Howry: 1 inning, 4 hits, 3 runs. 6-2 final. The good news? The Brewers lost 7-2, and 2 out of 3 to the Washington Nationals.
That leads me to my next point. While it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the Brewers have no chance at the division title, the Pirates do. The Cardinals, Astros, and Reds just don't seem to have it this year. The Cardinals are not the jubilant team that had pitchers with actual talent. The Astros and Reds seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth.
The Pirates though, get better, and better and, well, better. If the Cubs want to win this division, they'd better watch out for the Pirates. That is the only thing keeping the Cubs and Brewers at a disadvantage. The Pirates can beat anyone in this division. That'll help them in the long run.
Thanks,
Ryan
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