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With pressure on, Lilly folds for Cubs in Game 2
PHOENIX -- Maybe the biggest byproduct when Lou Piniella rolled the dice and crapped out Wednesday night was that the weight of this first-round playoff series for the Cubs shifted from Carlos Zambrano to Ted Lilly.
In fact, the whole dicey decision to go with a three-man starting rotation for the series and pitch Zambrano on short rest in a possible Game 4 was all about Lilly in the first place. Zambrano was going to pitch twice if the series went the distance regardless, but the decision gets Lilly a second start if the Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks go the full five games.
It's just that nobody on the Cubs' side planned for Lilly's start Thursday night in Game 2 to become as critical of a must-win situation as it did with Wednesday's tough and controversial loss.
Or for it to go so badly.
Lilly lasted just 3 1/3 innings and yielded six earned runs. The Cubs were trailing 8-4 in the sixth inning when the Beacon News went to press.
''It's as huge game for us,'' first baseman Derrek Lee said before the game. ''We don't want to get out of here 0-2, so we want to come back and play a good game tonight.''
If there's a pitcher on the Cubs' staff the team would want in a situation like this, it's Lilly, the $40 million free agent in his first year with the club who entered the game 9-1 this season in starts after a Cubs loss.
Even after a shaky start to the first inning Thursday, Lilly stranded runners at second and third by striking out Wednesday's hero, Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds, to end the threat.
But he ran into trouble in the second, when Chris Young hit a three-run homer to turn a 2-0 Cubs lead into a 3-2 deficit. Eric Byrnes' triple two batters later scored Stephen Drew for a two-run margin.
Lilly, a 15-game winner this season, lost a 3-1 game to the D-backs despite pitching six strong innings in his only meeting against them this year. His opposing pitcher that night in late August was Thursday's starter, lefty Doug Davis.
Rookie catcher Geovany Soto gave Lilly more run support in one swing of the bat Thursday than he got in that regular-season meeting. Soto put the Cubs ahead with a two-run homer off Davis with one out in the second.
But this night belonged to Lilly. And the way the series projects after Wednesday's loss, it might be in his hands, too.
''I have a huge responsibility to my teammates and the city,'' he said, ''and I feel fortunate that I'm in that situation where there's people that rely on me and expect me to do certain things and to be able to contribute.''
More than contribute. If the Cubs come back and win this series, Lilly will have to lead -- and he might have to carry.
''I just feel like I'm lucky to be in this situation, to be able to be here and have an opportunity to start an important game for the franchise,'' he said. ''I mean, this is all you ask for going into the offseason last year. This was one of the most important things -- to have the opportunity to play in October.''