Cubs find power stroke
Soriano hits 2 of their 3 HRs; rout of Reds tightens race
CINCINNATI -- The Cubs had fewer home runs in July than the New York Yankees' Hideki Matsui. So much of their power had disappeared in recent weeks that it took them four hits in an inning to score one run Tuesday and five to score two in the ninth inning Friday.
They had been dealing in so many singles, they were starting to look like a dating service.
(AP)
''You guys love that story,'' first baseman Derrek Lee said before the game Saturday.
Then he rewrote the next chapter, driving the 13th pitch of the game into the left-field seats for the first of three Cubs homers in an 8-1 victory against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
''You happy now?'' a smiling Lee said afterward.
Alfonso Soriano was, especially after hitting a three-run shot into the upper deck in left in the second and adding a two-run homer in the ninth.
So were about half the fans in the largest non-Opening Day crowd in the five-year history of the ballpark, the blue-clad half cheering every step of a victory that closed the gap on the first-place Milwaukee Brewers to 1½ games.
That's the closest the Cubs have been to the National League Central lead since snow fell at Wrigley Field barely a week into the season.
''We've just got to keep grinding,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''It's a little early to get google-eyed over where we're at.''
Yeah, but as winning pitcher Sean Marshall (5-4) said: ''It's a blast playing for this team right now.''
It was only the second time in a month the Cubs hit more than one homer in a game. The sudden burst of power shot their July total to 11 homers, six fewer than the Washington Nationals, who have the second-fewest in the league.
''As long as we win, man, it don't matter how we do it,'' said Lee, whose homer was his 10th of the season and fourth since the All-Star break.
The blow essentially knocked Reds ace Aaron Harang (10-3) from the game. Harang felt soreness in his back while warming up before the game and didn't take the mound in the second.
The Cubs have ace Carlos Zambrano (13-7) going today as they try to win their fourth series in five tries since the break. And keep the good times -- if not the blasts -- rolling.
''We're right there,'' Lee said. ''We just have to keep the pressure on. There's still a lot of baseball to go. We just have to continue to play the way we're playing and win these series and put ourselves in good position coming down the stretch.''
Power or no power.
''You guys don't believe us, but we don't care,'' Lee said. ''We really don't. I guess it makes it easier to get to eight with home runs. But right now, we really don't care how it happens.''
Soriano, who leads the team with 18 homers, said he hasn't been concerned about the lack of power.
''The pitchers have been very good and careful with us,'' he said. ''They know we have a lot of power. That's the big thing.''
If Saturday is any indication, opposing pitchers can't keep the Cubs' hitters down all season.
''I remember a couple of years ago, they said all we could do is hit home runs and we couldn't score any other way,'' Lee said. ''It's all a matter of just wins.
''It's kind of weird that we haven't hit more home runs with the guys in our lineup, especially me. ... But it really doesn't matter. In the scheme of things, who cares? If you end up the season with zero home runs but you win, that's all that matters.''