A bit of 'breathing room'
Victory against potential playoff opponent gives Cubs 1½-game advantage over Brewers
PHOENIX -- This one was as much a flashback as a prelude.
Playing a team they might face in the first round of the playoffs, the Cubs started taking on a 2003 feel Friday night in Arizona.
Playing a team they might face in the first round of the playoffs, the Cubs started taking on a 2003 feel Friday night in Arizona.
They added a veteran hitter to the team when outfielder Craig Monroe suited up for his first game as a Cub, they talked about making another move (for a reliever?) before playoff rosters are set in six days, and they even had Mark Prior on the dugout bench for the game, with Kerry Wood in the bullpen.
(AP)
PHOTO GALLERY
Cubs outshine Dbacks
Team W L GB
Cubs 66 61 --
Brewers 65 63 1½
Cardinals 61 64 4
Friday's results
Cubs 6, at Diamondbacks 2
at Giants 11, Brewers 6
Braves 7, at Cardinals 2
Next game: at D-backs, 8:40 tonight, Ch. 9
Next game: at Giants, 8:05 tonight
Next game: vs. Braves, 6:15 tonight
They added a veteran hitter to the team when outfielder Craig Monroe suited up for his first game as a Cub, they talked about making another move (for a reliever?) before playoff rosters are set in six days, and they even had Mark Prior on the dugout bench for the game, with Kerry Wood in the bullpen.
Then they knocked around the National League West-leading Diamondbacks for a 6-2 victory at Chase Field that assured at least another day in first in the NL Central.
Their sixth victory in eight games also assured no worse than a break-even road trip heading into next week's division showdown with the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.
''It's been good,'' Cubs starter Sean Marshall said. ''Hopefully we'll carry this into [today's] game and hopefully get [Alfonso] Soriano back in a couple days here. And that will be just an added spark that we need to continue to roll.''
Marshall (7-6), making his only scheduled start in a 12-day stretch, helped get the roll going on this night with six strong innings, allowing only two hits -- including pitcher Micah Owings' solo homer with two outs in the third, the second pitcher in as many days to homer off Cubs pitching (also San Francisco's Matt Cain).
The Cubs built their lead over second-place Milwaukee to a season-best 1½ games of breathing room.
''If you want to call a game [and a half] breathing room,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''My Lord, if we ever open it up to three ... ''
''We've just got to play. At this time of the year, it gets fun to watch the scoreboard, but boy, you'd better concentrate on what you're doing, because if not, you'll lose ground awfully quick.''
The Cubs led from the start, after scoring twice in the first inning, with All-Star Derrek Lee responding to a deep road slump by driving in the first run of the game with a single to right and scoring the second.
They added another in the sixth when Jacque Jones, leading off the sixth, doubled for the second of four hits and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Aramis Ramirez. And the Cubs sent eight men to the plate in the top of the ninth to score three more and suck most of the drama out of a game that had plenty early.
It's definitely starting to feel more like a pennant race for the Cubs.
''There's a little added pressure for everyone,'' Marshall said. ''From the coaching staff to the trainers, everybody. It's fun.''
Monroe, who entered the game in the bottom of the eighth defensively, even delivered a hit in his first at-bat as a Cub, an infield single to short that loaded the bases for the top of the order.
After the Cubs took that early 2-0 lead, Owings shut them down on one hit through the fifth.
And then just when the D-backs looked as if they might tie it in the fifth, with Chris Snyder leading off with a double and taking third on a wild pitch, shortstop Ryan Theriot threw him out at the plate on a highlight-reel play -- diving to the hole to stop Justin Upton's grounder and firing just in time to catcher Jason Kendall blocking the plate.
''What a great play,'' Piniella said. ''Diving, an accurate throw to home plate, and Kendall did a nice job blocking the plate.''
Passions ran so high in the Arizona dugout -- as in anger at umpire Eric Cooper's strike zone -- that Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin was ejected for arguing on his way back from a pitching change in the seventh inning.