After loss, Lou loses it
BREWERS 4, CUBS 3 | Cubs blow lead in 9th; Piniella has 1st meltdown
Start to uncomfortable finish, manager Lou Piniella's postgame news conference Thursday lasted all of one minute -- depending on whether you count the string of profanities he uttered marching down the dreary hallway to the Cubs' clubhouse.
A 4-3 loss to the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers -- a game that featured three runs off closer Kerry Wood during a ninth inning that included two questionable plays in the outfield -- set the stage for Piniella's first official meltdown of 2008.
Brewers 4, Cubs 3
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A question focusing on whether Piniella thought about shifting slick-fielding center fielder Reed Johnson to left -- in place of fresh-off-the-disabled-list Alfonso Soriano -- when he inserted defensive sub Felix Pie in center during the eighth inning lit Piniella's short fuse.
''You're damn right I thought about it,'' Piniella said, his voice rising. ''You think I'm stupid or something? God ... darn it. Thought. All right. Thanks.''
End of news conference.
As Piniella stormed away, the profanities he contained while in front of the cameras came spilling out.
It was that kind of day at Wrigley Field.
There was a bone-jarring collision at the plate involving beefy vegan Prince Fielder and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto in the sixth inning. Soto -- after an elbow to the chin -- emerged the victor.
There was a scary play in the fifth, when Brewers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo tried to avoid a collision at first base with Fielder and twisted his knee in some unnatural directions.
And there was a pathetic swing by Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano immediately followed by a picture-perfect motion for his first home run of the season, a solo shot to left in the third.
But the strangest bangs and bounces occurred in the ninth, when Wood blew his third save in seven chances.
After a brilliant 1 2/3 innings by right-hander Carlos Marmol, who struck out four of the six batters he faced, Wood took over to start the ninth with a 3-1 lead.
His first pitch struck Craig Counsell. Pinch hitter Gabe Kapler then sent a line drive to left field. Soriano, coming off a 15-day stay on the disabled list because of a strained right calf, didn't get a good jump, and the ball bounced off the warning track and rattled off the wall, putting runners at second and third.
''Oh, man, I tried running the best I can, very hard, but I think the wind got that ball because he didn't hit it good,'' Soriano said.
Did Soriano feel his legs are 100 percent healthy?
''I'm very comfortable today,'' he said. ''I feel 100 percent with my leg.''
Jason Kendall then snaked a run-scoring single up the middle. Shortstop Ryan Theriot knocked it down in shallow center, forcing Kapler to stop at third. Rickie Weeks drew a walk to load the bases. Wood settled down to strike out Mike Cameron, bringing up Ryan Braun, who had homered off Zambrano in the sixth.
Braun hit a towering fly to right that one-hopped off the wall, just beyond the outstretched glove of Kosuke Fukudome, scoring two runs.
''I was in position to limit the damage [on a sacrifice fly],'' Fukudome said through an interpreter. ''I wasn't playing for the ball that goes over my head.''
When the ball hit the wall, Piniella turned in the dugout and knocked over a Gatorade cooler. Zambrano called it the Cubs' toughest loss of 2008.
''You have a two-run lead going into the ninth, you let one get away,'' Piniella said before his meltdown. ''It's a tough loss.''
