Appraising the Cubs' sweep of D-Backs
Comeback Cubs get high marks for sweeping Diamondbacks
The significance of sweeping a three-game series from the Arizona Diamondbacks, who entered the weekend with the best record in baseball, might become even clearer in the days ahead for the Cubs.
And the measuring sticks will be in how it was done:
(AP)
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• • In all three victories, including a 6-4 decision Sunday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs came from behind.
''I was real happy to see that in this series,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''We got good, clutch hitting, our pitching and defense -- everything worked well.''
• • The games were decided by big contributions from so-called unsung heroes. They included pinch hitter Daryle Ward, who delivered another game-changing hit Sunday; rookie pitcher Sean Gallagher, who learned an hour before the game -- the start delayed 58 minutes by rain -- that he would replace Carlos Zambrano; and outfielder Reed Johnson, who hit a tying two-run homer off Juan Cruz into the wind in the seventh.
''The way things have been going for me, I haven't been swinging the bat too well,'' said Johnson, who was 4-for-34 in his previous 11 games before hitting his first homer as a Cub. ''You come to the park when you're struggling trying to do anything you can to help the team.''
• • The Cubs held the majors' highest-scoring team to seven runs while scoring 16 against the staff with the third-best ERA.
• • The sweep, coming after a 2-4 road trip, moved the Cubs into a tie with the St. Louis Cardinals for first in the National League Central.
''It was a good weekend of baseball for us against a good baseball team,'' said Piniella, who contributed with a good bit of managing through the weekend. On Sunday, he decided to scratch Zambrano after the Diamondbacks scratched Randy Johnson, opting to give Gallagher his first major-league start.
''He pitched [4 1/3] innings and kept us in the game,'' Piniella said, adding Gallagher is likely to remain in the rotation in place of Jon Lieber. ''He responded and pitched well.''
Piniella maneuvered again in the eighth, when he chose to pinch hit Alfonso Soriano with men at second and third and one out -- with Ward on deck to pinch hit against reliever Tony Pena (0-1). Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin intentionally walked Soriano before Ward connected on Pena's first pitch for a double, his second consecutive pinch-hit RBI in two days.
''I wasn't sure,'' Piniella said of anticipating a walk to Soriano, bringing up the left-handed Ward against the righty Pena. ''But Soriano is respected. They probably played for the double play to get out of the inning. I guess if I had sent Ward up [first], they would have walked him.''
The inning was framed by several other key at-bats, starting with Aramis Ramirez's leadoff single and delayed stolen base, followed by Kosuke Fukudome's perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line.
''It's called a team,'' Piniella said of the collection of heroes. ''You get different people doing different things, and then you're successful.''
''You see that a lot with the good teams -- different guys coming up or different pitchers come in and will be able to contribute,'' Johnson said. ''We knew we had our work cut out for us. We'd been scuffling a little the last week. I think this is a big confidence-booster for us to take three from a quality team.''
The Diamondbacks had not been swept or lost three in a row this year.
And there was that matter of last the division playoffs last season, when the Diamondbacks swept the Cubs in three games.
''It was a little payback for us,'' Ward admitted. ''They're a very good team and got off to a good start. We had a little tough road trip, and coming back to sweep was big and it feels good.
''This year has been good for us, especially playing at home.''
The Cubs improved to 14-6 at Wrigley Field.
CUBS 6, D-BACKS 4
Arizona AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Ojeda 2b 5 1 1 1 0 1 .370
Byrnes lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .226
Young cf 2 1 0 0 2 1 .238
TPena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
CJackson 1b 3 0 1 2 1 0 .325
Upton rf 3 0 1 1 1 0 .326
SDrew ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .264
Reynolds 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .230
Montero c 3 1 1 0 1 0 .333
EGonzalez p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .125
a-CBurke ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .137
JCruz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Salazar cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .324
Totals 29 4 5 4 6 8
CUBS AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
ReJohnson lf-cf 5 1 1 2 0 1 .255
Theriot ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 .326
DLee 1b 4 1 1 1 0 1 .318
ArRamirez 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 .281
Fukudome rf 4 1 2 0 0 1 .326
Soto c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .314
Derosa 2b 2 1 1 0 1 1 .271
Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-ASoriano ph-lf 0 0 0 0 1 0 .223
Pie cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .222
c-Ward ph 1 0 1 2 0 0 .208
1-Marquis pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143
KWood p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Gallagher p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Fox p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Fontenot 2b 1 1 0 0 1 0 .276
Totals 30 6 9 5 6 6
Arizona 100 030 000--4 5 0
CUBS 011 000 22x--6 9 1
a-walked for Gonzalez in the 6th. b-was intentionally walked for Marmol in the 8th. c-doubled for Pie in the 8th.
1-ran for Ward in the 8th.
E--Gallagher (1). LOB--Arizona 6, CUBS 7. 2B--Byrnes (11), Montero (4), Ward (2). 3B--CJackson (4). HR--ReJohnson (1), off JCruz; DLee (10), off EGonzalez. RBI--Ojeda (10), CJackson 2 (30), Upton (19), ReJohnson 2 (13), DLee (26), Ward 2 (6). SB--ArRamirez (1). S--EGonzalez, Gallagher. GIDP--Ojeda, DLee, Pie.
Runners left in scoring position--Arizona 4 (Upton, Reynolds 3); CUBS 4 (ReJohnson 3, Fukudome). Runners moved up--Soto.
DP--Arizona 2 (CJackson and SDrew), (Reynolds, Ojeda and CJackson); CUBS 1 (Theriot, Fontenot and DLee).
Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
EGonzalez 5 5 2 2 2 3 87 6.60
JCruz BS, 1 1.1 1 2 2 3 3 43 3.00
TPena L, 0-1 1.2 3 2 2 1 0 23 4.76
CUBS IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Gallagher 4.1 5 4 4 3 6 83 6.48
Fox 1.2 0 0 0 3 0 45 5.40
Wuertz 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 4.24
Marmol W, 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 2 17 1.13
KWood S, 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 3.79
Inherited runners-scored--TPena 1-0, Fox 3-2. IBB--off TPena (ASoriano) 1, off Gallagher (Young) 1. HBP--by KWood (Salazar). WP--EGonzalez.
Umpires--Home, Lance Barksdale; First, Doug Eddings; Second, Ted Barrett; Third, Dana DeMuth. T--2:55. A--39,740 (41,160).
DIAMONDBACKS FIRST Ojeda struck out. Byrnes lined out. Young walked. Jackson tripled, Young scored. One run. Diamondbacks 1, Cubs 0.
CUBS SECOND Soto grounded out. DeRosa walked. Pie singled, DeRosa to second. Gallagher sacrificed, DeRosa to third, Pie to second. On Gonzalez's wild pitch, DeRosa scored, Pie to third. One run. Cubs 1, Diamondbacks 1.
CUBS THIRD. Theriot popped out. Lee homered to right on the first pitch. One run. Cubs 2, Diamondbacks 1.
DIAMONDBACKS FIFTH Montero doubled. Gonzalez sacrificed, Montero to third. Ojeda singled, Montero scored. Byrnes doubled, Ojeda to third. Young was intentionally walked. C.Fox pitching. Jackson walked, Ojeda scored, Byrnes to third, Young to second. Upton walked, Byrnes scored, Young to third, Jackson to second. Three runs. Diamondbacks 4, Cubs 2.
CUBS SEVENTH Pie struck out. Fontenot walked. Johnson homered to center on a 2-1 count, Fontenot scored. Two runs. Cubs 4, Diamondbacks 4.
CUBS EIGHTH Ramirez singled. Ramirez stole second. Fukudome bunt single to third, Ramirez to third. Soto grounded out, Fukudome to second. Soriano, pinch-hitting for Marmol, was intentionally walked. Ward, pinch-hitting for Pie, doubled, Ramirez scored, Fukudome scored, Soriano to third. Two runs. Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 4.
