Cubs get it done right
Baseball’s traditional Memorial Day milepost is here.
The Cubs are well behind the pack on this day general managers say is an important measuring stick for their teams.
Maybe it wouldn’t be this bad if the Cubs had played all season like they did in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
“It’s a good win for us today,” said starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, who evened his record at 4-4 and finished May with a 3-1 record. “We had a good start to the homestand. Then we didn’t play very well the last two games.
“We come out here today, and we won the game because we had a runner on second and not only got him over, got him in. When you do the little things like that, you end up winning a lot of games.”
The Cubs are in a 23-28 hole because they haven’t played like that for much of the season.
They entered the game last in the National League in ERA. Their offense had taken the fewest walks in the league. The Cubs were hitting .237 with runners in scoring position. And their defense was tied for last in the NL in fielding percentage.
On top of that, they’ve been missing much of their starting rotation, and their active roster now consists of six players who began the season either in the minor leagues or out of baseball completely in the case of pitcher Doug Davis.
The Cubs and the Pirates waited out a 2-hour, 34-minute rain delay at the start, and then fans witnessed a few things that hadn’t been seen in these parts for a while.
Aramis Ramirez hit only his second home run of the season to lead off the second inning and bring the Cubs within 2-1 after the Pirates scored 2 in the first. It was his first homer since April 6.
Ramirez’s lack of production has been as big as any reason for the Cubs’ early-season woes.
“We got a long ways to go, so hopefully I keep driving the ball,” he said. “I’ve been through it before. It’s part of baseball. You’re going to struggle. I was getting hits, but I wasn’t getting extra-base hits. And that’s what I get paid for, to drive in runs. I haven’t done that so far. It’s time to start.”
Speedy rookie Tony Campana, one of those players who opened the year in the minors, legged out an infield hit with a man on later in the inning, and Koyie Hill drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Cubs got a double from Kosuke Fukudome, a sacrifice bunt by Darwin Barney and a sac fly by Starlin Castro in the third.
“A little execution,” manager Mike Quade said. “If we execute like that on a regular basis, where we get Campana’s speed involved, we gets some bunts down, get the sac fly and all the rest of it, we should be fine.
“As long as we back up our pitching with good defense, we should be OK.”
The pitching went to plan. After Dempster gave up the 2 in the first, with a pair of walks scoring, relievers Kerry Wood, Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol (10th save) did the rest. Dempster turned in his fifth quality start, all coming in May.
“We played good baseball,” Quade said. “A lot of times when you get good pitching, it seems to follow.”
bmiles@dailyherald.com