Cubs' offense does enough to get Garza a victory

Watch Matt Garza when it's not his turn to pitch.

The guy is always right there on the top step of the dugout, yelling, into every pitch, doing whatever he can to support his teammates.

Unfortunately for Garza, when it has been his turn to actually take the mound, his teammates' support hasn't been reciprocated — at least when it comes to run support.

The numbers are amazing.

Heading into Saturday's game against the Cardinals, the Cubs had scored a total of 13 runs while Garza had been in the game during his last 9 starts (55⅔ innings). During those starts he had been supported by run totals of 0, 0, 2, 2, 3, 1, 1, 0 and 4.

Ask Garza about those numbers, though, and suddenly the big right-hander gets real quiet.

“I'll never talk about that,” he said. “I know they have my back.”

That they do.

“He's been our best pitcher all year,” said third baseman Aramis Ramirez. “We just find ways to lose ballgames when he's on the mound. We play bad defense, or we don't hit, or the bullpen doesn't close it out.”

Keyed by a 2-run home run by Ramirez, the Cubs put up just enough runs to get past the St. Louis Cardinals for the second straight day, this time by a 3-0 margin in front of the largest crowd of the season (42,374) at Wrigley Field. The win helped Garza improve to 6-9 for the season.

“It's good to win and all the rest of it, but with what Matt's been through ... to see him pitch that well and get some run support made it even better for me,” manager Mike Quade said. “It's always good to get a team win, but I was hoping he would be the beneficiary, and he was.”

And Garza certainly earned it. He went 7 innings, allowed 5 hits and struck eight, but probably the most impressive stat was throwing 110 pitches, 78 of those for strikes.

It certainly looked like things might turn out a lot differently for Garza after a first inning that started with a double, an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and a walk to Lance Berkman to load the bases with one out.

Garza was visibly unhappy about having to intentionally walk Pujols and let Quade know when he came out to talk after the bases were loaded.

What was that conversation actually like?

Garza's version: “He just said, ‘Hey.'”

Quade's version: “I just wanted to settle him down. I knew he wanted to attack Pujols, but it was the right thing to do. Then he walks Berkman ... I just didn't want to let things get away from him in that first inning.”

A 6-4-3 double play ensured that, and Garza settled down nicely after that.

“I just made a couple of good pitches and got out of it,” Garza said. “I kind of found a rhythm, found a pace. The one thing about pitching is finding the rhythm and then sticking with it.”

In an unstable Cubs world that has experienced the suspension of Carlos Zambrano and the firing of Jim Hendry in recent days, Garza's consistency has been a valuable asset.

“I have to come in and do my job; I don't want to be the next one out,” Garza said. “It (stinks) the way things have turned out. Z was Z, and Hendry, you hate to see a good guy like that (go). But it's a business and we all understand that.

“Just go out there and do your job.”