Cards' turn to feel good
The Cubs should have gotten the hint early Monday that it wasn't going to be their day.
Already down 2-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals, Ryan Theriot led off the first with a liner into the ivy in left field. But Theriot was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple by Rick Ankiel, who reminded everyone he used to be a pitcher with a perfect one-hop strike to the bag from deep left.
"I'll tell you what, Ankiel is an athlete," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said following his team's 6-4 loss at Wrigley Field. "Good arm, really accurate. I didn't think he had a chance at him. You could tell he was a pitcher."
Ankiel also had a home run, a double and scored twice as the Cardinals salvaged the final game of the series after dropping the first two.
It was the fourth homer in nine games for Ankiel, whose pitcher-turned-outfielder feel-good story continued.
"You've really got to give it to him," Cubs outfielder Daryle Ward said. "He went all the way down to rookie ball to come back. I saw him when I was at Iowa and he hit 3 home runs against us."
Ankiel's homer came in the seventh off Carmen Pignatiello and gave St. Louis a 6-4 lead. It was the second straight 1-pitch outing for Pignatiello, who escaped a jam Saturday by striking out Chris Duncan after inheriting a 1-2 count following a rain delay.
The rookie had no such luck this time and was quickly lifted by Piniella.
"It just wasn't in the right spot," Pignatiello said.
A slip by third baseman Aramis Ramirez on a groundball by Scott Rolen in the third inning resulted in a run and set up a second. Ramirez lost his footing on what could have been a double-play grounder to end the inning, but the ball wound up in short left.
"The ball took a long hop, and when I tried to stop I slipped and it went right by me," said Ramirez, who blamed part of the problem on the rubber cleats he wears because he prefers them to metal.
Cubs starter Ted Lilly (13-6) failed to win for the second straight outing. He allowed 5 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, including 5 hits for extra bases.
Rolen delivered a two-strike, 2-run double in the first just when it appeared Lilly might escape a second-and-third, no-out jam.
"All his problems came with 2 strikes," Piniella said. "I don't know if they were good pitches or too good of pitches to hit."
The Cubs looked to be in great shape after winning the first two games from the Cardinals with aces Carlos Zambrano and Lilly lined up to pitch. But rain halted Zambrano's start after 3 perfect innings Sunday night and Lilly didn't have it.
"It's a shame we missed Zambrano's start," second baseman Mark DeRosa said. "It looked like he was pretty dominant. But it wasn't a bad two out of three considering they came in playing good baseball."
The Cardinals left town 3 games behind the Cubs with five games still to play against them.
"They just had more clutch hits than we did today," said Ward, who, along with DeRosa and Derrek Lee, hit a solo home run.
Scouting report
Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park
TV: Comcast SportsNet today; Channel 9 Wednesday and Thursday
Radio: WGN 720-AM
Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Jason Marquis (10-7) vs. Tim Lincecum (7-3) today at 9:15 p.m.; Rich Hill (7-7) vs. Barry Zito (9-11) Wednesday at 9:15 p.m.; Carlos Zambrano (14-9) vs. Matt Cain (5-13) Thursday at 2:35 p.m.
At a glance: The Giants are hot, having won five in a row. They won 8-7 Monday at Florida, completing a four-game sweep. The Cubs took three of four from the Giants last month at Wrigley Field with Hill, Zambrano and Ted Lilly earning victories. Barry Bonds hit 2 home runs in that series and brings 760 for his career into tonight's game. Bonds is 5-for-10 lifetime against Marquis with 2 homers. After this series, the Cubs play three in Arizona before returning home for 10 games.
Next: Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, Friday-Sunday
-- Tim Sassone