Cubs thrive on Brewers' tailspin

After weeks of scoreboard watching Brewers games, there they were right in front of the first-place Cubs on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

"We look at it as an opportunity to create some distance," said Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee. "When you're not playing them it's a little bit tougher because if you win and they win, you don't go anywhere. These games, if you win, you do create some distance."

The Cubs won the series opener 5-3 thanks to a 4-run seventh inning. The loss was Milwaukee's fifth straight and 11th in 14 games.

While the Brewers once had plenty of distance between themselves and the rest of the NL Central -- try an 8½-game hold on first place in late June -- they are now in third place, 2½ games behind the Cubs and a half-game behind second-place St. Louis.

"All we can do is keep playing," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Our goal coming in here, always our goal, is to win a series. We still have a chance to do what we set out to do. I thought we played a good game today. One rough inning."

That would be the seventh. It was a 3-3 game with Jacques Jones on third when Brewers pitcher Scott Linebrink dropped Ryan Theriot's high chop to the mound for an error to make it 4-3.

"He just got a little anxious with it instead of letting it come down," Yost said. "He just tried to rush it. He had more time."

The Brewers expect to get a much-needed lift today when ace starter Ben Sheets comes off the disabled list for the first time since suffering a finger injury in mid-July.

"I just want Benny to go out and stay healthy," Yost said. "If he can go out and pitch 5 or 6 innings with good command, we'll be happy."

The Cubs haven't been all that consistent either lately and might not be in first place if not for the collapse of the Brewers.

"It's such a long season," Lee said. "We got really hot, we cooled off, and now hopefully we can get hot again in September."

With 33 games to play, Cubs manager Lou Piniella warned his team not to put too much emphasis on this series with the Brewers.

"So much riding (on this series) in August? I don't know," Piniella said. "I think you're going to have a heck of a lot more riding come the middle of September than you are now if we play the way we expect to play.

"You want to win the series, no question. We don't play Milwaukee anymore the rest of the time, so it would be nice to pick some ground up on them."

Piniella pointed to how the Cubs play only seven more games outside the division.

"Whether it's Milwaukee or any other team, we just have to win baseball games," he said. "It doesn't matter who we play. This is an important series, but when Houston comes in it's going to be important, and about 15 days from now it's going to be much more important. We just have to win series."