Sheets' return gives Brewers big boost

While Carlos Zambrano is still to be considered the ace of the Cubs' pitching staff, lately he hasn't done a good job of proving it.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee's Ben Sheets showed on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field what an ace is supposed to do in a pennant race.

Sheets, in his first start since July 14, came off the disabled list and shut down the Cubs for 6 innings and won 6-1 in a game the Brewers had to have.

Sheets bested the suddenly inconsistent Zambrano, who lost his fourth straight start.

"Give credit to Sheets," Zambrano said. "He threw a good game and there's nothing you can do about it."

There's no denying the Brewers' season took a turn for the worse in mid-July when Sheets was sidelined with a sprained right middle finger on his pitching hand.

Some might have viewed Sheets' return as perhaps the reeling Brewers' last chance to show they should still be considered contenders in the NL Central.

When Sheets was hurt on July 14, he was 10-4 and the Brewers 50-40 with a 3½-game lead in the division.

Milwaukee entered Wednesday's game below .500 at 65-66, or 15-26 without Sheets. They left it back in second place, only 1½ games behind the Cubs.

Sheets threw 86 pitches, giving up 5 singles among his 6 hits and walking one. He was reaching the mid-90s with his fastball.

"He was good today," said Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot. "He came straight at you. He definitely surprised me with his velocity."

Brewers manager Ned York looked at Sheets' return as critical in two ways: The team needed him back badly, and Yost hoped it might relax a starting staff that has struggled without Sheets at the top of the rotation.

"It does mean a lot," Yost said. "It tends to settle down your starting rotation a little bit.

"I've always found that for some reason or another that when you lose your ace or lose your closer, it kind of throws the other guys into a bit of flux. They get a real feeling of comfort knowing that No. 1 guy is there or that closer is there. Losing them kind of disrupts things, and getting them back is kind of a mental boost for not only the starters but for everybody on the team."

The Cubs' plan was to make Sheets throw as many pitches as possible early since he was on a pitch count of around 90.

"Early we were very selective," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "He threw a lot of pitches early. He pitched real well. He had good command and threw strikes."

The Cubs let Sheets off the hook in the third inning when they got 3 singles with one out and scored just once on Aramis Ramirez's sacrifice fly. Sheets got Cliff Floyd to pop out to short left with runners at second and third to end the inning.

"We had a couple chances early and didn't do much," Piniella said.