Little bit of payback for Lilly
What, Ted Lilly worry about facing Arizona for the first time since his Game 2 shellacking last October?
Three hours before his first pitch Friday, with Wrigley Field quiet and its infield their own private playground, Lilly and fellow starter Ryan Dempster hung out at shortstop taking grounders.
Nothing too crazy about that except that Lilly, a lefthander, wore coach Ivan DeJesus' glove backward on his right hand.
Nonetheless, Lilly looked like a natural. He even capped the session by fielding a hard-hit ball between his legs while dashing into the hole.
That sweet move turned out to be the least of his feats on a chilly afternoon with the wind blowing in before 40,236.
Not only did Lilly pile up 10 strikeouts and allow just 1 run in 7 innings thanks to liberal use of a terrific changeup, he made the Diamondbacks pay for intentionally walking Reed Johnson ahead of him in the fifth.
Lilly ripped a two-out RBI single up the middle off Dan Haren to deliver the Cubs' first run -- then nearly broke DeJesus' hand with an enthusiastic punch as he retreated to first base.
When Alfonso Soriano followed with a double down the left-field line to drive in Johnson, that's all the Cubs needed for a 3-1 triumph over the team with the majors' best record.
"I'm pretty pumped up about the game," said Lilly an hour after being lifted. "I obviously wanted to win this game for a number of reasons."
Reason 1: The Cubs started this 10-game homestand with 9 losses in their last 13 games.
Reason 2: Lilly outdueled Diamondbacks co-ace Haren, which bodes well for the rest of the weekend.
Reason 3: Lilly's dreadful Game 2 showing in the desert last fall, when he allowed 6 earned runs in a 3¿-inning stint.
You can go out on a limb and assume the latter reason was Lilly's biggest.
"Maybe a little bit," he said. "I don't want admit to it too much, but I was, you know, you try to let it go but don't forget."
On Oct. 4, Lilly surrendered a 3-run homer to Chris Young on a full-count fastball and slammed his glove to the ground in disgust.
When Young came to the plate Friday with two outs in the first, he hammered a first-pitch fastball down the left-field line for his ninth homer of the year.
This time, Lilly neither slammed his glove to the ground nor dwelled on his grooved pitch. Instead, he turned dominant as he had the Diamondbacks off balance all day with terrific off-speed stuff.
Half of Lilly's strikeouts came on changeups. In fact, when Young returned to the plate in the third, Lilly tossed 5 straight changeups and caught him looking.
"I'll tell you this: They sit on that fastball and they're aggressive," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "There're a couple guys over there, I think you can throw them 15 straight breaking pitches and you try to throw a fastball by them and they have a pretty good swing at it."
Consider Young (3 strikeouts), 20-year-old Justin Upton (3 strikeouts) and third baseman Mark Reynolds (2 strikeouts) in that group.
Lilly (3-4) took advantage for his best outing of the year -- and his fourth consecutive quality start after 4 poor outings to open the year.
"He's now pitching instead of throwing the ball," said Cubs catcher Geovany Soto. "He kind of outsmarted a lot of their hitters."
Cubs 3, D'backs 1
On the mound: For the 11th time in his career, Ted Lilly registered double-digit strikeouts as he flummoxed the Diamondbacks with his changeup and cutter. Lilly (3-4) struck out 10 and scattered 3 hits and 2 walks over 7 innings.
At the plate: Mark DeRosa (2-for-3 with a walk) triggered a two-out rally in the fifth with a ringing double off Dan Haren. Lilly and Alfonso Soriano had two-out RBI hits. Derrek Lee then added an insurance run in the eighth with his ninth homer.