Lilly strikes out 10 as Cubs beat Marlins

Let's see, there wasn't a full moon.

It was nowhere near Halloween.

There was nary a sign of Mulder and Scully, nor Rod Serling for that matter, but boy were there some strange things going on Saturday at Wrigley Field in the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Florida Marlins on an absolutely ideal day for baseball.

It sure didn't take long to realize that this might just be one of those days.

And the man who kicked off the kookiness was Friday's hero, shortstop Ryan Theriot. A day after hitting a grand slam to help the Cubs rally for a win, Theriot played Popeye again in the first inning by belting a 2-run home run to left.

That gave Theriot, who had gone 620 at-bats without a home run before Friday's grand slam - that's 620 at-bats without a dinger - 2 home runs in his last 3 trips to the plate.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," Theriot kidded with a reporter. "Something weird's going on; I don't know what it is.

"Is it weird that it happened? Yeah, probably, but hopefully it'll continue."

More of the Cubs' offense Saturday was supplied by none other than starting pitcher Ted Lilly, who doubled home a pair of runs in the third, his first RBI of the season - after the Marlins intentionally walked Aaron Miles ahead of him.

"I certainly don't blame them for doing that; that's not a surprise," Lilly said. "That was fun, though. I'd like to say the wind wasn't blowing out, but it carried the ball pretty well."

First baseman Derrek Lee actually found himself trailing Theriot in the home run department before tying his teammate in the fourth with his second of the season, a solo shot to left-center.

"He's on a power streak," Lee said of Theriot. "I told him before the game they come in bunches and sure enough he hit one out of there."

About the only guy not taken aback by Theriot's thunder was Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez.

"It doesn't surprise me; he's a good player," Gonzalez said. "He got good pitches to hit."

The Marlins didn't, though, as Lilly bounced back from a subpar outing in Arizona by going 8 strong innings Saturday, striking out 10 without a walk to improve to 3-2. And he did it all despite becoming the first Cubs pitcher since Terry Adams at Pittsburgh in 1998 to commit 2 balks in one game.

About the only thing that wasn't unusual Saturday was manager Lou Piniella's refusal to allow Lilly to finish off the game in the ninth after having already thrown 104 pitches.

"I tried to talk him into it," Lilly said, "but he's tough."

Mike Spellman's game tracker

A long, long time: While going 620 at-bats without a homer might have seemed like an eternity for Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot, it's nothing like the streak former Cub Gene Clines went through late in his career. Clines, who later coached for the Cubs, went 1,079 at-bats without a homer before blasting long balls May 16-17, 1977 against the Padres at Wrigley Field.

Web gems: Center fielder Kosuke Fukudome robbed Wes Helms of extra bases with a fine grab at the wall in the seventh inning and Micah Hoffpauir seemed to get back on his manager's good side with a solid defensive game in right field.

The quote: Manager Lou Piniella pooh-poohing a postgame question about the risk in using today's starter Carlos Zambrano as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning Saturday: "How about if I got run over by a car on the way to the ballpark?"

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