Cubs outclassed, fall 4 1/2 games behind Cardinals

Check out these different takes from the Cubs on their 8-3 loss Friday to the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

"Disappointed, why disappointed?" asked manager Lou Piniella, who vented about the offense earlier this week but who seemed much more mellow Friday. "Everything is 'disappointed' or 'frustrated.' It's one game. Are we pleased the way we played? No. Not today. But, we'll come out and play tomorrow. That's all you can do. Nothing more."

Piniella may have been taking the long view, that the Cubs are 41-42 but that 79 games remain.

They're also 41/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals, and they were completely outclassed Friday.

"Is it urgent?" asked first baseman Derrek Lee, whose 3-run homer in the third tied the game at 3-3. "I don't know about urgent. It's important. These are important games.

"Just like that, you're 41/2 back. It's dangerous territory."

One word might be "dangerous." Left fielder Alfonso Soriano had another.

"We've got to turn around and try to win tomorrow and try to win the last three games left because if we do not win these games, it can be very ugly."

Soriano helped to contribute to some of that ugliness with a dropped flyball in the sixth that allowed the Cardinals to score their third of 4 runs that inning.

He wasn't alone in making the whole day ugly.

The Cubs committed 2 errors, and even right fielder Kosuke Fukudome threw to a wrong base in the first on Ryan Ludwick's sacrifice fly. Albert Pujols moved up an extra base, and although no further damage was done, the tone was set.

And then there was the pitching of Rich Harden, who fell to 5-6 with a 5.47 ERA. Harden lasted 5 innings. He gave up 2 in the third and 1 in the fifth on Pujols' 32nd homer, a line drive to center.

"I was expecting a lot better results," said Harden, who has endured 2 poor starts in a row. "We still have a lot of games left. Basically, take a few days off here, regroup and put all this stuff behind us. As a team, we need to do that.

"It was embarrassing today. We were outplayed, outhustled. It just can't happen."

The Cubs were still in the game until the sixth, when Aaron Heilman gave up 4 runs. Heilman pitched carefully to Pujols with men on first and second and walked him.

Ludwick singled to left (scoring a pair) and took second as third baseman Aramis Ramirez couldn't field Soriano's throw and was charged with an error.

Rick Ankiel walked to reload the bases, and Yadier Molina lifted a fly to short left-center. Soriano raced in, but the ball went in and out of his glove, but he did get a force at second, so there was no error charged. Heilman uncorked a wild pitch to score the fourth run of the inning.

"I saw the popup and was running hard to catch the ball," Soriano said. "At the last moment, I took my eyes off the ball, and I dropped it."

The game was essentially over then. The Cardinals outhit the Cubs 10-9, and the Cubs were 1-for-8 with men in scoring position.

"It wasn't a very good inning," Piniella said of the sixth. "We gave them too many outs, and the walks. It just wasn't a very good game.

"Look, when you're not playing well a particular day, everything gets magnified. We've got three more games. Let's just go out and play, and we do the best we can."

Bruce Miles' game tracker

Friday's grade: Derrek Lee hit his 17th homer, but there wasn't much else positive. Rich Harden had little command. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez and reliever Jeff Samardzija committed errors. Outfielders Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano had misplays.

Dealing with Albert: The Cubs walked the Cardinals' Albert Pujols intentionally in the first. After Pujols tripled and homered, the Cubs didn't give him anything good to hit and walked him in the sixth.

Hard day's day: Rich Harden has not won at Wrigley Field since May 12, a span of 5 starts. He has an 8.63 home ERA in that span.

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