Cubs' Lilly takes 100 wins to All-Star appearance

With 100 reasons to smile after his 5-2 victory over St. Louis on Saturday, giving him 100 victories in his career, Ted Lilly only flashed one.

"It's really a cool thing, but then you come into the clubhouse and talk to your buddies and they tell you you only have 200 more to go," Lilly said.

The 33-year-old left-hander isn't going to get to 300, but he's going to get a lot more wins with efforts like Saturday's, the capper to his all-star first half.

Lilly matched a season high in going 8 innings, allowing just 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 run.

With the lack of production from many of the Cubs' big-money free agents a popular topic this summer, Lilly is proving he's worth every penny of the four-year, $40 million contract he signed after the 2006 season.

"I think being the all-star representative from this team basically says it all," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "He's been our best pitcher. Let's hope he gets another 9 (wins) the second half."

A few facts about Lilly's milestone:

• He's the 11th active left-hander to reach 100 wins.

• He's the second Cubs pitcher to do it this year, joining Carlos Zambrano (June 5).

• With 41 of his 100 wins as a Cub, Lilly has the 11th most wins by any left-hander in Cubs history, 2 behind Steve Trout.

Lilly also is turning into something of a stopper, earning his second straight win following an ugly Cubs loss against a team they are chasing in the NL Central.

"After the first inning going three up three down was big, getting the momentum in our favor right off the bat," catcher Koyie Hill said.

"We knew with Teddy out there on his game we were going to have a great chance. Coming off what we did yesterday it's always nice knowing you are going to be competitive the next day."

When Cubs general manager Jim Hendry signed Lilly, famously from his hospital bed while undergoing an EKG, critics said the Cubs overpaid for a .500 pitcher, 59-58 at that point with an ERA under 4.00 in just one season.

Lilly has been anything but mediocre with the Cubs, going 15-8 in his first year and 17-9 in his second.

The last Cubs southpaw to win 15-plus games in consecutive years? Ken Holtzman in 1969-70.

Now 9-6 this year, Lilly is on his way to 15 wins again, and he's on his way to his second all-star appearance Tuesday in St. Louis. At 3.18, Lilly has the lowest ERA of his career, to go with an equally impressive 1.11 WHIP.

"When I look at my first half," Lilly said, "it's one of my better first halves, at least statistically, but you still know there is still a lot of pitching to do coming up and a lot of really important pitching coming up in the second half."

Lilly worked ahead in the count all day against the Cardinals, throwing 69 of his 105 pitches for strikes. He didn't allow a hit through three innings, giving up a run in the fourth when his infield couldn't make two plays behind him.

"It's pretty special," Lilly said of the 100th win. "I was just thinking today about my first one in New York against Oakland. Just getting that one I hadn't been thinking about trying to get 99 more of them."