Swept away: Cubs have their fill of Phillies
Take heart, Cubs fans. A possible cure for what ails your team is on the way.
The Pittsburgh Pirates arrive at Wrigley Field today.
The Pirates are in last place in the National League Central, so maybe the Cubs can get well against them.
They sure haven't had much success against the good teams. The world-champion Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the Cubs Thursday, beating them 6-1 at Wrigley Field in a game that was never really close.
The Cubs have lost five in a row and seven of eight. Of more concern is their record against winning teams. The Cubs, who have a marginal winning record of 58-55, are 19-33 against teams that are currently above .500.
If the Cubs are going anywhere but home this fall, they might want to start beating some of the better teams.
"They seem to have no problem beating us," pitcher Ryan Dempster said of the Phillies, who improved to 64-48. "We've just got to keep plugging away. Everybody wants to search for answers, including ourselves, at times. You want to try and figure out why we're not playing smart enough, we're not playing hard enough or we're not executing enough.
"Sometimes when you try to search for so many answers, you end up doing a little too much."
The Phillies essentially put this one away in the fourth, when Ryan Howard hit an opposite-field 3-run homer to left and Pedro Feliz added a solo shot to give them a 4-0 lead.
The Cubs got to within 4-1 against lefty Cliff Lee, the American League Cy Young winner last year with Cleveland, but that was it.
"Three-run homers will beat you, especially when you're facing Cliff," said Dempster (6-6), who gave up all 6 runs in 7 innings. "Disappointing to lose a game, and disappointing to get swept."
The talk before and after the game was about the Cubs' poor record against good teams.
"It doesn't help our situation out," said manager Lou Piniella. "Philly outplayed us for three games. The first game was really competitive and got away from us, and the other two, they just had their way. Let's hope we turn around our fortunes, and quickly. It's been a struggle."
Is it going to be tough for this team to change its fortunes?
"Let's see how we play," Piniella offered.
The presence of the Pirates may help the Cubs, but the Cubs face a tough West Coast trip next week that ends with four with the NL-West leading Dodgers. In September, they've got back-to-back weekends in St. Louis and San Francisco.
Lefty Ted Lilly should be back for the start of that trip, against San Diego, and the poor record against the big boys rankles him some.
"I don't like that," he said. "I think that's an important thing to do (beat winning teams). I would like to do it. I think it sends a good message. At the same time, we need to make sure that we beat the other clubs that are struggling and make sure that you win those series, too.
"It's something that we're going to need to do, I believe, to win the division, is to win some of those series against some of those clubs that are ahead of us."
Bruce Miles' game tracker
Phillies 6, Cubs 1
Cy Lee: Cliff Lee, last year's AL Cy Young winner with Cleveland, has won all 3 of his starts with the Phillies since his recent trade. He worked 8 innings against the Cubs, giving up 6 hits and 1 run. Lee threw 122 pitches, 82 strikes.
Theriot's mark: Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot established a single-season best with his 46th RBI. He had 45 RBI in 2007.
Shake and Baker: Second baseman Jeff Baker was 2-for-2 with 2 walks. He has a five-game hitting streak, going 11-for-19 (. 579).
Nice debut: Justin Berg made his big-league debut with the Cubs, pitching 2 scoreless innings of relief. He gave up 2 hits while walking one and striking out one.
Scouting report
Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field
TV: Channel 9 today and Sunday; Comcast SportsNet Saturday
Radio: WGN 720-AM
Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Randy Wells (8-5) vs. Charlie Morton (2-5) today at 1:20 p.m.; Tom Gorzelanny (4-2) vs. Zach Duke (9-10) Saturday at 12:05 p.m.; Rich Harden (7-7) vs. Ross Ohlendorf (10-8) Sunday at 1:20 p.m.
At a glance: The Cubs are 4-2 against the Pirates, 2-1 at Wrigley. Gorzelanny faces his former team Saturday. The Pirates are in another start-over mode after a series of in-season trades. Pittsburgh ranks near the bottom in all of the key offensive categories. They entered Thursday 12th in ERA, at 4.44. The Cubs were fifth, at 3.95. Against Duke, Alfonso Soriano is 15-for-33 (. 455) with 4 doubles and 2 homers.
Next: San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Monday-Wednesday
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