Cubs selling hope ... for now in 4-3 win over Phillies
Ted Lilly has value to a lot of teams right now.
How about the Cubs?
"I know for sure there are teams that have come back from as far as we are to win the division," Lilly said Friday after helping to pitch the Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.
Lilly didn't get the "W," but the Cubs won their second straight in this series on Aramis Ramirez's solo home run with two outs in the eighth inning.
An impending free agent, Lilly's name has been out there as possible trade bait for a contending team. Like the rest of the Cubs, Lilly hasn't given up on the Cubs being a contender despite a 41-50 record and an 81/2-game deficit in the standings before Friday night's action.
"I would like to be a part of that here," he said. "That's my thought. I'm pretty optimistic. I know that we have a long way to go to make something like that happen. But we do have some talent. I'd certainly like to win a division here.
"We're trying to do something crazy here, like come back from 9 games or whatever."
Speaking of crazy, Ramirez has been crazy good of late. He was 3-for-4 Friday and has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games, going 24-for-64 (.375) in that stretch. During July, he's batting .400 with 5 homers and 14 RBI.
His game-winning homer came on a 3-2 pitch from reliever Ryan Madson.
"I feel good," said Ramirez, who has battled a sore thumb much of the year. "I've been able to hit the ball hard. I'm good enough. I'm good enough to play. We got no time to wait. We've got to do it right now."
This looked to be a hitters day from the get-go with a game-time temperature of 90 degrees and the wind blowing straight out.
On top of it, Lilly is a flyball pitcher who had been having trouble getting the ball down. He pitched 7 innings, and sure enough, he recorded 10 outs via the flyball. Fortunately for him, he also struck out 10.
Shane Victorino gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead with a homer in the fourth. Lilly's bases-loaded walk tied the game in the fifth, but Ryan Howard crushed another mammoth homer, this one in the sixth with a man on. The ball cleared the shrubbery beyond the center-field wall and landed on top of the batter's-eye restaurant. Howard hit a pair of homers Thursday.
"Unfortunately, the one to Howard was one I would definitely like to take back," Lilly said. "That wasn't a very well-thrown ball. When you do that, he's one of those guys who doesn't miss them too often. You get a situation, a close game like that, you've got to make better pitches than I made."
Marlon Byrd bailed Lilly out with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the sixth off Joe Blanton. Sean Marshall held the Phillies in the eighth before Ramirez's blast to left won it and Carlos Marmol saved it with 3 strikeouts in the ninth.
Manager Lou Piniella had a simple explanation for Ramirez's resurgence.
"He's staying on the ball well," Piniella said. "He's taking good swings at pitches. And he's driving the ball. Big difference from the first half - one of the ingredients that was missing here, obviously. Now, it's back, and it's starting to manifest itself in more runs. Notice again that the middle part of our lineup today was productive. That's where the bulk of the offense came from.
"If that continues, I think you'll see it's like a little forest fire that'll start spreading a little bit."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Cubs 4, Phillies 3</p>
<p class="News"><b>More like it:</b> Ted Lilly retired the first 10 batters he faced and posted his first quality start since June 29. He worked 7 innings, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs. The Cubs are 32-25 in quality-start games, with the starters having a 2.24 ERA in those starts.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Another win:</b> Reliever Sean Marshall picked up the victory and improved his record to 6-2 with a 1.96 ERA by working a perfect eighth inning, striking out one. </p>
<p class="News"><b>Topping out:</b> The top three batters in the lineup - Ryan Theriot, Tyler Colvin and Derrek Lee - were a combined 0-for-12 with 4 strikeouts. Theriot left a man stranded on third in the seventh inning by striking out. </p>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=394751">Despite .000 average, Lilly coaxes key walk<span class="date"> [7/16/10]</span></a></li>
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