Zambrano wins for 1st time since banishment
ST. LOUIS - Hey, look, the Cubs won a 1-run ballgame.
"It's possible," joked catcher Koyie Hill after Saturday's 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The Cubs have played a major-league leading 43 games decided by 1 run, and their record is a dismal 14-29.
A lot of things happened Saturday that have been a long time in coming for the beleaguered Cubs. To wit:
• Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano earned his first victory since June 20, as he worked 52/3 innings on a 93-degree day and gave up 7 hits and 2 runs.
• Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, whose poor performances have done as much as anything to sink this season, each homered, marking only the second time this year they've homered in the same game. The last time was way back on April 15.
• Carlos Marmol, with setup work from Marcos Mateo and Sean Marshall, earned his 20th save but his first since July 26.
Those are the kinds of things that happen when a team is 49-68.
"You know what?" Ramirez said. "I don't know how the other guys think. Me, personally, I don't really look back because we can do nothing about it. What has been done is done already. I just look forward."
Zambrano fell behind 1-0 in the first, but the Cubs scored twice off Chris Carpenter (13-4) in the second, on Ramirez's 17th homer and an RBI double by Hill. Lee's 14th homer put the Cubs up 3-1 in the third.
Zambrano was sharp, as he used three or four different pitches and kept his walks total down to two after walking seven his last time out.
"Every time I go to the mound, I expect to win," said Zambrano, who is 4-6 with a 5.27 ERA. "Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't happen, but today I got blessed by God. Thank God everything was working today against a tough lineup."
Zambrano gave up a two-out run in the sixth, when Mateo finished the inning. After undergoing anger-management treatment, Zambrano was the picture of calm and cool on a hot day in a tense game.
"You have to be," he said. "We learn from things that happen in our life. We also learn from things that happen in baseball."
Marshall worked a 1-2-3 seventh and gave way to Marmol with one out and one on in the eighth. A throwing error by Ramirez on Aaron Miles' infield single put the tying run on second with nobody out in ninth, but Marmol got the next three.
"Zambrano was much better today," summed up Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "He had more velocity. He threw more strikes. He looked more confident on the mound. I told him after the ballgame, 'Just keep improving.' "
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Bruce Miles' game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Cubs 3, Cardinals 2</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">The 3M company: Rookie Marcos Mateo threw 1 pitch in the sixth and retired Brendan Ryan on a flyout to preserve a 3-2 lead. Sean Marshall struck out the dangerous Albert Pujols to end the seventh. Carlos Marmol worked 12/3 innings for his 20th save.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Error of their way: Aramis Ramirez committed a throwing error in the ninth, but it proved harmless. The Cubs have 24 errors from third basemen, and they entered Saturday leading baseball in that dubious category.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Web gem: Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome hit the wall in the fourth to catch Matt Holliday's flyball leading off. "What a nice play in right field, beautiful play," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella.</p>