Mr. Clutch strikes again

For every Car Phone Joe out there in talk-radio land who likes to dog Aramis Ramirez for, well, dogging it, the Cubs third baseman gave them a couple of leisurely strolls around the bases Friday.

One came in the bottom of the seventh inning, when his home run tied the White Sox at 3-3.

Ramirez also took his time rounding the bases in the bottom of the ninth, when he led off with a line-drive homer to center, this one giving the Cubs a 4-3 victory before 41,106 fans at Wrigley Field.

The soon-to-be 30-year-old third baseman is no stranger to big situations. His walk-off homer last June 29 against the Brewers helped kick-start a run to the division title.

"It's part of my job," he said, matter-of-factly. "I'm a cleanup hitter. I'm an RBI man, and people expect me to do that. I guess I just concentrate a little more with men in scoring position or a tie ballgame or late in the game."

Of course, many stats-oriented people will debate you into extra innings that there is no such thing as a "clutch" hitter. But there's no arguing with stats that say Ramirez has an on-base percentage of .401 and a slugging percentage of .506, good for a meaty OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .907.

How about it, Aramis? Are you buying into the "clutch" thing?

"I don't know. You tell me," he said. "I've been doing pretty good in my career, driving in 100 runs, I don't know, five times. So I guess I can be a clutch hitter.

"You've got to slow the game down. You don't want to do too much, especially in that kind of situation."

Friday was another in a long line of crazy days at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs are now 30-8.

"I don't know," said Lee, who has 13 of his 15 homers at the Friendly Confines. "We have some magic going on here. We just find a way to win. I think we're just a confident team here, and we never feel like we're out of it. Ramy came up with the huge hit. It was a big win for us."

It was big because the Cubs had just gotten themselves swept in three games at Tampa Bay for their first three-game losing streak of the season. After Friday's big win over the Sox, the Cubs talked of "needing" the victory.

"I think so," Ramirez said. "We played bad on the last trip. We're starting a six-game homestand and going over to the South Side. So we're going to stay here in Chicago for a while. To come out with a big win today is special."

Just as he did on the last homestand, when his team swept the Braves, Piniella said it all boiled down to confidence. That confidence has carried the Cubs to a 12-game winning streak at Wrigley, and it was the same song Friday.

"We've got confidence, that's obvious," said Piniella, whose team is 46-28 overall. "We've come from behind quite a bit this year, and today was no exception. Our big boys got the job done today, which is good to see.

"Look, it feels good."