Cubs just can't seem to shake losing ways
Hockey season seemed alive and well Monday night at Wrigley Field.
When the baseball game played at the site of the Winter Classic started getting away from the Cubs, many in the announced crowd of 38,266 started chanting, "Let's go, Blackhawks."
As far as the Cubs' season goes, it continued to spiral downward in a 4-2 loss to Florida.
The Marlins scored 3 runs in the seventh inning, 2 coming on Ronny Paulino's homer off Ted Lilly, to send the Cubs to their sixth defeat in seven games.
"Well, hopefully, losing will bother us enough to do something about it, I guess," said Lilly, who fell to 1-3 as his team's record dropped to 14-19.
"You have to keep your spirits. I don't know what it is. At some point, we've had enough, and we do something about it. We're trying. We're not getting it done."
The Cubs didn't get it done in several different ways. Rookie shortstop Starlin Castro committed 3 errors and didn't hustle after the ball on one of them, allowing an extra base.
The Marlins victimized Lilly and the Cubs' defense with a double steal in the seventh, as Cody Ross stole home and Cameron Maybin stole second.
And once again the Cubs failed to produce at the plate. They outhit the Marlins 9-7, but they were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and they stranded eight runners.
"Lilly pitched well," manager Lou Piniella said. "Home runs are starting to get to us now in the later innings. But again, the story tonight is you've got to score runs. That's all."
One player who is hitting is Alfonso Soriano, who raised his average to .340 by going 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI.
"We want to play hard, with more concentration and with more energy, too, on the field because what I see is not fun because we're better than what we show," he said.
Soriano drove in a run with a single in the second. All the while, Lilly was keeping the Marlins hitless until the sixth. Brett Carroll led off and reached on Castro's throwing error. Pitcher Nate Robertson bunted Carroll to second, and Chris Coghlan picked up Florida's first hit with an RBI double to left.
In the seventh, Dan Uggla singled with one out, and he rode home on Paulino's homer, a high drive that just cleared the wall in left. Later that inning, the Marlins pulled off their double steal, with Ross breaking for home as Lilly threw to first, making a play on Maybin.
Castro's third error came in the eighth, and he heard about it from the fans and Piniella after not hustling over the missed grounder, allowing Hanley Ramirez to cruise to second.
"Yeah, you've got to go get the ball if you don't catch it," Piniella said. "You can't let it lay there."
The Cubs are down, but Lilly doesn't want to see them out.
"Right now, what matters is winning tomorrow, and then let's do that," he said. "And after we win tomorrow, let's win our next game. For me, let's focus on right now."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p> <p class="News">Marlins 4, Cubs 2</p> <p class="News"><b>Error of his way:</b> Rookie shortstop Starlin Castro committed 2 throwing errors and 1 fielding error. He became the first Cub to commit 3 errors in one game since Aramis Ramirez had 3 on Sept. 2, 2008. The Cubs have at least 1 error each of their last five games.</p> <p class="News"><b>Streaking Sori:</b> Alfonso Soriano extended a hitting streak to nine games. He is 16-for-34 (471) during the streak. He also had his third multihit game.</p> <p class="News"><b>Wasted quality:</b> Ted Lilly turned in the Cubs' 20th quality start, but they are just 9-11 in those games. The starters' ERA in the quality-start game is 2.15.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=379784">Rough night for Castro<span class="date"> [5/10/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=379787">Grabow says he's ready to go<span class="date"> [5/10/10]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>