Rookies lead Cubs past Cardinals in 6-5 win

Posted July 23, 2010 11:00 pm

By Mike Slpellman

Maybe he truly believed it.

Maybe it was because he was still coming off the high of beating the division-leading Cardinals for the second straight day, this time in a 6-5 nailbiter at Wrigley Field.

Whatever the reason, Cubs manager Lou Piniella raised a few eyebrows after the game when he was asked what he would suggest to general manager Jim Hendry regarding the upcoming trade deadline and whether the Cubs should be buyers or sellers.

"Look, that's going to be Jim's call," Piniella said. "My response would be: let's give this a longer period of time.

"Nine games (out of first) is a lot, but it's not that much. You can't make it up obviously in a week or 10 days, but over a period of time picking up a game here a game there, you'd be surprised ... you could be in the pennant race, playing good baseball by the middle of August."

Then he added with a laugh: "Now, that's what our thoughts are. We'll see what happens in that regard."

Indeed we will, but you can't blame Piniella for being a little upbeat after Saturday's win, one that featured clutch performances from the Three C's, rookies Tyler Colvin (leadoff home run), Starlin Castro (3-for-4, homer, 2 RBI) and Andrew Cashner (2 innings of clutch relief work).

"A lot of good things out there," Piniella said.

It began with Colvin's second straight leadoff homer in the series. He is the first Cub to hit a leadoff homer in consecutive games and days since Alfonso Soriano did it May 13-14, 2008, against San Diego.

"It's a good feeling because it gets us on the board and gives us a lead early," Colvin said of his 15th dinger of the year, making him the first left-handed hitting Cubs' rookie to collect 15 homers since Mel Hall had 17 in 1983.

It continued with Castro, who blasted his third of the season on the first pitch in the third inning to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead. The rookie shortstop added a single and a double to up his average to .308.

And it ended with a clutch performance from an ailing Cashner, who inherited a two-on, no-out scenario with Cards slugger Albert Pujols at the plate in the seventh, but the strong-armed Cashner and his 100-mph fastball got the big guy to hit a relatively harmless sacrifice fly for the only run of the inning.

"I wasn't giving in," said Cashner, who struggled with a sore throat. "He's one of the best hitters in the game. If I'm going to get beat, I'd rather get beat with my fastball by him."

He also got out of trouble in the eighth but induced Tyler Greene into an inning-ending double play.

All of it added up to a victory for starter Tom Gorzelanny, who is 4-0 with a 2.83 ERA in his 5 starts since returning to the rotation. It also marked the third win for the Cubs (45-53) in their last four games, and they are 6-3 since the all-star break.

"We've been playing better baseball," Piniella said. "These guys are playing well."

Believe it or not.

Mike Spellman's game tracker

Cubs 6, Cardinals 5

Clutch Castro: Starlin Castro collected his team-leading seventh game-winning RBI of the season. The franchise mark for a Cubs rookie is 11 by Bob Will in 1960.

Gorzopalooza: Tom Gorzelanny is holding cleanup hitters to a paltry .132 average.

Lee-way: Derrek Lee (2-for-4) extended his hitting streak to seven games and is 13-for-30 (.433) over that span.

Walk this way: Albert Pujols drew a pair of walks Saturday, giving him 876 for his career and tying him with Ozzie Smith for second place on the Cards' all-time walks list.

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