New-look Cubs go down when Gonzalez blasts 462-foot HR in ninth
DENVER - It appears to be audition time for everybody on the Cubs now.
With the July 31 trading deadline passing, all eyes are turned toward 2011. Who plays well and who doesn't could affect their jobs for next year.
The guy who stole the show Saturday night was the Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez, who ended the game in the bottom of the ninth with a 462-foot home run off Sean Marshall to give Colorado a 6-5 win over the Cubs, who had come back from a 4-0 deficit.
Gonzalez's mammoth blast completed the cycle. He singled in the first, tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
"Let me start this by saying we've seen enough of Mr. Gonzalez," said acting manager Alan Trammell, filling in for Lou Piniella whose uncle died late last week. "Geez. He's put on quite a show the last couple games. Quite a blast."
Speaking of auditioning, Trammell says he's doing no such thing, even though he may be a candidate to replace Piniella for next year.
"I don't look at it that way, honestly," he said. "I am the acting manager, and certainly, this will be a team effort. Again, it's not something that I would do. It's not my style, about campaigning."
The Cubs traded veteran pitcher Ted Lilly and second baseman Ryan Theriot to the Dodgers on Saturday, but Trammell and the rest of the Cubs' brass expect the Cubs to put forth 100 percent effort the rest of the way.
"You hope, that with the business side of it, these guys go out and put personal feelings to the side," Trammell said. "They're professionals. I was taught years ago that, regardless of your record, until the last day of the season, you play it that way.
"If not, we'll make a couple comments."
Starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny fell behind as the Rockies got 3 in the second and 1 in the third. Colorado led 5-2 in the eighth, but Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee hit a 3-run homer to tie it.
The game marked the return of pitcher Carlos Zambrano from more than a month away for anger-management treatment. Zambrano worked two-thirds of an inning in the seventh, creating some trouble for himself but leaving the bases loaded. True to form, he said he could start again, and soon.
"I'm ready," he said. "I'm ready to pitch Tuesday, Thursday, whenever they want me to pitch. I'm ready to go back in the starting rotation if they want me to go back into the starting rotation."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Bruce Miles' game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Rockies 6, Cubs 5</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">They needed that: A night after the bullpen was beat up, lefty Tom Gorzelanny worked 61/3 innings for the Cubs, giving up 9 hits and 5 runs. It wasn't a quality start, but it got the job done. The Cubs have five straight non-quality starts. "We needed a win more than anything," Gorzelanny said. </p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">That guy's good: Unheralded Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez capped a cycle night with a game-winning homer in the ninth. His hitting line is .321/.350/.554 with 21 homers and 68 RBI.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">RISPY business: The Cubs were 0-for-22 with runners in scoring position before Derrek Lee's eighth-inning 3-run homer. That dated to last Monday. Lee's run scored was the 1,000th of his career.</p>