The bullpen is probably better named the pigpen. (credit to CubbieJulie for that)
Yep, the Cubs lost tonight 5-4.
The Cubs were leading 3-1 going into the bottom of the eighth..similar to Wednesday. And a homer spoiled it.
And it spoiled a wonderful performance by Carlos Silva. Silva pitched 6 innings giving up only one run. The most impressive part was that he threw only 71 pitches. Either Silva was that good, or Dusty's bunch was just that aggressive.
Ok...for the Cubs, they were playing very well. Defensively they looked excellent (except a really crappy play in the first by Nady in right which eventually led to the Reds' first run). They score a run in the first, third and fourth innings. All of the runs were results of something stupid that the Reds did.
Derrek Lee hit a bomb in the top of the ninth...but it wasn't enough as Chad Tracy grounded out weakly with the bases loaded to end the game.
Esmailin Caridad came in for the bottom of the eighth and walked a couple batters, and after an excellent bunt that loaded the bases, some kid named Drew Stubbs hit a ball that went about 900 feet for a grand slam.
The really disgusting thing about this game was that Dusty's team did all the things Dusty's teams usually do to lose games. Poor offensive strategy, horrible defense, and horrible pitch calling for the pitchers. And the Cubs still lost? Boo!
Tomorrow Aaron Harang goes up against Carlos Zambrano. Neither of guys were particularly good on opening day. Harang has not been the same pitcher he was since Dusty Baker became manager. So his performance on Monday was closer to what you might expect tomorrow. Now that Zambrano has opening day out the way, hopefully he can start being the pitcher was stupidly hope he should be.
I'll be gone all day tomorrow (yes, another track meet)...I'll post a recap when I get home.
