Cubs 6, White Sox 5: The game that could turnaround the season

The Cubs won a dramatic 6-5 game against the Crosstown rival Chicago White Sox. The first 6 innings of the game looked like a typical Cubs (and White Sox) game this season as both teams put together just 1 run apiece. But in the 7th inning, Alexei Ramirez ripped a 2 run homer into the leftfield bleachers and at that point I figured the game was over. To make matters worse, the White Sox scraped out 2 more runs in the top of the 8th to give them a 5-1 lead. This was probably Carlos Marmol's worst outing of the season in what has been a sub-par season for him. The Cubs needed at least 4 runs in 2 innings to keep them (and probably their season) alive and they came through in a big way.

Micah Hoffpauir led off the 8th with a groundball to White Sox shortstop Chris Getz who committed an error on the play allowing Micah to reach first. The next batter Alfonso Soriano (still in that awful slump) took what looked to be strike 3 on a 1-2 pitch from Scott Linebrink but home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman called it ball 2. Soriano would go on to single in that at-bat moving Hoffpauir to 2nd. Ryan Theriot popped out to 2nd in the next at-bat and it sure looked like it was another typical 2009 Chicago Cubs inning. But Derrek Lee came up and ripped a home run into the basket in right field pulling the Cubs within one. I mentioned yesterday that the Cubs had not hit a home run with a man on base in over 30 games. Well there it was. The very next batter Geovany Soto homered to deep left center tying the game.

Kevin Gregg came in to try and hold the White Sox at five in the top of the 9th and while he allowed a leadoff hit to Alexei Ramirez, he didn't allow him to get much farther shutting the White Sox down in that inning.

In the top of the 9th, Reed Johnson (pinch-hitting for Kosuke Fukudome) led off with a single. The next batter Andres Blanco laid down a perfect sacrafice bunt to get Reed over to 2nd. The Cubs had two chances to win the game at that point. Aaron Miles came up and grounded out to Alexei Ramirez for the 2nd out. Once again, looked like the Cubs would fail to score here and we would go to extra innings. But Alfonso Soriano came up and blooped a single into right centerfield winning the game for the Cubs in dramatic fashion.

Lost in this game because of the offensive struggles early for both teams were two good starts by Carlos Zambrano and Gavin Floyd. Zambrano went 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 runs while striking out 3. Floyd went 7 innings allowing 3 hits while striking out 2. Kevin Gregg earned the win with a great performence after walking the leadoff man.

Now the Indians come into town for a 3 game series which means the return of Mark DeRosa and Kerry Wood. We'll probably see DeRosa in all 3 games and he'll probably hit .500 and hit 3 home runs in the series. Hopefully the only time we see Kerry in this series is with a 6 run lead. DeRosa and Wood are going to obviously get huge ovations from the Wrigley faithful.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the weather isn't looking good for tomorrow's game:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 88. West southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

If they are unable to get tommorrow's game in, they will probably try and play a doubleheader on either Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure if they are allowed to play night games on the weekend if they do have to play a doubleheader. Otherwise, the Cubs will have to waste another offday sometime later in the season to make this one up.

As for the Cubs player of the game, I was between Alfonso Soriano (for the game-winning hit as well as the hit in the 8th that continued the rally in that big inning) or Derrek Lee (for his big 3 run homer in the 8th that was followed up by the Geovany Soto solo shot). I went with Derrek Lee because without him, we don't win this game.

Rich Harden vs Cliff Lee tomorrow. Should be a good pitching matchup. Let's pull out the win.