Play of the Season 3-6-1 Double Play

After last night's heart wrenching loss, the Cubs were hoping that Rich Hill would give them a big outing.  He did, but the Cubs almost choked again tonight, but thanks to a minor miracle and some great defense, the Cubs pulled out a victory in what could very well be the turning point of a very long, strange, season. 

Hill Come Through

After getting battered by Pittsburgh in his last start, Rich Hill said he was looking forward to coming back strong in his next start.  An in probably the biggest game of his young career, Hill pitched a gem.  Hill struck out seven, walked three, and gave up three hits, including Mark Loretta's leadoff homer in the seventh, to post his 16th quality start of the season. After the home run, Lou came out and taked to Hill.  He told him that it's part of the game, to keep his composure, and get through the inning. That's exactly what Hill did, getting two of the three batters he faced to strike out.

Floyd Was Lou's Pick to Click

Lou told Cliff Floyd that he was his pick to click for the day, and Cliff responded.  In the top of the second, Floyd hit a monster shot to right field to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.  Mark DeRosa and Jason Kendall hit back to back singles to put runners at the corners with no outs.  Ryan Theriot, batting eighth tonight, hit a sac fly to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.  Then, in the top of the fourth, Floyd hit a ball to center that looked like the ball Jacque Jones misplayed on Sunday against the Pirates, and Hunter Pence misjudged it and it rolled all the way up the hill.  With no outs and Floyd on second, Houston pitcher Matt Albers got DeRosa to ground out to short and Kendall to fly out to shallow right.  With two outs and Ryan Theriot up, everyone assumed that the Astros would walk Theriot to get to Rich Hill.  To everyone's surprise, Albers pitched to Theriot who hit a high chopper to the short stop, reaching safely on an infield single and getting his second RBI of the day. 

Thank You Houston

That inning was a real turning point in the game.  The misplay by Pence was bad enough, but the Cubs, who have been scuffling with runners in scoring position, had a lead off triple and had the next two players unable to get the run in.  With two outs, why the heck would you not walk Theriot to get to Rich Hill?  Hill takes some of the worst swings I have ever seen a major league player take.  The only players with worse batting averages than Hill are Ronnie Cedeno and Sean Marshall.  Stupid move by Houston.  More stupid plays by Houston kept coming.  With one out and Bobby Howry on the mound, Hunter Pence hit a one out single.  Craig Biggio followed with a single, which Alfonso Soriano bobbled, and Pence tried to advance to third.  Soriano quickly found the ball and threw Pence out.  Had Pence stayed on second, it could have changed the whole inning. 

The Worm Has Turned

Ryan Dempster, the losing pitcher in last night's game, came out to try and save the game.  After getting ahead to Mark Loretta 0-2, Loretta hit a three bouncer towards Derrek Lee, but at the last minute it hit the bag  and bounced into short right field. Mike Lamb followed with a run-scoring triple to right-center, almost exactly in the same spot as Luke Scott's game-winning triple Tuesday night.
So the Astros have the tying run on third, with no outs, and Dempster looks lost.  With a pulled in infield, Dempster then induced Scott to ground to third for the first out before Orlando Palmeiro walked to put runners on the corners. Then pinch-hitter Eric Munson grounded sharply to Lee, who started, as Len Kasper called it "the play of the season", a 3-6-1 double play.  Replays showed that Lee actually knocked the ball into his glove with his bare hand before starting the double play. It was amazing.

Fired Up

After the final out, Dempster pumped his fist, DeRosa pumped his fist, and Lou and the rest of the guys came storming out of the dugout. Lou gave enthusiastic high fives, and even gave a playful headlock to Dempster.  With Milwaukee losing a big one to the Pirates, and St. Louis falling to four games back, this was a huge win for the Cubs.  This needs to be the turning point for the Cubs.  Steve Trachsel will take on veteran Woody Williams, who has stunk it up for the Astros but seems to have the Cubs' number.  The Cubs need to get something rolling. As Bob Howry put it;

"We just need to be consistent.  We're very inconsistent in how we're playing, and at this point, we need to play well enough to get ourselves into the playoffs. And if we can do that, anything can happen."

Go Cubs!