One Ugly Inning

Ok, so the Cubs didn’t get the job done on Wednesday but St. Louis came through with a helping hand. While Chicago fell to Florida 7-4, The Cardinals came alive to defeat Milwaukee 7-3. Luckily for the Cubs, they still hold a two game lead in the NL Central. However, if they don’t start using their bats, the lead might slip away as well as the hope of making the playoffs. Some might consider the fan support the reason for the loss. Going from the huge fan base at Wrigley to a lesser Cub-friendly crowd in Florida could have been a reason for the loss. Manager Lou Piniella disagrees.

"Look, you're a professional, you have to adjust," Piniella said. "Whether there are 50,000 people in the ballpark or 5,000. I don't see that as an excuse. We didn't make any excuses. We just didn't hit tonight."

That’s right Lou. The Cubs didn’t hit and pitcher Ted Lilly struggled. Well, he had one bad inning that made a huge impact on the rest of the game. Lilly made one bad pitch that cost him. Two Marlin’s started with back-to-back singles, with the third hitter hitting a popup to right field that ended up dropping in front of Murton to load the bases. Another popup that deflected off the glove of DeRosa allowed the first run to score. By the end of the inning, Florida was up 4-0.

"That's one of the things you can't do — give up a big inning — and I did that, “ Lilly said.

At least he knows he did wrong. Of course, the blame doesn’t lay with him completely. The Cubs failed to make clutch hits which is something they have to work on if they’re planning on making the playoffs.

Speaking of playoffs, in anticipation of the Cubs returning to Chicago to continue the race toward the big show, Wrigley Field is undergoing some maintenance. The famous field has begun the process of re-sodding. It began Tuesday and is expected to be completed by Friday night.



Why the need for new grass?

Several players from Pittsburgh as well as the team’s manager criticized Wrigley’s outfield for having holes. This is most likely due to the two concerts by the Police during the summer.

"It's basically the whole outfield, some of the places around home plate and a patch in front of the mound," said Mark McGuire, executive vice president, business operations. "Our feeling is we wanted the field in good condition, and the best thing was to do it for the playoffs," McGuire said.

So the field is being prepared, the fans are more than ready, and now all that has to happen is for the Cubs to win these last couple of games. Easier said than done.