3-2 Cubs
W. Zambrano 1-0
L. Villareal 0-2
Once again Michael Bourn singled to start the game. Pence followed up with a double on the next pitch and the Astros were set up 2nd and 3rd and no outs. Erstad struck out on a slow curve and Lee swung at a similar pitch around his eyes and lofted a pop to medium left. Bourn challenged Soriano and the one hop throw beat him by 3 steps.
Backe had some control issues early. But he battled, and giving up 2 runs in 6 innings kept his team in the game. In the first he worked out of a jam with runners 2nd and 3rd by striking out Fukudome and his falling away swing.
In the second, the Cubs loaded the bases with 2 singles wrapped around a missed call on a force at second. Blum, who filled in admirably at 3rd, smoothly scooped a grounder off the newly leveled and buzz cut Wrigley infield and threw smartly to Perez covering second. Perez’s foot was clearly on the bag and the throw clearly beat the runner. No matter, safe. Zambrano rolled a grounder up the middle that the Astros were able to turn, but a run scored.
In the 3rd Backe led off with a blooper to right that burrowed under Fukudome’s glove. Backe kept running and ended up on 2nd. He moved to 3rd on Bourn’s grounder to the right side, but wisely held up when Pence popped to right. Backe advanced half way and had a good look at the one hopper that Fukudome delivered to the plate. Darin “Big Daddy” Erstad provided the pick up with a opposite field single.
The score stayed tied until the 6th when Soriano temporarily hushed the boo birds with a homer. Meanwhile the Astros fell into a funk until Tejada delivered his first NL homerun in the 7th. But the tie didn’t last long. Derek Lee homered off Villareal in the bottom of the inning. JD commented, “well, you wouldn’t walk him with nobody on”. I suppose not.
The rookies lost their cool a little in the 8th, but not without good reason. On a 3-2 pitch Bourn checked his swing, ball was called and he trotted to 1st. Pinella comes out of the dugout and asks the home plate ump Brian Douche Nozzle Runge to ask. He does, strike is called, Cooper starts to come out and the aforementioned Douche Nozzle motions that he better not. What?! Only Pinella can appeal? Ridiculous. Then Pence went down on a called strike 3 and he bitched the entire way to the dugout.
Tejada made the final out. Wood was trying to blow fastballs by him and Tejada fouled them back. Then JD says, “Blanco should call for the curve” cut to the Cubs dugout and Pinella making the universal twisty wrist signal for a curve. Tejada swung right over it.