A Wild Night On The North Side

A man charged the mound in attempt to attack Cubs reliever Bobby Howry after Colorado took a 9-8 lead in the top of the ninth. The surprising thing was that it wasn't Lou Piniella but a fan. Sweet Lou was surely upset by his bullpen's failure to close out a game the Cubs led 8-3 entering the final frame, however, and presumed apoplectic when Troy Tulowitzki's three-run bomb gave the Rox the lead. But Piniella and the fans who remained in their seats were made happy in the bottom of the inning when Alfonso Soriano singled home a pair of runs for a 10-9 win. No one assaulted Brian Fuentes for his blown save, although he probably could've drank for free at any Chicagoland bar when the game was done. It makes four in a row for the Cubbies who are still seven and a half back in the Central but giving their fans some reason for hope.

• The Indians rode C.C. for all nine innings in a 5-2 win against Oakland. Sabathia now has 11 wins, tied for best in baseball, and won his latest against the team he followed as a kid. He's struggled against them throughout his career but eight strikeouts and no walks have a way of turning that around. He's walked just eight batters in his last 10 starts and has gone nine innings in three of the last five.
• The Dodgers got off to a good start in their big four-game set with Arizona thanks to Brad Penny. He picked up his 10th win with eight sterling innings in an 8-1 win that moved L.A. within a half-game of the first-place Snakes. His performance was key because Micah Owings kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard until the sixth. Aided by a Stephen Drew error they scored four times with Russell Martin tripling home the last two runners and giving Penny all he'd need.
• Mike Maroth's Cardinal debut couldn't have gone any better but the result was still another loss for La Russa's gang. The game had a familiar feel. Shea Stadium, 1-1 game decided late by a home run except this time the home run came from Shawn Green and not Yadier Molina. The 2-1 win continues the Mets too-late dominance of the Cards. They've won all four games against them this year and four straight overall.
• Bobo Newsom can rest in peace. Newsom went 18 starts without a loss and Bonderman was trying for the same number against Texas last night but he made a key throwing error and the bullpen made a close game an 8-3 laugher with a poor ninth inning for a Ranger win.

(Tribune Photo by Terrence Antonio James)

Comments

[allonthefield]

I loved Howry's line when the fan got out there. The fan says "What are you doing out here?", with probably at least one expletive sprinkled in there. Howry deadpans, "Trying to give up home runs, what does it look like?" If only he could have completed the Napoleon Dynamite impression with a "Gosh!"