Homers in the Gloaming

AP Photo/Darren Hauck

Box score.  It’s official… Alfonso is back.  A double in the first, and a home run in the third, and a stolen base.  The Cubs win something of a wild one in Milwaukee, and are now two up on the Brewers, and four on the Cardinals.

Lilly was solid through 5, but then looked all too Lilly-esque in the 6th, giving up back-to-back homers to Hardy and Braun, and then a double to Hart, surrendering the lead.

Luckily, the Cubs managed to retake the lead on a Weeks throwing error in the 7th, and scored again on a Lee double and DeRosa infield single in the 9th.

The Cubs have three more remaining in this important series with the Brewers.  Tomorrow’s game is again at 7:05 CT, on WGN.

MLB

All reports indicate that Mr. Soriano will be playing baseball for the Cubs this evening.  And thank God for that.  His last game was June 11th, when he broke his hand getting hit with a pitch.  Soriano is .283/.332/.547, with 15 HR and 6 net steals on the year.  DeRosa has been getting most of the starts in left during Soriano’s convalescence.  It seems likely that DeRosa, who has been playing well, will move to second, and Fontenot and Cedeno may be getting bumped out of some playing time.

The Soriano-infused Cubs try to avoid the sweep in Phoenix tonight, 8:40pm CT.

Baseball is back in full swing tomorrow, and the Cubs (57-38) head to juicy Minute Maid Park (née Enron Field) to take on the Astros (44-51) for 3.  For your convenience, here are the teams’ stats through the first half.

    G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   BA    OBP   SLG  SB
CHC 95 3317  507  933 191 12 107  478 384  701  .281  .360  .443 53
HOU 95 3257  414  847 178 10  96  396 280  586  .260  .321  .409 84

    G   ERA   W   L  SV  GS  GF IP     H    R    ER   HR   BB   SO
CHC 95  3.89  57  38 29  95  94 857.3  804  401  371  98  320  707
HOU 95  4.53  44  51 26  95  95 840.0  888  458  423 131  314  611

Well it seems like the Cubs are just… better.  Here are the likely matchups:

• July 18th, Lilly (4.68 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) vs. Moehler (4.28, 1.39)
• July 19th, Zambrano (2.84, 1.23) vs. W. Rodriguez (3.48, 1.28)
• July 20th, Dempster (3.25, 1.18) vs. Backe (4.76, 1.56)

Hopefully Theodore Roosevelt Lilly can show us something on 8 days of rest, like some sweet curveballs.

Unfortunately, we won’t see Soriano back in this series as was once thought.  He should be back before the end of July.