A Rainy Night in Chicago

Cubs 1 Cardinals 6

It was a rainy, gloomy night in Chicago and the Cubs started the series against the Cardinals with a loss. Mark Prior started the game tonight and had another bad inning. He did not have a bad start, just one inning. Prior allowed 3 runs in the first inning and threw almost 40 pitches again. Prior has had at least one bad inning in every start this year. After that he settled down and held the Cardinals scoreless. Prior left after 5 innings, throwing 93 pitches. This is the 1st time the Cardinals have beaten Prior this year. Prior has had a good year, especially after missing the month with his elbow injury. I was glad to see Dusty pulling him out in the 5th. Prior has been throwing a lot of pitches lately and with the way Jeff Suppan pitched tonight...it was a good call.

Jeff Suppan shut the Cubs down, except for DLee. As usual this year, Derrek Lee was the only bright spot. Lee went 2 for 4 and hit his 43rd home run. The rest of the Cubs only managed 4 hits against Suppan. I do not think the guys did a bad job tonight, Suppan just had their number.

The Cubs fought back in the 9th, but with the bases loaded and 2 outs, the rain came back to stay. The game was delayed for 51 minutes and then called. It was a strange end to a strange night.

With tonight's win, the St. Louis Cardinals are the 2005 Central Division Champions.

The Cubs have played the Cardinals better than any other team in the Central this year. If the Cubs can win 1 game of the series, they will actually win the season series against the Cardinals for the first time since 2001. The age of the Cardinals' players are starting to show will all of the injuries they have had this year. I hope this is the beginning of the Cubs beating the Cardinals on a regular basis...and who knows...maybe the 2 teams could switch place in the standings next year. Wouldn't that be nice?

As one would expect, the Cubs look like they are going through the motions. It has been a very long season, there is only 15 games left. With tonight's loss the Cubs dropped to 3 games under .500.

Friday - Glendon Rusch(6-8/4.62) vs. Matt Morris(14-8/4.04)

Matt Morris will go for the Redbirds on Friday and that could benefit the Cubbies. Morris has lost his last 3 starts against the Cubs. Morris started the season very strong and has cooled down lately. Glendon Rusch has pitched better in his last 2 starts and even had a perfect game into the 7th inning his last start against the Cardinals. The bullpen has been used to much in the last 3 games and Rusch will need to pitch into the 7th or the 8th for the Cubs to win. DLee could use help, who will step up? Nomar? Murton? Burnie? Walker? Hopefully a day game will wake up the offense and the Cubs can get back in the win column.

Be patient, bring the bats...and just beat those birds!!