The Cubs trailed the entire game but showed tremendous heart with a 6 run ninth
inning rally that just fell short in the 14-10 loss to the Phillies. The Cubs
were sluggish at the start having a hard time solving the Phillies starter Pat
Dayton. The Cubs managed just 4 hits and 2 runs off Dayton through six innings.
This was a game of inches and it seemed all the breaks went the Phillies way.
Dan Gould made beautiful diving attempts for two balls in left that tipped off
his glove. There were 3 or 4 hits between short and third that just missed Cubbie
infielders. The Phillies managed to score 3 runs in the fifth inning on 0 hits,
4 walks and some pitches to the backstop.
The Cubs starter Tom Barnes was not feeling 100% and he wasn't as sharp as he's
been. Tom has pitched 64 of the Cubs 122 innings this season and is 6-2. Eddie
Murray came in to face 1 batter to get the last out of the fifth making a stomach
save on hot one hopper. Andy Schultz pitched the last three innings looking very
solid. The first two innings for Andy were scoreless. At one point Andy had
struck out 4 of 5 batters.
Not much to say defensively for the Cubs. No memorable plays were made. In general
the defense did a good job.
Offensively, the Cubs were pretty well shut down until the last two innings. Tim
Shaver was the offensive star of the game hitting a triple, double and single in
4 at bats. Tim reached base on an error that scored the Cubs first run in his other
at bat. Dan Gould and Dennis Fontecchio continue to do great job as the first two
batters in the order. They both had 2 hits and Dan also collected a walk. They also
both had rockets to the outfield that were caught. As a strange FYI, dating back to the
June 25th game against the Brewers, Matt Corkum has played 4 games. He has reached
base safely in 10 straight at bats! He singled in his last at bat against the Brewers,
was 3-3 with 3 singles against the Cardinals, was 2-2 with 2 singles and 2 walks against
the Mariners, and 1-2 reaching on an error in this game. All in all that is 7-8 with
2 walks.