Cubs 9, Marlins 6; Applause to Mighty Mike

Reprinted with permission from Cubbie Nation - Notes From the Front Office

Pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot hit a three-run double in the 7th, and Jeff Samardzija  went two innings in relief for his first major-league save, as the Cubs outlasted the Florida Marlins 9-6.The win restores the Cubs to sole possession of 1st place in the NL Central, as the Milwaukee Brewers lost earlier this afternoon.

I'm reminded of an exchange that I had earlier this week at another blog. With the health of Jim Edmonds in question at the time, someone was explaining the logic of calling up Felix Pie. While the guy made a fine argument, my position ultimately was that it was highly unlikely that this would happen, as Kosuke Fukudome in center, Mark DeRosa in right, and Mike Fontenot at 2nd base was perfectly acceptable when facing a right-handed pitcher for awhile if needed. Basically, why replay the Pie foibles when you have a .280/.373/.528 left-handed solution on the bench already? I'm still waiting for an answer, but in the meantime, Mike keeps coming up big; this time with a go-ahead double that scored three to give the Cubs the win.

Both teams had little trouble scoring runs today actually, albeit for perhaps different reasons. The Cubs took advantage of a bad starter in Rick VandenHurk, who couldn't throw strikes in his 3 2/3 innings of work, and an equally bad back-half of the Marlins bullpen. The Marlins went homer happy off of Jason Marquis - three in all -  who regressed to his normal summertime state. Too many home runs, too much nibbling, and frankly, he just looked dazed and confused. Again. I often wondered why Cardinals fans referred to him as bipolar Betty. I shouldn't have asked. Fortunately, he pitched just well enough to not completely blow the game,

What was really interesting though was the use of Chad Gaudin and Samardzija in relief. Like I spoke of yesterday, I sensed that Lou Piniella would stretch out a couple of guys to get his relievers aligned and rested for the Brewers set. That looked to pretty much be the thinking today from the outset. First, he stuck with Marquis for six innings - much longer than he wanted, to be sure - and then brought Samardzija back in the ninth for a save opportunity that you'd normally expect him to go to Marmol for, even if his arm was dangling. Fortunately, Jeff proved up to the task, although a diving catch by Jim Edmonds for the third out of the inning saved him from getting burned by another one of those laissez-faire fastballs.

So, with strong relief, and good hitting, including a pair of home runs by Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee, the Cubs split the series. It wasn't pretty, but I'll take it. On to Milwaukee, and hopefully a series win against the Brewers.