Game 11 Thread / Cubs @ Phillies (2 of 3)

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SP	Ted Lilly	SP	*Cole Hamels
	0-1, 9.72, 5 K, 2 BB		1-1, 1.20, 10 K, 5 BB
LF	Alfonso Soriano	CF	#Shane Victorino
CF	Reed Johnson	RF	Jayson Werth
1B	Derrek Lee	2B	*Chase Utley
3B	Aramis Ramirez	1B	*Ryan Howard
C	Geovany Soto	LF	Pat Burrell
RF	Mark DeRosa	3B	Pedro Feliz
2B	Ronny Cedeno	C	Carlos Ruiz
SS	Ryan Theriot	SS	Eric Bruntlett
P	*Ted Lilly	P	*Cole Hamels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lilly is coming off his shortest outing as a Cub, that is, in games that weren't meaningless end-of-season affairs or didn't involve his getting a quick thumb from the home plate umpire. In Monday's game, you'll recall, the Cubs staked Lilly to a 7-0 lead, then the lefty couldn't make it out of the fourth inning. Eventually the Cubs won 10-8 in 12 innings. Thank God for Jon Lieber and Evan Meek.

From the cubs.com report about the outing:

"I almost felt like...I was trying to force the ball in there and going a little too fast," Lilly said.

As far as Cubs manager Lou Piniella was concerned, Lilly is going too slow, the infielders may be back on their heels, and that may be contributing to the errors behind him.

"The way it appears is I'm going slow, but when I'm out there, I feel like I'm going too fast," the left-hander said. "I almost feel better when I'm a little bit slower. It's almost like I rush through my delivery when I go too fast..."

Lilly says too fast; Lou says too slow. Unless this game is played in a time warp, I think somebody is destined to be unhappy with Lilly's pace.

As for the Phillies' lefthander, Hamels is 2-1, 4.24 lifetime against the Cubs. Alfonso Soriano has tagged him for three HR in just 21 plate appearances.

Last night's game, in which Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez hit consecutive first-inning homers, was the 27th game in which the pair have homered. (Only Santo/Williams (63), Santo/Banks (43), and Banks/Williams (42) have achieved the feat more times for the Cubs.) Too bad Cub hitters went 4-for-27 over the final eight innings.

One other note: Jason Marquis, who missed his scheduled start Friday night with a strep throat, will now pitch in the series finale Sunday afternoon against Jamie Moyer.

Update: Cubs give Fukudome the night off, and DeRosa sees his first action this season in right field, where he appeared in 22 games for the Cubs last year. Soto gets moved up into the fifth spot. Regarding the bottom third of the order--Cedeno, Theriot, and the pitcher's spot--all I can say is oy, oy, oy.

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