On the Fourth of July, it wasn’t just the birth of a nation, but it was the rebirth of one of the most exciting rivalries in baseball. The Cubs and Cards celebrated Independence Day in true baseball style, opening a 3-day battle between the two best records in the National League. The big stories were the return of Jim Edmonds to St. Louis—as he had played over 1,100 games in a Cardinal uniform—and the Cubs’ ace, Carlos Zambrano, returning from the DL.
It didn’t take long for the Cubs to strike. After Reed Johnson flied out to center, Rookie of the Year candidate Kosuke Fukudome responded with his 7th home run of the year. After the side retired, the thing on every Cub fan’s mind was if Zambrano could produce after straining his shoulder. Striking out Pujols to end the inning put any doubts to rest.
After striking out Braden Looper to end the 2
Today's Must Reads
The Cubs’ other Rookie of the Year candidate, Geovany Soto, added a solo shot in the 4th for number 14 on the year to make it 2-0.
In the 8th inning, the Cards finally got on the board when Albert Pujols hit his 18th of the year off of reliever Bob Howry, cutting the deficit in half to 2-1. But that’s all they would get in that inning, as Neal Cotts would strike out Rick Ankiel to go to the 9th.
Jason Isringhausen came on in the 9th to give the Wild Card leaders a chance for an easy tie, and struck out Edmonds, while keeping Soto from getting into scoring position. But then Kerry Wood would take the mound in the bottom half of the inning, striking out a very pissed-off Troy Glaus, as he went down looking on a close strike and stormed back to the dugout. Duncan would pop out to Theriot, but Molina hit a single to shallow left to keep the hope alive. Ludwick grounded out to DeRosa to close it, and Wood earned his 12th straight save, and his 22nd of the year.
After the game, the fireworks went off, but I think the show of the night was provided by Big Z and the rookies.
Carlos Zambrano (9-3) earned the win, going 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 5, winning his 8th straight against St. Louis. Braden Looper (9-6) picked up the loss, but struck out 5 and allowed a walk, while giving up 6 hits.
The Cubs (52-35) now lead the Cardinals (49-39) by 3 ½ games in the National League Central Division.
comments (6) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
Nice recap Justin. It was a good win for the Cubs but you can see how closely matched these teams are. I can't believe it's only the 4th meeting of the year between them and we're already into July.
from about 1 month ago
tell me about it....it will really be close going into the final few weeks
about 1 month ago
Good recap. It was a very deserved "very pissed-off Glaus". The ump did him dirty!
about 1 month ago
Now that Zambrano is back, I got a feeling that the Cubs will run away.
about 1 month ago
do you guys think i put too many numbers in this? lol
about 1 month ago
Good job Justin. Keep up the solid work with the recaps, I like the way it flows....
write a new comment