Hey guys. Domonic Brown is back. And there's a game tonight. At this point, about half the people that were still clinging to the team after last season have hopped off the bandwaggon at this point. For those of us too brainwashed dedicated to stop watching, we're in for 50+ games of, well, nothing. Speaking of nothing, the team with 105 years since their last championship began their series with the Phillies this evening. The Chicago Cubs called upon Edwin Jackson to take on Kyle Kendrick.
The Phillies actually managed to get off on the right foot in this game. Michael Young started off the first inning with a deep double to center field. Chase Utley followed that up with an RBI single, putting up the first rn of the game even before recording an out. Despite a Dom Brown single two batters later, the Phillies would not score another, but led it 1-0.
Because nothing can be easy for this team, Kyle Kendrick would quickly give up that lead, and more. Former Phillie Nate Schierholtz doubled to begin the second, and moved to third on a fly out. Wellington Castillo's ground out scored Schierholtz to tie it at 1. Darwin Barney reached base when Carlos Ruiz was tagged for catcher's interference. Donnie Murphy made the most of the slip-up by homering to score three more runs. Make it a 4-1 Cubs advantage.
Cody Asche got some noise out of the thin crowd with a double in the third inning Looking to help his own cause, Kendrick singled down the right field line to bring home Asche. 4-2 Cubs lead. A solo homerun by Anthony Rizzo in the following half inning took the run back and made it a 5-2 game.
Utley began the home half of the third inning with a single to right field. Jimmy Rollins popped a ball out to right as well. With Utley's terrific baseball skill, he sailed around second to put runners at the corners with nobody out. With Rollins having stolen second, Domonic Brown recorded an RBI with a groundout that scored Utley. Rollins made it home on a double by Darin Ruf, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. 5-4 Cubs.
Things picked up again in the fifth. Michael Young began it with a walk. Chase Utley nearly had an inside-the-park homerun when Schierholtz misplayed it off the wall. He settled with a triple, but it tied the game back up at 5. Another Domonic Brown RBI groundout scored a run, putting the score at 6-5. Darin Ruf finished the scoring with a solo homerun. 7-5 Phillies after five.
Cody Asche recorded his second hit of the game, a single to begin the seventh. Ruiz would sacrifice him to second. Delmon Young pinch hit for Kendrick, but couldn't make anything happen. Michael Young came through with a double to move the Phillies lead to 8-5.
Jake Diekman and Justin De Fratus both came on and held the Cub scoring at zero. Carlos Ruiz would extend the lead to 9-5 with his second homerun of the season, a solo shot in the eighth. What a run that would turn out to be…
Papelbon would close it out in the ninth, and of course had some issues. A single and a double put two runners on immediately with nobody out. After two strikeouts, Schierholtz lined one up the middle to score two. Then, after a 3-2 count, a fly ball to left field was dropped by Brown, moving the score to 9-8. Chooch would bobble a ball and allow the runner to move to third. A walk put runners at the corners. Another fly ball to Brown would be caught, and the game was over.
A win is a win. In a season filled with tons of disappointment and a stretch of unbearable games, this one should have felt good. But with the continuing poor performance by some players, it was unbearable. It was also entertaining to see Cody Asche and Darin Ruf have impressive nights. The concern rests in the still declining Kyle Kendrick. He's had an ERA over 7.00 in his last nine starts, and really hasn't pitched nearly as well as he had in the first half. Then there's Papelbon, but I'm not getting into that. Tomorrow, the series continues with the Cubs sending Travis Wood to the bump against Cole Hamels at 7:05.
I'll leave you with some quotes from my dad:
"Papelbon sometimes gives us crap, then sometimes gets us out. And he'll shoot us two strikeouts."
"What can Brown do for you? Absolutely f***ing nothing!"
"If they got paid half of what they normally get paid when they lose, they'd change real quick."
Oy. Then there was my girlfriend:
"Chooch, you stink too."
My family. Good night everyone.
