We needed a big game from Zambrano and we got it. I'm a little bothered that he threw 128 pitches, and he seemed pretty gassed by the time he finished the eighth - but he struck out eight, allowed just five baserunners (three hits, a walk and a hit batsman), and hit 96 on the gun early in the game. And, of course, he hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run into the left-field seats. All told it was a fun game to be at, unless you like a lot of hits. I don't mind a good old-fashioned pitchers' duel, though (in fact, many of the Cubs' games I've attended have turned out to be such), although it was a little frustrating to see the offense struggle. (To be fair, a lot of balls were pretty well hit and just found gloves. Mike Lamb's liner stab and scramble to first to double Lee off, for example; pretty lucky on Houston's part.) I know Ramirez is out, but Lee has looked off for a couple weeks - he seems to be taking too many pitches. If I had a dollar for every third strike he's looked at in the past week, I could have a pretty big lunch tomorrow.
Still, good to see the bullpen get some rest, even if it meant a ton of pitches for Big Z (he seems to be one of the few guys capable of handling that workload, but I'm biting my tongue here), after getting shredded last night, and good to see Dempster rebound. And good to see a win when I'm actually in the ballpark. By my count I'm actually 6-1 since returning to Chicago for school in 2000, including five straight since 2001. Maybe I should go more often.
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