Extra, extra

So after the Cubs held on in 12 innings on Monday, everyone said what a good thing it was that they had an off day on Tuesday, so the spent bullpen could rest. This proceeded to become entirely irrelevant as the Cubs blew leads of 2-0 and 4-2 before finally winning 6-4 in fifteen innings. (Oddly, the Cubs' last 15-inning game was also against Pittsburgh, on May 8 of last year. The last 15-or-more-inning game that the Cubs won was an 18-inning defeat of the Astros on 8/15/06.) At least this time the bullpen was more naturally stretched, as Dempster turned in his second straight strong start, allowing just one hit (and two walks) in seven innings. He deserves to be 2-0, but fate had other plans; by which I mean Carlos Marmol allowing a run in the eighth and then Kerry Wood blowing his first save thanks to a Jason Bay solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. Then Aramis Ramirez, in the midst of apparently waking up with a 3-for-7 day, hit a two-run homer in the top of the 14th... which Kevin Hart, trying to save his own win, coughed back up in the bottom of the inning. It took a two-run single by Felix Pie, of all people, in the 15th to finally win it, although we still had to sweat through a newly called-up Sean Marshall giving up a one-out double in the bottom of the inning before closing the deal for his first career save. Mercifully, the Cubs have another off day on the upcoming Monday, but it would be nice if we could get some deep starts in the next few games.

I didn't get to see much of the game, but I was a little stunned to come back from a late-ish dinner to find that it was still going on. What is it about the Pirates lately?