Cubs vs. Brewers, Game 1

Last night was as close to a playoff atmosphere a team can get without playing in October. With at least 40 percent of the fans cheering for the Cubs, Chicago was able to break CC Sabathia's three-game complete game streak and take game one of the series. Ted Lilly pitched had retired nine-in-a-row before he felt it was necessary to float a curveball right down the middle to the "Hammerin' Hebrew," Ryan Braun in the sixth. Braun's homerun was the second of five consecutive Brewer hits and shifted the momentum to Milwaukee. But with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh, Derrick Lee, who has been called "DP" recently, hit a groundball to short and it looked like the Cubs would strand three. But a hard slide into second by Reed Johnson forced Ricky Weeks to commit a throwing error and the Cubs scored two. After a homerun by Russell Branyan in the bottom half of the inning, Lee came up in the top of the ninth with runners on first and second. Despite his recent struggles, Lee doubled to deep right and scored Soriano from second. An infield single by DeRosa scored Fontenot later in the inning. I don't think i've ever felt so unsafe with a 6-4 lead. Wood is on the DL and that means Marmol gets the chance to close out the game. I was convinced he was going to find a way to blow this one, but he faced just four batters and struck out two. Hooray!

Besides Soriano's big night (2-4, HR) and Lee's possible resurrection (3-5, 3 RBI), there were two plays that really stuck out to me. The first was Johnson's slide in the seventh. It's a play that won't show up on the scorecard but it's a perfect example of why he has been so valuable to this team. He doesn't hit for power and hits around. 280, but he plays all out and is the type of role player team's need come September. The second was even less obvious. In the bottom of the third Weeks was on first when Ted Lilly tried to pick him off at first. Weeks took off for second and Ronny Cedeno missed Lee's throw and the ball rolled into the outfield. One would think Weeks would make an immediate jump for third base, but Theriot acted like he had the ball and stuck out his glove towards Weeks. Theriot's play kept Weeks at second with Hardy and Braun due up next. His intelligence on the diamond is a reason why he is arguably the team's most valuable player.

Tonight's game features Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano and should be awesome. Both pitched well against the other team this season, and you can count of Big Z doing something emotionally questionably tonight, seeing as there will be 40,000 + on the road in a big series. Maybe a few hits to the chest, a la Kevin Garnett? Game time set for 7:05, be there.

Notes: Have you seen a worse head shot? If so, include it in the comments section below.
Baltimore Orioles CF Adam Jones - very photogenic.