"Sometimes I need to take my time, and let the ball come out of my hands."
That was the best quotable from the post-game press conference with Carlos, as he discussed his do-it-all day today; going seven strong innings, and hitting yet another home run to lead the Cubs to a 3-2 win over the Reds. While not one of their more productive series, the Cubs still took two of three over Cincinnati.
It's been a rough month for Zambrano. After being chastised in the media and by fans for "only mentally being prepared to go five innings" in his August 3rd start against the Pirates, he followed that outing up with a couple of real clunkers, resulting in a 0-1 record, with a 8.80 ERA for the month. All of a sudden, people are talking about Harden being the real "ace", Dempster deserving a Game 1 start in the playoffs, and that Z is going back to his petulant and emotional ways. You get the idea.
Today though, we got a great bounce-back outing, with Z keeping Reds hitters off balance for most of the game. He couldn't get past Jay Bruce, who went yard on Z in the sixth, his 13th of the season. But he did a great job with everyone else, sailing through six, and getting out of the seventh with a pair of runners on by forcing Jeff Keppinger to ground out to first. And did I mention his third-inning homer, his fourth of the season?
Good thing too, as this offense continues to be in need of a spark. The only bright spot today was Mark DeRosa, who continued his hot home stand with a solo home run in the second. With lefty Odalis Perez on the mound tomorrow, a heavy dose of Reed Johnson -- and perhaps Ronny Cedeno -- is probably just what the doctor ordered. I would have thought that Josh Fogg might be that jump start, but he was surprisingly effective in his four innings of work, before being lifted for reliever Nick Masset.
Joey Votto continued his hot season against the Cubs, blasting an eighth-inning homer off of Carlos Marmol that was deep on to Sheffield. Sigh. We just got rid of Adam Dunn, and along comes yet another left-handed tormentor from Cincinnati. This made things white-knuckle interesting in the ninth, as Kerry Wood rambled through an extended Corey Patterson at-bat -- he grounded out to first -- before striking out Paul Bako and Javier Valentin for the save.
Bring on the Nationals, who go into tonight's action losers of their last 12. Personally, they scare me. Desperate teams have a tendency of not staying to the script. You'd think that this team would be fodder, but expect to see a club letting it all hang out this weekend. Oh, and for those who need a laugh, Carl Pavano is scheduled to start this weekend for the Yankees against the Orioles? Now he's healthy?