Click here for photos of last night's game.

Cubs bats exploded Tuesday with four home runs, but lack of timely hitting, and poor relief proved to be their undoing, as the Astros rallied late to win 9-7 in 11 innings. Starter Carlos Zambrano was lifted after five with arm soreness, and is scheduled to meet with team doctors today.

Or should I say uh-oh? Starting September 0-2 was bad enough, but at least that was manageable, being that the Mets seems to currently be having their way with the Brewers. But Carlos out for any length of time is something of a deal breaker for a team with lofty playoff hopes. Fortunately, in the short run, the difference between Carlos and say, a Sean Marshall is negligible. Or as Lou puts it:

"If he can pitch, he'll pitch, and if he can't, we'll put [Sean] Marshall in the rotation and go from there. "That's the end of it."

I went back and looked through my photo shots from last night. If Carlos was hurt, he wasn't tipping it. So, I'm especially hopeful that this is just a little inflammation. Either way, stay tuned.

And believe me, while he wasn't at his sharpest, the Cubs really could have used another inning out of him. Instead, they were left to go to Bob Howry, who did what he's been doing all year -- failing. This time though so bad that he managed to retire no one in the sixth, while giving up four runs. Believe me, they weren't cheapies either. I've been asking for the last two months why he's still on this team, and Scott Eyre isn't, who by the way is doing exactly the great job that you expected for the Phillies. At this point though, it's just plain silly. The rosters are expanded, and you can't afford this head case during the stretch run. Let. Him. Go. When you're getting absolutely blasted by the likes of Michael Bourn and David Newhan -- each had hard-hit, RBI singles in the sixth -- it's just time to move on.

Fortunately, he gave way to Michael Wuertz -- hope to see him a bit more in the early innings when needed -- and Angel Guzman, who did a real nice job keeping the Cubs in it. Actually, the bullpen was pretty good last night, given the situation. Even Kerry Wood, who gave up the game-winning home to Geoff Blum, looked strong. But asking him to work that second inning was probably not what you would have preferred, so you had to know that you were on borrowed time anyway.

The only good news about last night's game was that it's the sort of loss that most teams have before they start to get back on track. The Cubs went yard four times in this see-saw game, with Mark DeRosa and Geo Soto blasting off in the fourth on Astros starter Brandon Backe. I counted seven extra-base hits in all, and hope that it's a start to better offensive production. Of course, one thing that helped was the Mike Fontenot going 2-4, with a walk in place of Kosuke Fukudome. He'd later enter the game as a defensive replacement, but given his woes at the plate, the DeRosa/Fontenot solution isn't the worse thing in the world for a few games over the next month.

Not much else to say. Finish out the homestand 3-4 with a win today, and try to get yourselves straight on the road. Given their recent 13-1 road record, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.