The Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers opened their three-game weekend series at Miller Park with a bang. The Cubs came out on the wrong end of a 13-inning marathon that featured a pinch-hit grand slam from David DeJesus, a shaky-but-good-enough outing from Matt Garza (5.0 innings, one earned run, five walks, three strikeouts), an injury to Carlos Marmol and parade of 16 pitchers combined, but it sure was entertaining.
Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue brings up perhaps the most disturbing part of the 8-7 loss:
I don't like seeing any baseball player injured. But if Marmol has to now spend time on the disabled list -- and I would be absolutely shocked if the Cubs didn't DL him -- the team can recall Scott Maine from Iowa, to give them a second lefthander in the pen that they badly need, and not only that, another effective reliever, because they're really down to just three.
That's right. As of now, Shawn Camp, James Russell and Rafael Dolis are the only effective relievers in the Cubs' bullpen. Marmol has thrown 280 pitches this season. Only 151, barely more than half, have been strikes. Bowden has been ineffective; he was responsible for the other two runs in the Brewers' four-run seventh. Kerry Wood... well, we've talked about him, more in a moment, and Lendy Castillo...
Corey Hart finished the Cubs off in the 13th with a single to center field as Castillo gave up two hits and the game-clinching run without recording an out.
Here's a look at the Win Expectancy chart of the game from Fan Graphs:
Source: FanGraphs
For more news and updates from around the MLB, drop by Baseball Nation with Rob Neyer, or dig deeper into the stats at Beyond the Box Score. Also, check out the team blogs Bleed Cubbie Blue and Brew Crew Ball.