A day after the Carlos Zambrano incident, the Chicago Cubs were looking for a fresh start. After Aramis Ramirez tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh inning off of Freddy Garcia, it looked like it might be there night. However, White Sox slugger Paul Konerko had other ideas crushing the eventual game winning home run off of an Andrew Cashner fastball in the eighth inning. It was a 99 mph. fastball coming on a 1-2 pitch, so you have to give credit to Konerko on that one. Matt Thornton then came in and closed out the Cubs, clinching the season series for the White Sox.
Carlos Silva was very good yet again. He only let in two runs on three hits over six innings, while striking out four. He had his usual Silva like command walking only one batter, but ended up getting a no-decision in this one. Cashner pitched the seventh and eighth innings, and was very impressive despite giving up the game winner to Konerko. After the game Cashner said he thought he had his best stuff of the season. He had all of his pitches working, it was just one minor mistake that he made and he paid for it.
The Cubs need to take a close look at what their crosstown rivals have done over the past two weeks because these two teams were in very similar spots. Both teams had solid pitching, but offenses that just were not getting the job done. However, over the past 11 games the White Sox have just found ways to win games. They are playing with extreme confidence and collecting wins even though the offense is still not producing many runs. The Cubs have the same kind of potential, but will they be able to get on a roll like the White Sox are on right now? I would not predict it to happen, although it certainly looked like it was never going to happen for the White Sox this season either.
