Remember the trade that unloaded Milton Bradley on to the Mariners? You know, the one that sent Carlos Silva (5-18 during 2 seasons in Seattle) to the Cubs?
While Cubs’ GM, Jim Hendry has had his fair share of misses, the Bradley-Silva trade was most certainly a big hit.
Silva (7-0) was simply fantastic as he put on a clinic on how to pitch in the big leagues vs. the St. Louis Cardinals (28-22). The hefty righty went 7 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts and even more importantly, 0 walks. The Red Birds were only able to scratch out 2 hits vs. Silva (both by Matt Holliday).
No one really knew what to expect from the Cardinals’ starting pitcher Adam Ottavino (0-1). Ottavino was making his Major League debut. He pitched decent (5.1 innings, 4 earned runs) for his 1st game but took the loss.
The Cubs manufactured the game winning run in the 4th, when Alfonso Soriano walked to lead off the inning and stole 2nd base to get into scoring position. Marlon Byrd then cashed in Soriano’s stolen base by hitting a solid single into center, allowing Soriano to score .
Mike Fontenot was the spark plug for the Cubs (24-26). Fontenot played 3rd for the injured Aramis Ramirez and had 2 triples and an RBI.
Starlin Castro had been in an 0-17 slump until the 7th inning of Friday’s game. Castro had a solid day at the dish, adding 2 more hits. Castro also made an amazing play at short. With Albert Pujols batting, Castro snagged a bullet off of the slugger’s bat and made an off balance throw to Derrek Lee (who made an impressive scoop). Castro is growing before our very eyes.
Sean Marshall, Carlos Zambrano and Jeff Stevens pitched the last 2 innings and kept the Cardinals off the board preserving the 5-0 Cubs’ victory.
These 2 team will meet again on Sunday in the rubber match. It’s going to be an electric pitching matchup. Ryan Dempster (3-4) will take the ball for the Cubs while the Cardinals have Adam Wainwright (6-3) pitching.
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