Cubs rally past Cards, 1-0 in Post Hendry era

A GM switch, a season high crowd, aerial fighter pilots, and an extra-innings Cubs win. All in all, it was quite a day at Wrigley Field.Tyler Colvin’s RBI single in the 10th inning off Octavio Dotel lifted the Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.The Cubs responded in their first game following the firing of general manager Jim Hendry, who was let go about three hours before the game. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Randy Bush.Geovany Soto led off the 10th with a single off Dotel (0-2), advanced to second on Marlon Byrd’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Colvin’s hit to center field.Soto also had a game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning. Darwin Barney homered and tripled, and Starlin Castro added two hits for the Cubs. Sean Marshall (6-5) pitched a perfect 10th to earn the win.Castro, who leads the NL with 162 hits, has 301 in his career. He is the fifth Cubs player to pass 300 in his first two seasons.The Cubs beat the rival Cardinals for just the third time in 10 games this season, delighting a home crowd of 42,343 — the largest at Wrigley Field since the home opener in 1978.Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, and David Freese added a solo shot.The fans enjoyed extra entertainment courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds practicing over Lake Michigan a few blocks east of the ballpark during the middle part of the game.Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia left with a 4-3 lead after he scattered nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Garcia, who entered the game hitting .085, added an RBI single.Wells gave up four hits in seven innings and struck out five. He set down the Cardinals in order in four of his seven innings.The Cubs nearly won the game in the ninth, but ran themselves out of the inning.Tony Campana reached first leading off the ninth when second baseman Ryan Theriot bobbled a routine grounder for an error. Campana darted for second on a steal attempt as Castro flied to center, lost track of the ball, and was easily doubled off first base.After trailing for 7 ½ innings, the Cubs tied it 4-4 in the eighth. Soto’s double into the left-field corner scored Carlos Pena from first base.Molina’s second-inning homer opened the scoring, and Garcia’s single up the middle scored Theriot to make it 3-0. Freese hit a solo shot in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1. He has an RBI in seven of his last eight games.Barney brought the Cubs within 4-2 with his second homer of the season, landing a shot barely into the basket in the left-field corner. His previous homer was April 25 against Colorado.Barney added a triple when Lance Berkman overran a blooper into the right-field corner in the seventh. He scored when pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt’s fly to center was misplayed by John Jay, and the ball rolled to the wall for another triple.

“When I went to go catch it, my foot slipped,” Berkman said. “I kicked a divot.This is a terrible place. This is probably one of the top five worst places to play defense. It’s a bad surface, you can’t see. It’s tough. It’s unfortunate that happened on back-to-back plays.”

With DeWitt on third and one out, representing the tying run, Jason Motte relieved Garcia and worked out of the jam by striking out Castro and getting Johnson on a grounder.The back-and-forth game came after an uneasy morning for the Cubs. All in all, it was a strange day.

NOTES—St.Louis’ Allen Craig made his first career start in center field because La Russa wanted to give the slumping Jay a break. Jay replaced Craig in the fifth inning…..Andrew Cashner threw 32 pitches during his third live batting practice session on Friday, the latest step in his recovery from a strained right rotator cuff. He has been on the DL since April 6. He’s slated to throw again on Tuesday and is hoping to be activated in September….Edwin Jackson will start for the Cardinals on Saturday against the Cubs’ Matt Garza. Jackson will be making his first in Chicago since being dealt by the White Sox on July 27. He’s won both of his career starts against the Cubs. Garza is 1-1 with a 7.80 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis.

Hendy out as Cub GM. Bush takes over on interim basis while search for replacement begins

Question is, is this just the start of housecleaniong at 1060 W.Addison? The Cubs have announced they have fired general manager Jim Hendry. However, during his meeting with the press, Hendry announced the move became official today, but had been told July 22 that he wasn’t coming back, but was kept until after the deadline to sign draft picks.The embattled Cubs general manager had served as the team’s general manager since July of 2002.According to several reports, the Cubs clubhouse was closed before Friday afternoon’s game against the Cardinals as Hendry addressed the team.Asssistant GM Randy Bush will serve as interim general manager.

“My family and I appreciate Jim’s dedication during our time with the Cubs and thank him for his overall 17 years of service to the Cubs organization,” owner Tom Ricketts said in a press release from the team.  “It is time for a fresh approach in our baseball leadership and our search begins immediately for our next general manager.”

Under Hendry, the Cubs went 749-748. He had been with the Cubs since 1994 when he joined the team as director of player development. Even before Carlos Zambrano‘s recent meltdown, Hendry was seen as on thin ice with the Cubs. During his tenure, he weighed down the team with hefty contracts to the likes of Zambrano (five years, $91.5 million), Alfonso Soriano (eight years, $136 million), Kosuke Fukudome (four years, $48 million) and Milton Bradley (three years, $30 million), who were overpaid and underproduced. Even this season at the trade deadline, he did unload Fukudome, but was otherwise silent, which sparked this screed from our own Matt Snyder, which sounds odd now considering Hendry said he was handcuffed at the time.Hendry was the only Cubs GM ever to take them to three Post Seasons(2003,07, & 08)and they won a Post Season Series(2003 NLDS vs Atlanta)for the first time since the 1908 World Series.

Cub Fans now want to know WHO IS NEXT?

Tribe takes two of three as Sox again fall below .500

This was a big series against a Division opponent that until now,the White Sox have dominated this season,and they came up almost “snake-eyes” in dropping two of three,and nearly getting swept.Justin Masterson pitched six effective innings, former Cub Kosuke Fukudome had a tiebreaking RBI triple and the Cleveland Indians inched closer to the top of the AL Central with a 4-2 victory over the White Sox on Thursday night. Matt LaPorta hit a two-run homer for Cleveland, which pulled within 1½ games of idle Detroit for the division lead. The Tribe opens a three-game series at Detroit on Friday. Paul Konerko homered for the White Sox, which lost starter Phil Humber on a scary play in the second inning. Konerko, Adam Dunn and Omar Vizquel each had two hits, and Tyler Flowers singled in a run.Masterson (10-7) allowed two runs and seven hits, struck out two and walked three. The 6-foot-6 right-hander improved to 2-2 with a 1.61 ERA in four starts against the White Sox this season. Rafael Perez and Joe Smith combined to finish the seventh, Vinnie Pestano got out of a jam in the eighth and Chris Perez finished for his 27th save in 30 chances. Humber was struck in the face by Fukudome’s comebacker with one out in the second inning. He fell to the ground as the ball bounded back to catcher Flowers. Humber stood up immediately after the play ended and appeared to be alert as the club’s medical staff checked on him, but was removed after a short delay. The White Sox announced Humber was struck above the right eye and was removed as a precautionary measure. He was alert and responsive and will evaluated again on Friday. The Indians won the last two games of their three-game series against the White Sox after losing seven of their first eight games against them this season. Fukudome played a key role in Cleveland’s decisive rally in the sixth. After Shin-Soo Choo led off with an infield single, Fukudome tripled into the right-field corner against Will Ohman (0-3) to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. Fukudome, acquired in a July trade with the Cubs, came home later in the inning when Asdrubal Cabrera drew a two-out walk against Jason Frasor on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded.

Carmona sharp as Buehrle’s streak of three run(s) or less games ends at 18

Fausto Carmona allowed four hits over 8 1-3 innings and the Cleveland Indians beat the White Sox 4-1 on Wednesday night.The win kept the Sox from passing the Indians and moving into second place in the AL Central.White Sox starter Mark Buehrle (10-6) allowed a season-high 12 hits and had his streak of consecutive starts allowing three runs or less snapped at 18 games. Buehrle allowed four runs in 7 1-3 innings.Shin-soo Choo had three hits and drove in a run for the Indians, while Carlos Santana singled, doubled and scored a run.Alexei Ramirez homered for the White Sox. Gordon Beckham grounded out with two runners on to end the game.

Cubs streak of series win with loss to worst team in baseball

HOUSTON—Slogging through a terrible season, the Houston Astros will make no apologies for being excited about a two-game winning streak.Matt Downs hit a go-ahead two-run single, Mark Melancon wriggled out of a jam in the ninth inning and the Astros beat the Cubs 4-3 on Wednesday to take the series between the worst teams in NL Central.Brian Bogusevic, who hit a game-winning grand slam for Houston on Tuesday night, had a two-run double in the third inning against Casey Coleman, who was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Carlos Zambrano in the rotation.Bud Norris (6-8) allowed three runs and six hits in his first win since July 6. The right-hander was 0-1 with a 3.91 ERA in his previous four starts.Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Geovany Soto had a solo shot for the Cubs, who had won four straight series. Ramirez, Soto and Darwin Barney each had two hits.The Cubs went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.The Cubs’ last shot came in the ninth, when Barney hit a leadoff single against Melancon and moved to third on Ramirez’s perfectly placed grounder up the middle. Melancon retired Carlos Pena on a popup before pinch-runner Tony Campana swiped second to put runners on second and third with one out. Soto then tapped to shortstop Clint Barmes, who threw to third to catch Barney in a rundown. Marlon Byrd grounded out to end the game, giving Melancon his 12th save.Coleman (2-5) allowed four runs and a career-high 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings while filling in for Zambrano, who was placed on the disqualified list Saturday following a meltdown in Atlanta last week when he talked about retirement and left the team.Ramirez extended his major league lead by hitting his 11th first-pitch home run of the season in the third, a drive to left-center that gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead. It was his second consecutive game with a home run and the 40th of his career against the Astros.Bogusevic’s sharp grounder down the right-field line tied it, but Soto connected in the fourth to put the Cubs in front again.The Astros responded in the bottom half. With two out and a runner on first, Jose Altuve singled, J.B. Shuck took third on a wild pitch and J.D. Martinez walked to load the bases.Downs then singled to center to give Houston a 4-3 lead.The Astros didn’t get another hit after the fourth inning and Cub relievers retired 10 in a row after Jason Michaels walked with two outs in the fifth.The Cubs hit back-to-back two-out singles in the eighth inning, but Starlin Castro grounded out to end the scoring threat.Norris hit Barney to start the fifth inning before loading the bases with consecutive walks to Ramirez and Pena. But the Cubs came away with nothing when Norris retired the next three batters, striking out two.

NOTES—The Cubs optioned LHP Scott Maine to Iowa to make room for Coleman. Maine was recalled from Iowa on Monday, but did not make an appearance before being sent back to Triple-A….Both teams are off Thursday before Houston hosts the San Francisco Giants and the Cubs host the St. Louis Cardinals….Ramirez has 22 home runs and 63 RBI at Minute Maid Park, which rank first among opposing players.

Pierre single gives Sox 14th inning win over Tribe.

Juan Pierres game-ending single in the 14th inning capped a wild, five-hour marathon as the White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 on Tuesday night.Gordon Beckham doubled off of Chad Durbin (2-2) with one out in the final inning, advancing to third on Brent Morel’s infield single.David Huff reliever Durbin to face Pierre, who singled to left to win it.Jason Frasor (3-2) worked the top of the inning to earn the victory.The White Sox have won nine of 11 and remain 3 1-2 games behind the American League Central-leading Detroit Tigers. The loss drops the second-place Indians to three games back.Cleveland rallied to tie the game in the ninth on a pair of defensive miscues by the White Sox. After Sergio Santos issued a one-out walk, Michael Brantley popped a single in front of center fielder Alex Rios, who had just come in as a defensive replacement.Alejandro De Aza moved over to right field to take over for Carlos Quentin, who Rios replaced.With runners on first and third, Shin-soo Choo tapped a slow roller to second base. Beckham thought about throwing home but hesitated and dropped the ball. He was only able to get a force out at second, allowing the tying run to score.It was Santos’ fourth blown save in 29 chances this year.De Aza tripled in runs in the second and sixth. He became the first White Sox player to triple twice in a game since Alex Cintron on April 13, 2006.Paul Konerko extended his hit streak to 12 games with four more hits. After doubling in the fifth, Konerko tagged up at second and slid into third on Carlos Quentin’s flyout to center, later scoring on Alexei Ramirez’s triple.The White Sox captain has been hobbled by his left knee since being hit by a pitch on July 31 against Boston. He has been unable to play in the field but has hit in every game since returning to action on Aug. 4.Tyler Flowers and Rios also tripled for the White Sox, who tallied five three-baggers in one game for the first time since Sept. 17, 1920 against the New York Yankees. The club record is six triples, a feat achieved three different times. The White Sox had just eight triples on the year coming into the game.Rios tripled to lead off the 11th, but the White Sox stranded him on third.Pierre hit a solo home run off of Cleveland starter Ubaldo Jimenez in the fourth. It was his second homer of the season and 16th in his 12-year career.Gavin Floyd struck out nine over 5 2-3 innings. He allowed five runs on five hits in the no-decision. He retired the first nine batters he faced, including seven strikeouts. He struck out the side in the second.Jiminez allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits over 4 2-3 innings, throwing 105 pitches. He struck out five and walked one.

NOTES—Indians LHP Tony Sipp was ejected in the 10th for arguing a controversial call after being removed from the game. … The White Sox placed C A.J. Pierzynski (fractured left wrist) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 13, and purchased the contract of C Donny Lucy from Triple-A Charlotte. The Sox requested waivers for the purpose of granting RHP Brian Bruney his unconditional release after he cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A. … Indians OF Grady Sizemore (knee/sports hernia) ran on a treadmill on Tuesday and is scheduled to do so again on Thursday. Cleveland hopes he will progress to land-based running by the time the team returns home on Aug. 22. … Indians INF Jason Kipnis (side) was out of the lineup for the second straight game but was available to pinch-hit according to manager Manny Acta. … LHP Mark Buehrle (10-5, 3.06 ERA) takes the mound for the White Sox in the second game of the series on Wednesday. The lefty has allowed three runs or less in 18 straight starts. Cleveland sends RHP Fausto Carmona (5-12, 5.12) to the hill. Carmona has allowed 18 runs in eight innings in his two starts against the White Sox this season (0-2).

South Suburban native Bogusevic slams Marmol in ninth as Astros stun Cubs

HOUSTON—Pinch hitter Brian Bogusevic,a Palos Heights native, hit his first career grand slam in the ninth inning to propel the Houston Astros to 6-5 win over the Cubs to break a seven game losing skid.J.B. Shuck singled with one out in the ninth off closer Carlos Marmol (2-4) before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Clint Barmes singled and Matt Downs drew a walk to load the bases and bring up Bogusevic, who called the hit a “thrill,” sped around the bases at first because he wasn’t sure he’d hit it out.Houston reliever Aneury Rodriguez (1-4) struck out one in 2/3 innings for his first career win.Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless eighth before Marmol blew his eighth save, which snapped a streak of nine straight saves for him.Tyler Colvin hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot in the eighth as the Cubs built a 5-2 lead. Colvin, who has spent time in Triple-A this season and is hitting just .135, has homered three times in the last 13 games, including Tuesday’s blast that landed in the second deck in right field. Houston starter Brett Myers yielded six hits and four runs in seven innings and hasn’t won since June 17.Starter Ryan Dempster allowed four hits and two runs in seven innings before being replaced by Wood.Jimmy Paredes had two doubles and drove in a run for the Astros.Ramirez’s 22nd homer came off reliever Wilton Lopez in the eighth inning and pushed the lead to 5-2.Starlin Castro hit a leadoff single followed by a single by Darwin Barney. Ramirez hit the third single of the inning to score Castro and give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Carlos Pena walked before Marlon Byrd grounded into a double play and Barney scored to make it 2-0.Jason Bourgeois drew a walk with no outs in the first for Houston before Carlos Lee walked with two outs. The double by Paredes, which landed in the corner of left field, scored Bourgeois, but Lee was out at home to leave it at 2-1.Ramirez reached on an error by Clint Barmes and Pena walked in the third inning, but Myers didn’t allow another hit after the three first-inning singles until Barney singled with two outs in the fifth inning. Ramirez grounded into a force out to end that inning, before Pena doubled to start the sixth.Then came Colvin’s two-out homer that scored Pena and pushed the lead to 4-1.Shuck doubled in the seventh inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Humberto Quintero to make it 4-2.

NOTES—Houston OF Jordan Schafer, on the DL since July 20 with an injured left middle finger, was cleared to start a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday. If his rehabilitation goes well, he could join Houston on Monday in Colorado. Schafer was acquired from Atlanta in the Michael Bourn trade. … Bud Norris starts for Houston in Wednesday’s finale against Casey Coleman. … Norris didn’t allow a run in seven innings in his last start, but did not factor in the decision. … Coleman was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Carlos Zambrano in the rotation. Coleman is 2-4 with a 7.23 ERA in 11 games this season for the Cubs.

Cubs edge Astros as Wood earns first save in 14 months.Zambrano still wants to pitch with the Cubs

HOUSTON—Geovany Soto had three hits and two RBI and Kerry Wood earned his first save in over a year as the Cubs won for the 12th time in 15 games with a 4-3 win over the Houston Astros Monday night.Rodrigo Lopez (4-3) pitched an effective 5 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs and the bullpen held on. Wood’s last save came on June 29, 2010 against Toronto while he was with Cleveland, but he had his club record tying streak of eight straight strikeouts dating back to Aug. 5 broken by Jason Michaels, who flew out to begin the ninth. Wood struck out the last two batters.Henry Sosa (0-2) allowed four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in six innings for Houston, which has dropped seven in a row and 10 of their last 11. He set down nine in a row at one point before Marlon Byrd walked with one out in the fourth.Carlos Pena had two hits and two RBI, and Aramis Ramirez had three hits for the Cubs, while J.D. Martinez was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and Matt Downs had two doubles and two RBI for Houston.Soto extended the Cubs’ lead to 4-1 with a two-out two-run double in the sixth scoring Byrd and Reed Johnson, who had reached on back-to-back singles.Pena gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run double off the hill in deep center that scored Darwin Barney, who had walked, and Ramirez, who had singled.Martinez scored in the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1. After Martinez singled to start the inning, Downs knocked a one-out double to right. Tyler Colvin’s throw to second to try to get Downs bounced off the base far enough for Martinez to score from third.The Cubs got out of the inning as Brian Bogusevic flew out to Byrd, who fired an on-target throw to third to get Downs trying to advance.Downs closed the gap to 4-3 with a two-run double in the sixth that scored Jose Altuve and Martinez and chased Lopez.

NOTES—Houston acquired 19-year-old OF Domingo Santana from Philadelphia as the player to be named later in the July 30th trade that sent OF Hunter Pence to the Phillies. Santana, who was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 9 prospect in the Phillies’ organization, had been playing at Class A Lakewood for the Phillies, and has been assigned to the Astros’ Class A Lexington team. Cubs recalled LHP Scott Maine from Triple A Iowa Monday to fill the empty roster left after Carlos Zambrano was placed on the disqualified list Saturday.Zambrano said he wants to retrun to the Cubs and the MLBPA filed a grievence with the Cubs actions….Ryan Dempster (10-8) takes on Brett Myers (3-12) Tuesday in the second game of the three-game series. Dempster is 6-3 with a 3.07 ERA in 12 starts since June 8, while Myers is looking to snap a career-long six game losing streak.

GROBBER’S MONDAY RANTS—August 15,2011

 

***I know! The Bears gave up NINE sacks to the Buffalo Bills Saturday night. That is not as big of a deal as last fall when the Giants got to Jay Cutler nine times in the first half of a REGULAR SEASON game and knocked him out.

 

***The two worst Pre Season Games for Fans to watch in person are the first game in which starters are gone after just a few plays,and the fourth in which many starters do not even dress. And guess which two the Bears have at home? Yup! Games one and four. Another reason to dump two Pre Season Games and go to eighteen Regular Season contests. IK know the Players are opposed,but $$$ will bring them around. Easier said than done(1963 The Essex)to get the Owners to submit more cash though.

 

***There is no way that the Cubs will be able to avoid paying Carlos Zambrano for a full thirty days.When the Major League Players Association files a grievence as they will today,they do not lose.The Cubs will either have to reinstate Zambrano,or pay him while he is out. Basically,they have another mess on their hands!

 

***Oh yes, the Cubs have now won 11 of 14 games. Woopee! WHO CARES! They are still 17 games out of first. Try having a streak like this in April or May when it matters. Not this late for the second year in a row when it means N.O.T.H.I.N.G. other than perhaps to convince Tom Ricketts to keep Crane Kenny,Jim Hendry and Mike Quade(which he likely is going to do anyway).

 

LES

Cubs end Uggla’s streak, beat Braves 6-5

ATLANTA—Dan Uggla was quick to acknowledge he never thought he’d have a hitting streak as long as 33 games.Now the Cubs are streaking.The Cubs stopped Uggla’s 33-game hitting streak and rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Sunday for their fourth straight series win. The Cubs have won 11 of 14. Uggla’s streak was the longest in the majors in five years. He was 0-for-3 with an RBI.His best chance to extend the streak came in the fifth. Second baseman Darwin Barney made a diving catch of Uggla’s fly ball in shallow right field. Barney was fully extended when he made the catch in front of right fielder Tyler Colvin. Barney said the catch was more important because of Uggla’s streak.Uggla grounded out to shortstop against Jeff Samardzija in the seventh in his final at-bat. He didn’t come up in the ninth, when Carlos Marmol earned his 28th save.Uggla’s streak was the longest in the majors since 2006, when Philadelphia’s Chase Utley had a 35-game streak. Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game streak that began in 2005 and carried through the start of 2006. Uggla was hitting only .173 when he started the streak on July 5. He has raised his average to .231.Uggla had 15 homers and 32 RBI in the streak.Marmol walked Michael Bourn, who had three hits, with two outs in the ninth. Bourn stole second base but Martin Prado popped out to third baseman Aramis Ramirez to end the game. Uggla was on deck. Uggla’s teammates patted him on the back and hugged him in the dugout after the game. Uggla streak passed Rico Carty’s 31-game streak in 1970 as the longest in Atlanta Braves history. The franchise record is 37 games by Tommy Holmes for the 1945 Boston Braves. The Braves led 4-0 through five innings and 5-4 through six before Carlos Pena’s two-run homer in the seventh. Atlanta took a 5-4 lead in the sixth when Jason Heyward singled off John Grabow (3-0), stole second and scored on Grabow’s wild throw to first on a grounder by Alex Gonzalez. The Cubs answered in the seventh when Barney singled and scored on Pena’s 23rd homer to right field off Eric O’Flaherty (1-4). The Cubs, who won two of three from the Braves, have won four straight series for the first time since Sept. 9-21, 2008. Cubs manager Mike Quade said before the game the team has moved past the controversy of pitcher Carlos Zambrano cleaning out his locker and leaving the team on Friday night and being placed on the disqualified list on Saturday. “Look, grown-ups make decisions, and he made a decision,” Quade said. “And that’s his deal at this point, it’s not mine.” Zambrano’s Cubs equipment bag was seen on the truck being loaded outside the clubhouse, but there was no indication he will join the team before the end of his 30-day leave without pay. He cannot be involved in team activities while on the disqualified list.Bourn singled in the first and moved to third when Matt Garza fielded Prado’s soft grounder and threw high to second for an error. Bourn scored on Uggla’s fly ball to left.Garza’s six errors lead all pitchers in the majors. He gave up four runs, two earned, on six hits and a walk in five innings.The Braves added two runs in the second on RBI singles by Bourn and Prado and stretched the lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Jose Constanza walked, stole second and third and scored on Bourn’s broken-bat single to center.Colvin had a two-run single in the Cubs four-run sixth. Brandon Beachy, who gave up two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, was lifted after allowing singles by Barney and Ramirez and Pena’s run-scoring fly ball. Scott Linebrink gave up three straight hits, including Colvin’s two-run single.Arodys Vizcaino’s wild pitch to Blake DeWitt allowed Geovany Soto to score from third.

NOTES—Atlanta pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts….Quade said RHP Casey Coleman will be recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Zambrano in the rotation. Coleman is 2-4 with a 7.23 ERA in 11 games, including nine starts, with the Cubs this season….Former Braves two-time NL MVP Dale Murphy threw out the first pitch….The Braves will open a four-game series against San Francisco on Monday night when Tim Hudson faces the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner…The Cubs begin a game at Houston when Rodrigo Lopez is schedule to face the Astros’ Henry Sosa.