It was a horrible month of May for the Cubs, and after a promising start to June, the team is now in danger of being swept at home if they can’t win Thursday’s game against the Houston Astros.
On Wednesday, veteran pitcher Greg Maddux gave up three runs in the second inning, but his team was able to battle back with one run in each of the next three frames. In the bottom of the eighth, the Cubs were down two runs when Phil Nevin’s third hit of the day made it a one-run game with no outs. The North Siders, however, failed to scratch across another run as Aramis Ramirez hit into a double play and Jacque Jones struck out weakly to end the inning.
Manager Dusty Baker said after the game that his plan is to ease the squad back into the win column. “You don’t want to do things too quickly,” he said. “At least we made it interesting. Last month, we woulda lost this game 5 to 2. Progress.”
Upon hearing his statement, fans finally understood why Baker started Neifi Perez (.208 batting average) and pinch-hit John Mabry (4-23 pinch hitting) so he could strike out to end the game while leaving Todd Walker (.290) on the bench.
Number of the day: 13
Estimated number of days before 40 percent of Cubs players shave their heads to bring good luck.
