Wrap it up, the Cubs are your NL Central Champs
| 15
|
by Silencer76
The Chicago Cubs, after being swept by the Florida Marlins this week, came to the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati with a magic number of two to clinch the National League Central.
It took no longer than Friday night.
Carlos Zambrano threw seven shutout innings, Alfonso Soriano led off a game with a homer for the 11th time this season, Derrek Lee smashed a two run homer, and the Cubs rolled over the Reds by a score of 6-0 to cut their magic number to one.
Then, the San Diego Padres did the rest of the dirty work.
Chris Capuano was solid for three innings for the Milwaukee Brewers, but fell apart in a three run fourth. Corey Hart homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score. The Padres rallied then in the sixth for a run against Claudio Vargas on back to back doubles by Adrian Gonzalez and Khalil Greene to make it 4-3 San Diego.
Milwaukee had a chance to tie or take the lead in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with one out. Manager Ned Yost went to his bench and brought up Craig Counsell to face right handed reliever Cla Meredith. Instead, he bounced into a inning ending. 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Greene added a two run shot in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-3, and setting the stage for the major league career saves leader, Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman fanned Mike Rivera, Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks in order to end the game, and the Brewers hopes for the postseason.
The Brew Crew lost for the 22nd consecutive time when Capuano appeared.
That's right Beermakers, your dreams...are over.
The Cubs become the first team in the National League to lock up a playoff berth. Zambrano extended his career high in wins with his 18th in the contest. So for the first time since 2003, the North Side of Chicago will have playoff baseball at Wrigley.
