CUBS MELTDOWN CONTINUES WITH 'L' TO D-BACKS
16th Loss in Last 17 Games.
CHICAGO, Aug. 3 (AP) - The Chicago Cubs fell behind early and were never able to
catch up, losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3, at Wrigley Field. It
was the 16th loss in the last 17 games--including seven in a row--for the Cubs
whose only win since the All-Star break was a 6-5 decision over Houston on July
26.
Things went wrong for the Cubs right out of the shoot as the Diamondbacks scored
three times in the very first inning. Craig Counsell grounded a lead-off
single to right and then Chicago starter Matt Clement walked Alex Cintron and
Luis Gonzalez to load the bases with no one out. Raul Mondesi followed by
looping a single over the head of shortstop Alex Gonzalez, scoring both Counsell
and Cintron to give Arizona a 2-0 advantage. Steve Finley then tapped a
swinging bunt in front of the plate and was thrown out at first, with the
runners advancing to second and third. Junior Spivey's ground ball to
second scored Gonzalez with the third run of the inning.
The Diamondbacks upped the lead to 4-0 when Cintron led off the third with his
11th home run of the season. Clement held Arizona scoreless from that
point on through the sixth inning.
Unfortunately for Chicago, Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb was even better,
shutting out the Cubs for five innings before being nicked for a pair of
unearned runs in the sixth. Kenny Lofton led off the frame with a base hit
but was forced at second by Ramon Martinez. Sammy Sosa then lifted a fly
ball to right that Gonzalez dropped for a two-base error, allowing Martinez to
advance to third. Tory O'Leary followed with a sacrifice fly to right,
scoring Lofton, and Aramis Ramirez singled to center, scoring Martinez.
In the seventh, Clement gave one of those runs back, courtesy of some shoddy
defense on the part of the Cubs. Carlos Baerga pinch hit for Webb and
singled to right. Clement struck out Counsell, but catcher Damian Miller
mishandled strike three for a passed ball, allowing Baerga to advance to
second. That proved critical, as Clement uncorked a wild pitch, allowing
Baerga to move to third. Cintron then hit a sacrifice fly to center,
scoring Baerga to make the score 5-2.
Oscar Villareal and Jose Valverde each tossed a scoreless inning for the
Diamondbacks and Matt Mantei came on in the ninth to try to close out the
game. Ramirez greeted him with a home run to make it 5-3 and Hee Seop Choi
drew a walk, bringing the potential tying run to the plate. But Mantei
retired the next three batters in order to end the game.
Since the All-Star break the Cubs have been outscored 95-54. Heading into
the break the Cubs were in first place. Now they stand third, 7 1/2 games
behind St. Louis.
8/3/2003, Ari03-ChC03, Wrigley Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Diamondbacks 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 5 1 6 0 2003 Cubs 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 3 6 3 6 0 Diamondbacks AB R H BI AVG Cubs AB R H BI AVG Counsell 3b 5 1 1 0 .233 Lofton cf 4 0 2 0 .280 Cintron ss 3 2 1 2 .248 Martinez,R 2b 4 1 0 0 .318 Gonzalez,L lf 3 1 0 0 .287 Sosa,S rf 4 1 1 0 .236 Mondesi rf 4 0 1 2 .272 O'Leary lf 3 0 0 1 .125 Finley cf 4 0 0 0 .257 Ramirez,A 3b 4 1 2 2 .270 Spivey 2b 4 0 1 1 .291 Choi 1b 3 0 0 0 .222 Grace 1b 3 0 0 0 .193 Gonzalez,AS ss 3 0 1 0 .260 Moeller c 4 0 0 0 .280 Miller,D c 2 0 0 0 .240 Webb p 2 0 0 0 .129 Harris,L ph 1 0 0 0 .237 Baerga ph 1 1 1 0 .348 Farnsworth p 0 0 0 0 .000 Villarreal p 0 0 0 0 .500 Alou ph 1 0 0 0 .257 Valverde p 0 0 0 0 .000 Clement p 2 0 0 0 .075 McCracken ph 1 0 0 0 .178 Bako ph 1 0 0 0 .174 Mantei p 0 0 0 0 .000 Karros ph 1 0 0 0 .234 34 5 5 5 33 3 6 3 Diamondbacks INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Webb W 6-7 6.0 4 2 0 1 8 102 66 2.78 Villarreal H 12 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 6 5 3.22 Valverde H 2 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 17 10 3.16 Mantei S 23 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 18 10 1.60 9.0 6 3 1 2 10 143 91 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Clement L 8-6 7.0 5 5 4 3 6 109 69 3.49 Farnsworth 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 27 17 3.60 9.0 5 5 4 3 7 136 86 Ari: Baerga batted for Webb in the 7th McCracken batted for Valverde in the 9th ChC: Harris,L batted for Miller,D in the 7th Bako batted for Clement in the 7th Bako moved to c in the 8th Alou batted for Farnsworth in the 9th Karros batted for Bako in the 9th E-Mondesi, Martinez,R 2, Gonzalez,AS. HR-Cintron(11), Ramirez,A(17). RBI-Cintron 2(35), Mondesi 2(58), Spivey(30), O'Leary(13), Ramirez,A 2(78). K-Counsell, Mondesi 2, Finley, Spivey, Webb, McCracken, Martinez,R, Sosa,S, O'Leary, Ramirez,A, Choi 2, Miller,D 2, Clement, Bako. BB-Cintron, Gonzalez,L, Grace, Choi, Gonzalez,AS. SF-Cintron, O'Leary. PB-Miller,D. WP-Clement. GWRBI: Mondesi Temperature: 70, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: in from center at 10 MPH, Rain Delays: 51 minutes. Attendance: 32,918 Game Time: 2:55