It's a Braves win, so we shouldn't complain, but shades of last year erupted in the seventh inning. With the Braves up by one in the top of the seventh, Oscar "The Vulture" Villarreal came on to work the inning. Five batters and two runs later the blown save had returned (first of the year for the Braves) and the Cubs were up a run. But just like the Braves were dusting off a script from last April, they came back in the bottom half of the seventh with three runs to put the team up by two and put "The Vulture" on the winning side of the game.
Some observations while watching the game (and I admittedly tuned in to the game in the fourth inning, so I missed the Frenchy homerun):
- Kelly Johnson can motor! I was watching him round first and go to second on his double in the sixth inning, and he really does run fast. I call it being "Larry Walker fast." Watching Walker run the bases was an enjoyable experience - for a bigger guy, he could really scoot. Kelly can scoot too.
- In a way we have to give this win to "Sweet" Lou Pinella, who went out to visit the mound in the bottom of the seventh and told Scott Eyre to "throw the ball over the plate." And well, Scott did, and we scored three runs.
- Peter Moylan got REALLY lucky!
- We got a late innings win and kept a late innings lead without Gonzalez or Soriano.
- Even Derek Lee knew he was struck-out in the bottom of the ninth on a nasty slider from Bob Wickman. Wick by the way is picking up right where he left off last year.
- Willy Aybar is done as a Brave. Sad.
Kyle Davies pitched better than the box score story tells, and he probably should have walked away with the win, but like I said above, The Vulture was waiting.
Chi. Cubs 6, Atlanta 8 at Turner Field
Chi. Cubs Record: (5-9)
Atlanta Record: (10-4)
Winning pitcher - Oscar Villarreal (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Scott Eyre (0-1)
SV - Bob Wickman (5)