04/11/08 10:56 PM ET
Cubs' see win streak end at five
Lee, Ramirez and Soriano homer; Zambrano toils through six
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
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- Rewind Recap: CHC @ PHI
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- Lee, Ramirez go back-to-back
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- Soriano's homer
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- Dobbs' RBI double
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- Fukudome shifts to center, bats second
Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer and a tie-breaking RBI double to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-3 victory, snapping the Cubs' winning streak at five games.
Lee and Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs in the first for the Cubs, and Soriano added a solo blast in the sixth. Zambrano (1-1) served up five runs on nine hits and one walk, only the second he's issued this season, and struck out six over six innings.
"He didn't really throw the ball all that well," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said of the right-hander, who was able to get out of a first-inning jam. "He wasn't overpowering tonight."
"I was feeling OK," Zambrano said. "Something was wrong with my fastball today."
The Cubs had a tough time seeing any fastballs from starter Brett Myers (1-1), who relied on his breaking pitches to keep them off balance. Lee launched a 2-2 pitch with two outs in the first, and two pitches later, Ramirez followed to open a 2-0 lead. It was short-lived.
Lee now has equaled his home run totals for both April and May 2007 (four) -- and it's only his 10th game of the season. In 2005, when Lee won the National League batting title and belted a career-high 46 homers, he hit seven in the first month.
Chase Utley singled to lead off the Phillies' fourth but was forced at second on Ryan Howard's fielder's choice. Howard was safe as Ramirez, who had shifted toward second for Howard, made an awkward throw to first. Burrell connected on Zambrano's next pitch to tie the game at 2.
With two outs in the Phillies' fifth, Shane Victorino walked, and Greg Dobbs lined the ball to left-center. Kosuke Fukudome, starting in center for the first time this season, grabbed the ball on the run and held on for two steps before he was side-swiped by Soriano. The collision knocked the ball out of Fukudome's glove, and Dobbs was credited with an RBI double.
"That's what the umpire said -- it wasn't a full transfer," Piniella said of Fukudome. "He bumped into Soriano, and the ball dropped out of his glove."
Piniella tried to argue that Fukudome held on to the ball long enough.
"I did catch the ball," Fukudome said, "but as I ran past Soriano, the tip of the glove hit -- maybe Soriano's leg, maybe his torso -- and the ball popped out of my glove. It was nothing but my fault that I didn't hold on to it.
"The ball did come into my glove. I thought I made the catch."
Soriano also felt Fukudome held on to the ball long enough to qualify as a catch.
"I don't know where it hit me," Soriano said. "I was more scared because I saw him running to catch the ball, and I wanted to tell him to get out of the way. He didn't see me."
Soriano did tie the game at 3 with a leadoff homer in the sixth, but Howard and Burrell hit consecutive doubles in their half to go ahead, 4-3, and Burrell scored on Carlos Ruiz's single. Daryle Ward, starting in right, had a tough time tracking down Burrell's double.
"The ball that Burrell hit, I don't think anybody would've caught that ball," Piniella said.
"What can I say?" Ward said. "I'm doing the best I can. It's been three weeks since I've been in right field. It's tough getting good jumps after not being out there that long. There's not really any excuses. I gave it my best effort. It was over my head. If it was side to side, I think I had a good chance of catching it. Once I got there, it was over my head, and I tried to get it in as quick as possible."
"Those things are in the game, and you have to deal with it," Zambrano said.
The right-hander did jump and gesture as the play unfolded but said he wasn't upset at his teammates. It was just Zambrano being the emotional, animated pitcher that he is.
"Always," Zambrano said. "You're talking with Carlos Zambrano, man. Always."
The five-game streak was the longest this early in the season since the Cubs won six in a row April 1-6, 1998. It's now over.
"We have to put the bat on the ball a little better throughout the game," Ward said. "That's one thing they did against us, they consistently hit the ball hard in the gaps. That's how you win games.
"Mistakes are going to be made, and if we're able to get some more rallies going and put more pressure on the other team, that gives us a better shot, and we just didn't do that today."
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.












