The Comebacks
There were three comebacks last night in the world of Chicago Sports, though two of them still fell short. Let's take 'em one at a time:
- The Cubs trailed 3-0 going into the 8th inning against the Marlins and looked dead in the water. Zambrano had a rough go of it early on, both walking a ton and striking out a ton, and thus throwing a lot of pitches. As I suspected, it seemed he was pressing a bit and trying to strike everyone out, rather than go for efficient ground-ball outs that used to be his trademark. He calmed down, though, in retiring eight in a row before exiting after the 7th. The Cubs offense, meanwhile, had exactly one hit through seven. Then in the 8th, they exploded for six runs, capped by a Jacque Jones three-run homer. Jones hasn't had many hits this year, but at least he's made them count. Nice win.
- The White Sox got a game-tying home run from Brian Anderson in the 9th inning before falling in the 11th to the Mariners by a score of 4-3. I didn't watch this game, so I'll just comment briefly on the Sox for the first time this season. They've got a really good team this year and are positioned well for another extended postseason run. Kenny's offseason deals for Thome and Vazquez are looking like gold right now, though with the bullpen uncertainty I bet he wishes he had Marte back. There's a lot of season left, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
- The Bulls were down by 20 to the Heat early in the fourth quarter before Kirk Hinrich ignited a run to lead the Bulls back within 4 with two minutes to play in game 2 of the playoffs. The comeback fell short, though, as the Bulls ended up losing by seven. Once again, the Bulls were lights out in hitting their shots all night, but they still couldn't keep up with Miami. Too many turnovers, not enough rebounds, extremely sloppy defense. Jason Williams, aka. "White Chocolate", was on fire in the first half for the Heat as the Bulls tried double-teaming Shaq to no avail. Luol Deng responded with a big game while Ben Gordon was just a touch off of his. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't the elite performer that the Bulls need to have a chance in this series. Nocioni had another stellar game as well for the Bulls and he really is making a name for himself in the playoffs. If the Bulls can take games 3 and 4, I don't think winning in Miami will be an impossible task. Winning four out of five might be impossible, but if they take the next two, anything can happen. Go Bulls!