Cubs Fall Victim to Comeback Braves

By now Cubs fan are surely aware of how the game ended for our beloved North Siders Saturday night. Whether or not your anger has subsided yet is another story. To help medicate the pain from the disease that is our love for the Cubs, we’ll start with some positives.

The Cubs finally received their bats, which apparently got lost while being shipped back to Chicago from Mesa. The visiting team pounded out 13 hits against the Braves and it all started with a bit of luck when David DeJesus was credited with a double after Atlanta right fielder Jason Heyward lost the ball in the lights. The lone consistent hitter for the Cubs so far, Nate Schierholtz, drove DeJesus in with a single.

April 1, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Carlos Marmol (49) throws a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the ninth inning at PNC Park. The Chicago Cubs won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Luis Valbuena got off his 0 for slide by yanking a solo shot down the right field line and a few rows into the seats, breaking the 1-1 tie at the time. The Cubs extended their lead thanks to a two run bomb by Anthony Rizzo and a RBI single from Welington Castillo that drove in who else but Schierholtz, who had doubled.

Mean while Cubs starter Carlos Villanueva managed to cruise through the power packed Braves line up despite giving up a run in the first inning. While not dominate with his stuff, the veteran righty made enough pitches to limit any damage from the six hits and two walks allowed. If it was not his pitches that kept the home team hitters off balance, it was certainly his awesome mustache that distracted them.

It would be nice to end the post here, but the eighth inning is when all the trouble started. The Cubs loss really came down to three game changing events. The first occured in the top of the frame, when the Cubs loaded the bases with no outs compliments of a Valbuena single, an Alberto Gonzalez one bagger, and a walk to pinch hitter Steve Clevenger. But the top of the Cubs order failed to deliever the knock punch and the visitors somehow left the inning empty handed.

The second issue came in the bottom half when Kyuji Fujikawa had trouble locating his splitter, which was not enough to entice Braves hitters to chase after it. The base runners begane to snowball and before you knew it, the score was 5-4 Cubs. Fujikawa would be held responsible for four hits and allowed a walk.

Even then the Cubs headed into the bottom of the ninth with a lead, but the unsteady hand of Carlos Marmol was the one stuck with the responsibility of knocking over the Jenga tower. He allowed the game tying homer to B.J. Upton before brother Justin sent the Tomahwak chop happy crowd home with a walk off job one out later.