On a night on which Carlos Zambrano worked quickly and efficiently in mowing down the Cardinals while barely breaking a sweat, on a night on which the Cubs held an 18-7 advantage in baserunners, on a night on which numerous sloppy plays plagued the Cardinals and contributed to all three scoring innings for the Cubs, on a night on which the Cardinals gave almost no signs of being competitive in this first of 19 meetings between the two teams, the Birds still managed to come three feet away from tying the game in the 9th.

But with two outs and Scott Rolen on 2nd, John Mabry's deep fly ball on LaTroy Hawkins' only pitch of the night traveled only 390 feet instead of 393 feet before falling harmlessly into Corey Patterson's glove for the last out of the game.

That the Cardinals were even in a position to tie the game was something of a miracle given how they were dominated all game by Zambrano and threatened by Cub baserunners in every single inning, as well as tormented early by their own defensive ineptitude. But, if I'm remembering what the ESPN announcer said last night, the Cubs were just 4-for-18 with runners in scoring position, and one of those hits was a bunt single by Jerry Hairston that produced no runs.

One of the ESPN talkers mentioned that the Cardinals weren't smart in their approach to Zambrano by not working the counts and making him throw pitches, specifically mentioning an 8-pitch 5th and a 6-pitch 7th. As it was, Zambrano---who so far in his young career appears immune to the effects of high pitch counts---exited with 2 outs in the 9th at 118 pitches, but that was due to a blister. First, I don't know that he couldn't have thrown 140 pitches last night, and second, in the 8-pitch 5th all 8 pitches were strikes, and two of the outs were recorded on 0-2 pitches. It's hard to work the count when the pitcher is throwing strikes.

But one tactic the Cardinals should have employed against Zambrano was to step out during at bats and disrupt Z's rhythym, and maybe even get under the hot-headed Dominican's thin skin. Zambrano works extremely quickly; I was timing him at one point at less than 7 seconds from receiving the ball from the catcher to beginning his next pitch. But pitch after pitch, the Cardinals just stood in the box and waited for the next machine-like delivery.

Still, nothing may have worked on this night, and the Cardinals dodged so many bullets that perhaps they should feel lucky to have lost by just a 3-1 score. The Cubs left 13 runners on base as Suppan was constantly in trouble, and twice hit into double plays. But on three other occasions the Birds muffed potential double-play grounders, and although being charged with just one official error (when Mabry appeared to lose Neifi Perez's soft liner in the lights and the ball bounced out of his glove) the Cardinals executed poorly on several occasions, including two run-scoring hits to left center that Edmonds misplayed and let get past him and roll to the wall, and a poor decision by Einar Diaz on a one-out bunt that resulted in 2 on and 1 out instead of 1 on, 2 out.

As droopy as the Cardinals were all night, there were some bright spots: Albert hit another homer for the Cardinals' only run; Rolen made a superb run-saving play on a shot down the line, and then contributed a rope double to left in the 9th to finally chase Zambrano, even if it was purportedly due to a blister; and Randy Flores was excellent yet again in wriggling out of 2-on, 1-out jam left by Suppan, getting Burnitz on a popup after he flailed twice at sweepers, and then striking out Hairston on a back-door pitch on the outer corner.

For the Cubs, their joy in achieving a victory in Busch has to be tempered by Nomar's groin muscle tear that occurred in the 3rd inning. It was a tough night all around for Nomar, as he struck out with 2 on to end the Cubs 1st; threw the ball into the dugout to allow Mabry to reach in the 2nd; then, milliseconds before his groin exploded in the 3rd, hit a grounder that resulted in an inning-ending DP.

The Cubs prevailed last night with their ace, but things may swing the other way today as Ryan Dempster (5.74 era, 28 baserunners in 15.2 ip) takes the mound against Chris Carpenter, who pitched well his last time out.