US Baseball Pro

The calendar said July. It felt like October. For once, the confusion was not just understandable, it was actually welcome.

If you’d told the people at the March 31 season opener in Chicago the starters from that game, Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs and Ben Sheets of the Brewers, would meet again on a Tuesday night in late summer with the National League Central up for grabs, you would have gotten some laughs. Especially from that half of the mostly blue-clad Miller Park crowd that spent the evening stuck to their seats.

After winning a back-and-forth game the previous night, Zambrano and the Cubs played this one like the bullies they’ve become. Zambrano threw eight nearly flawless innings and struck out a season-high nine batters. Meanwhile, his lineup strung together seven straight hits and five runs in the top of the sixth inning to win going away 7-1.

The only moment of frustration on the Cubs side this night came when Zambrano, a .350 hitter, popped out attempting a sacrifice bunt in the fifth. Even that, however, didn’t ruffle manager Lou Piniella.