Football
Associated Press 15y

Brewers-Cubs Preview

A week and a half ago, the Chicago Cubs were quietly headed toward an end to another disappointing season, their 101st without a World Series title.

The Cubs have since quietly crept back into the playoff picture and will try to continue their improbable run up the NL wild-card standings Wednesday night against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

After dropping two of three in New York from Sept. 4-6, Chicago fell eight games behind Colorado for the wild card.

The Cubs (75-68) have closed that gap by winning seven of eight, including Tuesday night's 13-7 victory over the Brewers (69-75). With 19 games remaining, they trail the Rockies by four in the loss column and are tied with Florida and Atlanta with 68 defeats.

"Things didn't go the way we wanted, but it's not over," first baseman Derrek Lee told Chicago's official Web site.

Chicago has averaged 6.5 runs over the last eight games to fuel its resurgence. The Cubs have also batted .289 and .295 with runners in scoring position in that time.

The Cubs scored an NL-best 855 runs last season en route to 97 wins and back-to-back NL Central titles. They are 10th with 626 this year and are hitting .255 after batting .278 in 2008.

Catcher Geovany Soto has helped that turnaround while batting .364 with two homers and 12 RBIs in his last six games. After hitting .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBIs to win NL rookie of the year, Soto is at .222 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs this season.

Soto homered and drove in three runs in Tuesday's win, and Lee added two hits and three RBIs.

Lee has been one of the majors' hottest hitters over the last month, batting .390 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs since Aug. 14. He has a hit in each of the last eight games, going 14 for 29 (.483) with four homers and eight RBIs.

Lee is also seven RBIs shy of topping his career-high 107 from 2005.

The Cubs will try to continue their surge against Brewers right-hander Braden Looper (12-6, 4.77 ERA), who is trying to set a career high for wins. He reached 12 victories for the third straight season Friday night in Arizona.

"Hopefully I'll get a few more chances this year (to reach 13)," Looper said.

Looper is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA against the Cubs this season and allowed two runs over six innings in a win at Wrigley Field on July 4.

Rich Harden (9-8, 4.04) was tagged for a season high-tying seven runs in two innings in that 11-2 loss but is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his two starts this month. A difficult first inning in Friday's 6-4 victory over Cincinnati cost Harden a chance at back-to-back wins.

He threw 40 pitches in that frame and was taken out after reaching 103 after the fourth.

Harden, who was 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his three previous starts against Milwaukee, is trying to win 10 games for the fourth time in his career. He went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA for the Cubs and Oakland last season.

The Cubs are 5-1 this season at Wrigley against the Brewers, who are 5-9 this month.

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