Morning Box Score: Cubs Sweep, Sox Swept
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 5, 2011 1:00PM
Let's start off with the winners, shall we?
The Cubs did something last night not even the White Sox have been able to accomplish this season - win five straight games. They also managed to end their 10-game road trip with a .500 record after losing their first five games on the trip. The last time the Cubs had a streaky road trip like this was in June 1920 when they lost the first seven games, then won six straight. They needed an eighth inning rally to manage that. Marlon Byrd's sacrifice fly plated Darwin Barney and provided the winning run. Geovany Soto and Carlos Pena homered for the Cubs. Jeff Samardzija picked up the win with one inning of relief work while Carlos Marmol earned his 23rd save.
Last year at this point of the season the White Sox fancied themselves contenders until they ran through a buzzsaw portion of their schedule that saw them drop series against the Red Sox, Yankees and Twins. If you aren't a believer in déjà vu maybe the Sox' 1-6 record in their past seven games against Evil Empires 1 and 1A will convince you otherwise. Philip Humber allowed four runs on five hits in 6-1/3 innings of work, while the free swinging Sox lineup kept U.S. Cellular Field air conditioned by striking out 11 times as the Yankees swept the series, the first time the Yankees have swept Chicago in Chicago since 1976. But hey, Adam Dunn hit a meaningless home run in the ninth inning, so there's a cold comfort. Next up for the Sox: Minnesota. Déjà vu, anyone?