The Cubs broke through against Roy Halladay about as well as any team can reasonably hope to, scoring thrice in six innings. It could have been more, though, if not for an incomprehensible running misadventure by Alfonso Soriano. While on third with one out (running second, first base open), Darwin Barney tapped on to the mound. Halladay looked Soriano back, but he never really went back to third. Halladay still threw to first, even though Soriano was toast. Then, inexplicably, Soriano started to run home, changed his mind, but instead of running back to third, he kind of jogged home … where the ball was waiting for him, having been easily tossed there by the first baseman. It was the kind of thing that you wouldn’t believe if you saw it in a middle school game. I have no explanation, save for the possibility that Ian Stewart, who was on second, broke for third when Soriano inexplicably broke-ish for home. Even if that’s the case, Soriano has no real explanation for (1) breaking for home in the first place, and (2) not committing to it when he sort-of-broke-for-home the second time.
The Cubs tacked on a couple additional runs late, and Tony Campana was a terror on the bases, but the primary story was the starting pitching.