Friar Watch

Greg Maddux: Started off strong with the usual good movement and location but the Cubs caught up to him in the 5th and Bud Black opted to go with Cla Meredith to start the 6th. 3 runs in 5 innings should have been enough for the W given the bullpen performance and number of Padre runners on base but they couldn’t bring anyone in.

Cla Meredith, Scott Linebrink, Heath Bell, Doug Brocail, Trevor Hoffman: I’m lumping them in together because this was a real team effort. 9 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 0 runs allowed. Outstanding job by the bullpen holding down the Cubs until the Padre hitters could break through. Everyone was dominant, although Cla gave up several hard shots that were fielded for outs. Vintage Trevor in the 9th, freezing Cedeno with a fastball right down the middle for a called third strike. Fear of the change up will do that.