Cubs @ Nationals - 5/15 (recap)

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05/15/2005 3:49 PM ET
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Cubs can't overcome errors in finale
Perez commits two of Chicago's three miscues in sixth
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

WASHINGTON -- It wasn't the mound or the infield or switching positions or the funny smell in the visitors' locker room at RFK Stadium that was the problem on Sunday for the Chicago Cubs.

Nick Johnson hit a two-run homer and the Washington Nationals took advantage of two errors in the sixth inning by Neifi Perez to edge Greg Maddux and the Cubs, 5-4, and take the series. Chicago now is 6-9 in one-run games.

"We've been playing hard," Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said. "Usually in one-run ballgames, if you lose them, you found a way to beat yourself, that's all there is. That was the outcome of the game today. We made a couple mistakes, they got a couple runs and that was the difference in the game."

RFK Stadium was the 34th ballpark that Maddux has pitched in, and he was out of whack on the mound in the fifth inning. With two out, Maddux called the umpires out and the grounds crew tried to pound more dirt into the mound. When play resumed, Maddux walked Jose Guillen before serving up Johnson's home run on a 3-1 pitch, which gave the Nationals a 4-3 lead.

"The grounds crew, I thought, did a super job to fix it," Maddux said of the mound. "It's nice to have excuses why you screw up, but [the mound] wasn't one of them."

Was it a bad pitch to Johnson?

"It was a bad four pitches to Guillen, and a bad three pitches to Johnson to put me in the hole," Maddux said. "I wanted to throw the pitch I threw. I maybe threw it a little higher than I would've liked to, but he got me. He got me. Hopefully, you learn from it and don't make the same mistake twice."

Maddux, who has not gotten a decision in five starts, was lifted for a pinch-hitter after five innings.

"If I'd pitched better, [Cubs manager Dusty Baker] might have let me pitch longer -- who knows?" said Maddux, who gave up four runs on seven hits and one walk.

Jason Dubois then hit an RBI double with one out in the Chicago sixth to tie the game.

But the game unraveled in the Nationals' sixth. Perez, making his eighth start at second this year and starting in place of Jerry Hairston, booted Ryan Church's grounder to start the inning against Cliff Bartosh (0-2). Church advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Perez's second error as he muffed Cristian Guzman's grounder.

"The first one was tough -- it was spinning and stuff like that," Perez said. "The second one, I don't have any excuses. If I'm playing, I have to make those plays."

"That infield is kind of chopped up," Baker said. "Neifi doesn't miss balls. [The errors] have nothing to do with changing positions. A ground ball is a ground ball."

Perez wouldn't blame the infield. He grew up in the Dominican Republic. There's no such thing as a groomed infield there.

"I use to play in a worse infield in the Dominican and used to catch the ball," said Perez, a Gold Glove winner at shortstop. "That's why I say I don't have any excuses for those errors."

The game was played before a partisan Cubs crowd of 44,103, the second largest at RFK Stadium this year.

The Cubs had taken a 2-0 lead in the first on Barrett's two-out, two-run single. The Nationals made it 2-1 on Guillen's RBI single in the third.

Barrett, Dubois and Jose Macias hit consecutive singles with one out in the fourth, with Barrett scoring on Macias' hit, to put the Cubs ahead, 3-1.

Vinny Castilla singled, stole second, reached third on a throwing error by Barrett and scored on Brian Schneider's groundout in the Nationals' fourth.

The Cubs rank 15th of 16 teams in fielding percentage in the National League, and now have made 27 errors. Perez was 0-for-5, and is one of a few Cubs in hitting funks. He's batting .140 (7-for-50) in 13 games this month.

"It's one of those tough days in baseball you don't like to see," Perez said.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[aTrUeCUBsFaN]

That was a depressing game. Neefi's first error was a tough one, but the second one was an easy grounder that would end the inning, instead, the winning run scored.