A little extra kick

Add comment April 14th, 2008

The 7-5 Cubs are doing some early-season damage control to keep pace with the never-surprising Cardinals (9-4) and the division-favorite Brewers (8-4). And they are doing it in rare fashion: extra-inning wins…on the road. 

So far this season, the Cubs are 3-1 when games go past 9 innings. All three wins came during the recent Pennsylvania-road trip. The results were ugly, but effective enough to go 4-2. 

Over the past two seasons, the Cubs went 6-14 (2006: 4-7, 2007: 2-7) in extra-innings games with a 3-8 (2006 2-5, 2007 1-3) road record.

Down the stretch, extra inning wins make the difference between getting into the playoffs and not. Just ask last season’s
Rockies, who won 11 of 21 extra innings games, including a 13-inning play-in game over the Padres (forced to play due to an overcrowded NL West).