Game of the Day | Chicago Cubs continue to stumble

CHICAGO — For the first time since April 19, the Chicago Cubs will play a game as the National League Central's second-place team today.

And it's not just any game they're playing, but one that starts a three-game series against the upstart Cardinals in St. Louis.

That would be the first-place Cardinals, who enjoyed a day off on which they moved past their archrivals in the standings.

After a disheartening 4-3 loss to the Brewers on Thursday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs find themselves on a downward spiral that has seen them lose five of their last seven games and four of six to Milwaukee.

This one, in which the Brewers rallied for three runs in the ninth inning, included some sloppy defense, questionable baserunning and a blown save by Kerry Wood. And it provoked manager Lou Piniella into a peevish postgame tirade after he smacked a dugout water cooler in the fateful ninth inning.

"You got a two-run lead going into the ninth and you let one get away ... it's a tough loss," Piniella said.

He was just heating up.

The following question — the one that set Piniella off — was whether he had thought about replacing sore-legged left fielder Alfonso Soriano with Reed Johnson in the ninth inning. Soriano helped the Brewers' ninth-inning rally get started by letting Gabe Kapler's fly ball sail over his head for a double.

"You're damn right I thought about it," Piniella snapped back. "You think I'm stupid or something?"

The news briefing ended with Piniella muttering profanities on his way out the door.

"We have to keep our head up and keep playing baseball," Carlos Zambrano said after losing out on what would have been his fifth victory. "We just have to move on, go to St. Louis and we'll see."

Zambrano, who said he had a small blister on his index finger, deserved better than Thursday's fate after giving up one run in 6-1/3 strong innings, handing the ball to Carlos Marmol for 1-2/3 scoreless innings. Marmol was dominant, striking out four of the six hitters he faced.

Then came the ugly ninth inning with the Cubs leading 3-1. Wood hit the first batter, then came Kapler's double over Soriano's head, a single, a walk and finally a bases-loaded, one-out, two-run double by Ryan Braun, who drove in seven runs in the series.

Any hopes of comeback ended when Felix Pie bounced into a double play.

"It would have been a big win for us," Wood said.

"We had a chance to win the series. 'Z' pitched great and the guys scored runs when we needed it. I didn't get it done."

Zambrano hit a solo home run to lead off the third inning, his 13th, tying Ferguson Jenkins' club record for pitchers.

In Soriano's return from a calf injury, he went 0 for 4 from the leadoff spot and did not hit the ball out of the infield.