Cubs get victory in Nomar's debut

CHICAGO (AP) -- The Phillies got to Greg Maddux. Then so did the

heat. And by the time the Chicago Cubs rallied for a victory

Sunday, his bid for win No. 300 was already over.

"I think I could have started the seventh. I don't know if I

could have made it out of there or not. I was pretty much done

after the fifth or sixth," Maddux said.

His six-inning stint ended in a no-decision and denied him a

piece of history.

"I'm just glad we won," he said.

After Maddux left trailing by a run, the Cubs scored four in the

seventh, capped by an RBI single from Nomar Garciaparra, and beat

Philadelphia 6-3. Chicago's new star shortstop was acquired from

Boston in a four-team deal just before baseball's trade deadline

Saturday.

"I think we were all hoping we'd get Maddux that win,"

Garciaparra said.

But now it will have to wait.

On a sticky, 83-degree day at Wrigley Field, Maddux left after

throwing 87 pitches, 25 in the first inning, when he gave up homers

to Jimmy Rollins and Bobby Abreu.

Philadelphia pushed across an unearned run for a 3-2 lead in the

fifth on an error by Sammy Sosa.

Maddux told manager Dusty Baker after the fifth to watch him

because he was running low on energy. And Maddux wasn't about to

take a chance pitching when he had nothing left, even with No. 300

at stake.

"I would have loved to go out there and try not to walk

somebody and just hope they would hit it at somebody. But it's not

right," Maddux said.

"It's not fair to the rest of the guys. It's not the way you

are supposed to play the game."

Maddux's next attempt to become the 22nd major league pitcher to

reach 300 wins probably will come Saturday in San Francisco against

Barry Bonds and the Giants.

"We didn't want Maddux to get 300 against us," Phillies

manager Larry Bowa said. "I don't think anybody likes to see

anybody get their 300th win against them, even though he's a Hall

of Fame pitcher."

Commissioner Bud Selig, Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz

and former Braves president Stan Kasten were there to watch Sunday

along with a crowd of 39,032.

The 38-year-old Maddux is trying to become the first National

League pitcher to reach 300 wins since Philadelphia's Steve Carlton

in 1983. Roger Clemens accomplished the feat on his fourth try with

the New York Yankees in June last season.

Maddux, given a standing ovation as he warmed up in the bullpen,

will have to go through the process at least one more time and deal

with all the hype. Next time on the road, too.

"It wasn't hard this time. You do what you have to do to get

ready for your game, go out and pitch and don't get caught up in

it," he said.

"It's what I do. I mean, just go out and do it."

Maddux gave up six hits and three runs, two earned, in six

innings. He walked two and struck out two, leaving with the Cubs

trailing 3-2.

A great control pitcher, Maddux hit Marlon Byrd with a pitch to

start the fifth, and the Phillies broke a 2-2 tie when Randy Wolf

sacrificed before Rollins singled to right.

Byrd was going to hold at third, but Sosa didn't come up with

the ball, an error that allowed Byrd to score for a 3-2 Phillies

lead.

Hard to imagine Maddux having jitters, but he had a shaky first

inning, giving up a leadoff homer to Rollins on the game's second

pitch and then another solo shot to Abreu.

"I felt fine," Maddux said. "The first inning was a little

rough, we got through it and came back in the second."

Sosa and Aramis Ramirez got the crowd back into it in a hurry

with consecutive homers off Wolf (4-7) in the second, both high

shots into a 13-mph wind blowing toward left.

It was Sosa's 562nd homer, leaving him one behind Reggie Jackson

for eighth on the career list. Sandwiched around his error, Sosa

also made two diving catches.

In the seventh, Sosa doubled and, after Ramirez walked, scored

on Mark Grudzielanek's tying fly ball double to right that finished

Wolf.

Reliever Rheal Cormier was greeted by pinch-hitter Jose Macias'

go-ahead single. Newly acquired Todd Jones then gave up a sacrifice

fly to pinch-hitter Michael Barrett to make it 5-3.

With the crowd in a thunderous "NOMAR! NOMAR!" chant,

Garciaparra responded with his first hit for the Cubs, a single to

left. He finished 1-for-4 with an RBI, batting second in the

lineup.

Kent Mercker (2-0) got one out for the win. LaTroy Hawkins

earned his 16th save.

The Phillies loaded the bases in the eighth with none out but

didn't score when Mike Remlinger escaped the jam.

Maddux went 194-88 in 11 seasons with the Braves after leaving

Chicago in 1992 -- he got in a salary dispute with the Cubs after

winning the first of four straight NL Cy Young Awards.

Maddux returned to the Cubs this season with a three-year

contract.

"All he has to do is keep breathing. He's going to get 300,"

Baker said before the game.

Game notes
Garciaparra got several standing ovations and made a couple

of nice defensive plays. ... Ryan Dempster, who hadn't pitched

since undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery last August,

was activated from the disabled list before the game and relieved

Maddux. ... Abreu hit four homers in the series.