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Barney and Soriano power Cubs past Astros

By Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune –

CHICAGO — The cool weather, thousands of empty seats and two teams on the road to nowhere lent an end-of-summer vibe to Wrigley Field on Monday night.

The Cubs are playing out the string before the end of August for the third straight year, and only the die-hards bothered to turn out for a 7-1 win over the hapless Astros.

(PHOTO: Chicago Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano (12) celebrates his two-run homer against the Houston Astros with Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro (13) during the fifth inning at Wrigley Field, in Chicago, on Monday, August 13, 2012.)

The announced crowd was 31,452, the smallest of the season at Wrigley, and several thousand fans who bought tickets were no-shows.

While the Cubs could also be described as hapless and are trying to avoid a 100-loss season themselves, they’re still head and shoulder above Houston, which has a .143 winning percentage (6-36) over its last 42 games. The Cubs have won only two of their last 13 games.

Jeff Samardzija pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on four hits and tying a career high with 11 strikeouts to snap a personal two-game losing streak. Darwin Barney and Alfonso Soriano homered for the Cubs, while Anthony Rizzo had four singles.

The Cubs-Astros series is shaping up to be a battle of an easily movable object vs. a most resistible force. They’re not only two of the youngest teams in baseball, but also two of the worst.

Houston has the youngest roster with an average age of 26.4 years, while the Cubs are third at 26.7, despite having the 36-year-old Soriano on the roster. Not coincidentally, the Cubs ranked 14th in the National League on Monday in hitting and pitching, while the Astros ranked 15th in both categories.

Barney got the Cubs off to a quick lead with a two-run homer off Armando Galarraga in the second, and Soriano put it away with a two-run line drive to the bleachers in the fifth, making it 5-0.

Samardzija did the rest before James Russell and Jeff Beliveau finished it off.

Despite the Cubs’ recent struggles and the summer sell-off, they’re still on pace to pass the 3 million mark in attendance for the ninth straight year. And the waiting list for season tickets was more than 116,100 this weekend.

No matter how many disgruntled fans cancel their season tickets after this season, there are seemingly plenty more who will be eager to pay up for the chance to buy theirs in 2013.

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