Cubs out of it early Riggleman, Grace both tossed in loss

Astros 10 Cubs 4

Cubs manager Jim Riggleman's critics often have said he should gethimself ejected from a game to fire up his team.

"I've never been a believer in that," he said after getting tossedfor the first time this year in the sixth inning of a 10-4 loss tothe Houston Astros on Saturday. "And as you saw, it didn't (work.)"

Mark Grace, who said he can count on one hand the times he hasbeen ejected, hit a ball in the sixth inning he thought was fair, butumpire Eric Gregg ruled it foul. Riggleman was tossed after arguingwith Gregg, and Grace was ejected after flying out to end the inningwhen he resumed his disagreement with the umpire.

Grace said he wasn't trying to fire up his teammates, either.

"Sometimes it works, but I wasn't doing it for that," Grace said."I was upset. We're down three runs at that point, and if I'm atsecond and Sammy (Sosa) and Henry (Rodriguez) are coming up, we havea chance to be in that game."

Against another team, perhaps. But the Astros (68-44), who leadthe majors in victories, rebuffed any hopes the Cubs and Kevin Tapanihad of a comeback.

Center fielder Carl Everett continued his Cub-killer ways withhome runs from both sides of the plate for the seventh time in hiscareer. Third baseman Russ Johnson, who was at Class AAA a monthago, added a career-best 4-for-6, six-RBI day.

On the mound, Scott Elarton (6-3) equaled his career high withnine strikeouts and cruised to his first major-league victory as astarter.

"I finally got into a rhythm with some strikeouts," said Elarton,winless in his six previous starts - including five straight no-decisions - since coming out of the bullpen July 3.

"It's hard to imagine a guy swinging the bat that well after beingout for a couple weeks," manager Larry Dierker said of Everett, whoreturned from the disabled list Friday with a 4-for-5, five-RBI dayagainst the Cubs. "Russ Johnson has been in a hitting zone the lastweek or so."

The Cubs, meanwhile, are caught in a twilight zone, stumbling atthe plate, bumbling in the field with three errors and crumbling onthe mound.

"It started out well but didn't turn out well - I guess that sumsit up," said Tapani (6-10), who lost his fifth straight decision."Except for the game against Milwaukee when I just stunk (in a 17-6loss), I've pitched a series of average games, but you'll win one ofthose once in awhile."

The Cubs had only five hits, with Gary Gaetti's two-run double inthe second and Rodriguez's two-run homer in the ninth the only extra-base hits.

The crowd of 38,413 had little excitement outside the ejectiondrama in the sixth.

Grace stood at the plate, hands on hips, barking at Gregg after hemade the foul call. Riggleman ran out to Gregg, who stood listening,arms folded, before giving the manager the heave-ho.

"I appreciate it," Grace said. "When a manager does that, that'sa guy you'll go to war with and for. I think that's only the secondtime I've been run for squawking, not counting for fighting. There'sno hard feelings. There's a way to do it and I chose the wrong wayto do it. He had to run me. But that's how much I care. We'retrying like hell, and unfortunately, (getting ejected) really doesn'thelp."

Riggleman also was contrite.

"I can't tell from where I'm at if it's fair or not, but I have toreact to what a player does," Riggleman said. "Mark was adamant itwas fair.

"But Eric let me say plenty, and he heard enough and did the rightthing.

"I wasn't frustrated (trying to get tossed). If you depend onthat to win games, you might get away with it once or twice, but asyou saw today, it had no effect."

Which leaves few alternatives for a sinking club.