Rocky Mountain low for the North Sliders; Silva's accelerated heartbeat adds to team's misery

The Cubs' long-exhausted season finally bottomed out in the high altitude of Colorado.

In one frightening sequence in the first inning Sunday, Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Silva had trouble catching his breath, tried to pitch through it and then left the game to be treated by paramedics for an accelerated heartbeat and taken to a local hospital.

Silva's heart rate was restored quickly, and team officials said he was back to normal as he remained at St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver to be monitored overnight.

''That was scary,'' left fielder Alfonso Soriano said.

The Cubs seemed optimistic the episode was not the result of a serious condition, and Silva, 31, had not reported a history of heart issues -- unlike former Cub Mark DeRosa, who underwent a heart procedure in 2008 after an episode in spring training related to a chronic condition.

''Anytime you're in Colorado and something happens with a heart problem or blood, you don't mess with that,'' said Carlos Zambrano, Silva's closest friend on the team. ''I will keep praying for him, and hopefully he can feel better tomorrow and join us at Wrigley.''

It was just one more somber twist to a road trip full of them as the Cubs fell behind big and eventually lost 8-7 to the Rockies on Sunday to finish the trip with a season-high five-game losing streak.

In the last three days alone, the Cubs sent two players to the West Coast in a trade, sent another into retirement with a release, brought back a guy nobody seemed to notice was gone, sent the manager home for three days after a death in the family, and then left a guy in the hospital while they headed home with two months to play and little at stake.

How do they regroup at this point, especially in the wake of Saturday's trading-deadline deal that sent Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to the Los Angeles Dodgers and raised a white flag by management?

''That's a tough question,'' center fielder Marlon Byrd said. ''The easy answer is go out and try to win more games. It's more than that right now. We have to come together as a team and start having fun some way, somehow. It's hard to have fun when you're not winning.''

And they're not doing that at a season-worst pace -- dropping to a season-low 13 games under .500.

Despite strong comebacks each of the last two games, the Cubs wound up right where they've been all season, with two more one-run losses to add to a major-league leading total that stands at 24.

So much change on the six-game trip. So little difference.

And 57 games left.

Can they keep the season from tailspinning to the end?

''I don't know, man,'' said Soriano, who homered in the eighth to cut the deficit to 8-4, then missed another by inches in the ninth when center fielder Dexter Fowler robbed him at the wall -- leaving him with a sacrifice fly that made it a one-run game.

''We come close to winning games, but at the last minute we can't win,'' Soriano said. ''But everybody here is fighting.''

For whatever it's worth at this point, an for as long as it might last. The only thing that seems certain about the final two months is more changes to the roster are coming.

''We're putting it all out there,'' Byrd said. ''The problem is, it's not enough.''

Comment at suntimes.com.

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CUBS 7 ROCKIES 8

CUBS AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Colvin rf 4 1 0 0 1 1 .263

S.Castro ss 5 1 1 0 0 0 .303

D.Lee 1b 4 1 2 1 1 0 .249

Soto c 3 1 1 1 2 0 .284

Byrd cf 5 1 3 2 0 0 .315

A.Soriano lf 4 1 1 2 0 1 .265

Je.Baker 3b 5 1 1 0 0 3 .241

DeWitt 2b 4 0 3 1 0 0 .277

Silva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .069

J.Russell p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

a-Zambrano ph-p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .238

Berg p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --

b-Nady ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .221

Cashner p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

c-Fukudome ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .249

d-Ar.Ramirez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .221

Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --

Totals 38 7 12 7 4 7

Colorado AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Fowler cf 4 1 2 1 0 0 .239

Spilborghs lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .277

J.Herrera 2b 4 2 1 1 1 1 .278

C.Gonzalez lf-cf 4 1 1 1 1 1 .320

Tulowitzki ss 5 0 1 2 0 0 .305

Giambi 1b 2 1 0 1 1 0 .278

Mora 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282

S.Smith rf 3 1 0 0 1 1 .283

Iannetta c 3 1 0 0 1 0 .213

Stewart 3b 3 0 1 1 1 0 .256

De La Rosa p 2 1 2 0 0 0 .250

Corpas p 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000

Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Street p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 30 8 8 7 7 3

CUBS 010 000 213--7 12 1

Colorado 240 020 00x--8 8 1

a-struck out for J.Russell in the 4th. b-grounded out for Berg in the 7th. c-was announced for Cashner in the 8th. d-lined out for Fukudome in the 8th.

E--D.Lee (6), Tulowitzki (7). LOB-- CUBS 9, Colorado 8. 2B--Je.Baker (7), DeWitt (16), Tulowitzki (20). 3B--Byrd (1). HR--A.Soriano (19), off Corpas. RBI--D.Lee (49), Soto (40), Byrd 2 (47), A.Soriano 2 (57), DeWitt (31), Fowler (16), J.Herrera (15), C.Gonzalez (69), Tulowitzki 2 (41), Giambi (25), Stewart (52). S--De La Rosa. SF--A.Soriano, Giambi.

Runners left in scoring position-- CUBS 5 (A.Soriano 3, S.Castro, Byrd); Colorado 5 (S.Smith, Giambi, Tulowitzki, J.Herrera, Fowler).

Runners moved up--Tulowitzki, Stewart. GIDP--A.Soriano, Giambi.

DP-- CUBS 1 (S.Castro, Je.Baker, D.Lee); Colorado 1 (Tulowitzki, J.Herrera, Giambi).

CUBS IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Silva L, 10-5 .1 2 2 2 1 0 15 3.92

J.Russell 2.2 2 4 2 1 1 46 4.28

Zambrano 2 4 2 2 2 1 53 5.71

Berg 1 0 0 0 1 0 10 4.81

Cashner 1 0 0 0 2 0 25 6.04

Marmol 1 0 0 0 0 1 12 2.55

Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

De La Rosa W, 4-3 6.2 8 3 3 2 5 102 5.01

Corpas .2 3 1 1 0 1 14 4.23

Beimel .2 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.81

Street 1 1 3 3 2 1 23 4.00

Inherited runners-scored--J.Russell 2-1, Corpas 2-1, Beimel 1-0. HBP--by J.Russell (Fowler). WP--De La Rosa.

Umpires--Home, Mike Estabrook; First, Jerry Layne; Second, Mike Winters; Third, Hunter Wendelstedt.

T--3:11. A--38,256 (50,449).

HOW THEY SCORED

ROCKIES FIRST Fowler flied out. J.Herrera walked. C.Gonzalez singled, J.Herrera to second. Tulowitzki doubled, J.Herrera scored, C.Gonzalez to third. J.Russell pitching. Giambi hit a sacrifice fly, C.Gonzalez scored, Tulowitzki to third. Two runs. Rockies 2, Cubs 0.

CUBS SECOND Je.Baker infield double. On De La Rosa's wild pitch, Je.Baker to third. DeWitt doubled, Je.Baker scored. One run. Rockies 2, Cubs 1.

ROCKIES SECOND Iannetta walked. Stewart grounded out, Iannetta to second. De La Rosa singled, Iannetta to third. Fowler was hit by a pitch, De La Rosa to second. J.Herrera singled, Iannetta scored, De La Rosa to third, Fowler to second. C.Gonzalez safe on fielder's choice and D.Lee's error, De La Rosa scored, Fowler scored, J.Herrera to third. Tulowitzki grounded out, J.Herrera scored, C.Gonzalez to second. Four runs. Rockies 6, Cubs 1.

ROCKIES FIFTH Giambi walked on a full count. S.Smith walked on four pitches, Giambi to second. Iannetta flied out. Stewart singled, Giambi scored, S.Smith to third. De La Rosa sacrificed, Stewart to second. Fowler singled, S.Smith scored, Stewart to third. Two runs. Rockies 8, Cubs 1.

CUBS SEVENTH DeWitt grounded out. Nady pinch-hitting for Berg. Nady grounded out. Colvin walked. S.Castro singled, Colvin to second. D.Lee singled, Colvin scored, S.Castro to third. Corpas pitching. Soto singled, S.Castro scored, D.Lee to third. Two runs. Rockies 8, Cubs 3.

CUBS EIGHTH A.Soriano homered to left on a 2-2 count. One run. Rockies 8, Cubs 4.

CUBS NINTH Street pitching. S.Castro flied out. D.Lee walked on a full count. Soto walked on a full count, D.Lee to second. Byrd tripled, D.Lee scored, Soto scored. A.Soriano hit a sacrifice fly, Byrd scored. Three runs. Rockies 8, Cubs 7.