THREE UP ...

Hey! Hey!

It's not unusual to hear cheers for the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park, but those cheers are usually from those Cubs fans who wander there way to Wrigley Field north. But this night, like Tuesday night and assuredly Thursday night, Brewers fans cheered when it showed the Cubs had rallied from a 5-1 deficit in New York to first tie the Mets and then take a 6-5 lead that eventually proved to be a 9-6 victory in 10 innings.

A walk's as good as a hit

That was the case in the fourth when Pirates starter Paul Malholm issued four walks, including two, two-out bases loaded offerings to Rickie Weeks and Jason Kendall that resulted in the final two runs in the three-run inning. The Brewers only had two hits but took advantage of nine passes issued by Pirate pitchers.

The gang's all here

The crowd of 31,164 was small by this year's standards but it was enough to push the season total to 2,893,685, a franchise record that will grow past the 3 million mark with four dates left.

... THREE DOWN

Sudden reversal

Malholm was nearly perfect through three innings, allowing just a leadoff walk to Weeks in the third. But once Maholm was forced to pitch from the stretch in the fourth -- following Mike Cameron's leadoff single -- he lost his rhythm, walking four and giving up a run-scoring single to Prince Fielder.

Equal opportunity whiffers

The Pirates struck out 11 times against Sabathia, six times swinging and five times watching. It was Sabathia's 19th career double-digit strikeout game.

He's not perfect

Sabathia failed to properly place a sacrifice bunt in the third inning that resulted in an inning ending double play. He also popped up with the bases loaded to end the fourth. But remember, he's paid to pitch. And he is pretty good at that.