Hitting coach Sean Berry will have surgery Friday morning on his potentially cancerous right kidney. In Berry's absence Thursday, third base coach Dave Clark handled some of the hitting coach's duties.
Berry, who learned he had the tumor Monday after being checked by Dr. Richard Goldfarb, had the surgery set after he consulted again with Goldfarb on Tuesday. The surgeons initially will try to remove the tumor through an arthroscopic procedure, but there's no guarantee they can do it that way. Astros physicians David Lintner and Dr. Jim Muntz explained the procedure to Wade.
"These are doctors that aren't performing the surgery, but both Dr. Muntz and Lintner assume that it would be a procedure where they would remove the kidney," general manager Ed Wade said.
CUBS 8, ASTROS 5: With the game on Thursday's line and the Astros down 4-2, Miguel Tejada led off the eighth with a double. Carlos Marmol then struck out Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence, essentially sealing the victory.
The Cubs scored four runs in the ninth off Felipe Paulino, who likely wouldn't have been in the game if the Astros had tied it in the eighth. Houston scored three time in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't nearly enough.
