Wow what another dominating pitching performance by Rich Hill tonight!  Hill held the red-hot Atlanta Braves to only four hits over eight strong innings.  Using his 92 mph fastball had his hard curveball he had the Braves hitters guessing all night long.  With the win, Hill is now 3-0 on the season and has been pitching the best of any of the Cubs starters.

Aramis Ramirez and Michael Barrett hit solo homruns, and Mark DeRosa then doubled in the 9th that scored Ryan Theriot.  Wasn’t much offense but tonight the Cubs didn’t need much as great as Rich Hill was.

Tomorrow the Cubs and Cardinals will start a series at Wrigley Field.  Both teams will start the series with 6-9 records.  Lets push those Cardinals around tomorrow and win the first ballgame of the series!  Always hate the Cardinals!!!!

Cubs Blog

When is the bullpen going to come in and actually help this team rather then blow a damn ballgame?  Last night was another example where this tired bullpen got abused and cost the Cubs a win.  I will give credit to the offense for coming back and taking the lead in the later innings though….

After a bad game from Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs had no choice but to call on a tired bullpen to help them in the game last night.  Scott Eyre (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning. The Atlanta uprising was particularly demoralizing because it came the half-inning after Chicago had rallied for a 6-5 lead, and all the damage came with two outs.  One more terrible outing from Eyre and I can see him being sent down the minors or not getting called upon wen he normally would.  He has plain sucked ass this season.

One exciting thing when you watch the Cubs right now is Felix Pie however.  Wow can he motor around the bases in a hurry!  I would love to see him and Soriano in the same lineup if they can move one of the players to a corner outfield position.  But then who do you sit?  I look for Hendry to try to trade Jacque Jones and then have Soriano or Pie play rightfield.  I would love that combination!

In an up and down game today the Cubs fell to the San Diego Padres 3-4 at Wrigley Field.  The beginning of the game was all the Padres as they jumped out to a quick 2-1 lead after the first inning and then a 3-1 lead after two innings.  From there it was the Cubs who would score the next two runs in the fifth inning that would tie the game up.

Felix Pie had a nice double to the left-center wall for his first major league hit and RBI, and then Derrek Lee followed with a single of his own that scored Pie to tie the game.

After the fifth inning and onto the 14th was a battle of the bullpens.  You could see that whoever made the first mistake was going to lose that game and for the Cubs it was a lead-off double that Khalil Greene hit off Will Ohman.  After retiring the next better, pitch hitter Geoff Blum hit a double to left field that got by Jacque Jones that scored the winning run.

The Cubs finished their first homestand with a 2-5 record and now travel to Atlanta to take on a pretty good Braves team.  Carlos Zambrano will get the start for the Cubs tomorrow.  Tune in at 6:35 central time for the game and root the Cubbies on!

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Angel Guzman has been sent down to Triple A Iowa today as Felix Pie was called up to start in centerfield.  I don’t mind this move one bit.  Guzman was not getting the innings that he needed with the big league team.  I woudl rather have him getting innings as a starter in the minor leagues then sitting in the bullpen doing nothing.  Once Wade Miller blows a few more starts, I would expect Guzman to be the #5 starter.

What do you all think out there in Cubby Land?  Is Guzman the Cubs 5th starter in the next 2-3 weeks?  I think so!

The future is here for the Chicago Cubs!  Felix Pie will be starting centerfield for the Cubs while Alfonso Soriano rests his sore hamstring that he hurt last night.  Expect Pie to get every start while Soriano is out because you don’t call up Pie to have him sent on the bench.  He would have been with the team this entire time if he was going to do that.

It will be exciting to see how Pie does, but I would expect to him to do pretty good based on his Spring Training numbers.  Lets hope for the best!  GO Pie and go Cubs!

The Cubs are going to have to play without Alfonso Soriano for a few games atleast after he strained his left hamstring as he attempted to make a shoe-string catch in the 5th inning of tonights game.  The Cubs are saying he is day-to-day but I wouldn’t be suprised if he misses atleast one week.  You never want to rush back from a hamstring injury as you can aggrivate it very easily.

With Soriano going down, look for Jacque Jones to get most of the starts in center, Cliff Floyd to play left-field, and Matt Murton to play right-field.  It worked out pretty good tonight so I would expect that lineup while Soriano is out with this injury.

The Chicago Cubs found the longball tonight against the San Diego Padres.  Cliff Floyd, Michael Barrett and Mark DeRosa each homered to back Jason Marquis and power the Chicago Cubs to a 12-4 victory at Wrigley Field.

Jason Marquis picked up his first win for the Cubs as well tonight.  He gave up one run on three hits and four walks over six innings, striking out five.

The win did come as a cost as center-fielder Alfonso Soriano had to leave the game in the 5th inning when he strained a hamstring as he tried to make a shoe-string catch that he came up just short on.  Right now the Cubs are saying that he will be day-to-day but I would expect to him miss atleast the rest of the Padres series and possibly atleast one week.

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There was no offense in sight for the Chicago Cubs today as they fell to the Reds 1-0 at Wrigley Field.  The Reds took two of three from the Cubbies in the divisional series.

Ted Lilly (1-1) deserved a better outcome but it wasn’t meant to be. The left-hander struck out 10 and gave up one run on two hits and one walk over six innings. This was his ninth career double-digit strikeout game and first since last June 10, when he fanned 12 for Toronto against Detroit.

The Cubs will start a series tomorrow night with the San Diego Padres in Chicago.  Maybe the Cubs can get on track facing a team not in the central division.  Two of three sure would be nice!

Today’s game started out good for the Cubs as they got up to a 5-0 lead on the Reds but that lead quickly went away in the 5th inning.  After scoring their first three runs via two-out base hits in the early innings, the Cubs couldn’t do much the rest of the game.

In the 5th innings Carlos Zambrano got a little wild and all of a sudden that 5-0 lead was gone and the ballgame was tied 5-4  In came Will Ohman, who then walked in the fifth and sixth runs of the ballgame.  Since Ohman, wasn’t able to get the job done Pinella called on Michael Wuertz to shut down the Reds and that is exactly as he did!  Striking out all three batters to leave the bases loaded and a 6-5 ballgame.

The Cubbies ended up falling just short in the ninth as Michael Barrett movied Jacque Jones to second a single to rightfield, and then Cliff Floyd flied out to centerfield to end the ballgame.  Besides the 6-run inning the Reds had, they only one hit the rest of the ballgame.  It all came down to the 5th innings…  Tomorrow’s the game will be an afternoon game, and hopefully the Cubbies can get back on the winning track.

Cubs Blog

Mark Prior was removed from a extended spring training game yesterday after just two innings due to soreness in his shoulder.  I wonder if Prior could be done for good?  You really have to wonder that if you think how the past few years have went for him and his injuries.

I don’t see Prior making the Cubs roster atleast until after the all-star break.  Well maybe if Wade Miller and Jason Marquis continue to suck we just might see Prior back on the Cubs roster.  One thing if the Cubs keep Prior on the DL the entire year, they save a year on his contract so he won’t be able to file for free agency.

What do you all think about Prior?  Is he finished as a Cub?