I have to question why Alfonso Soriano is playing hurt?  Tonight he has misplayed a ball in leftfield because he couldn’t get to it soon.  With that mistake and a few baserunning errors you can really see that his hamstring is still affecting is play.

Soriano says that he playing at around 85% right now, and some nights it feels really good, other nights it is very hard to play.  I always agree that if you can’t go out and play your best giving it all, sit down and rest your injury.  Especially right now in the season, the Cubs aren’t in a playoff race at this point, don’t risk losing Soriano for 2 months by being stupid.

What do you all think out there?  Should Soriano be out there playing?

Today the Cubs were able to salvage one game from the Philadelphia Phillies as they won 4-1 behind eight strong innings from starting pitcher Ted Lilly.  Lilly allowed one run, striking out six and walking one in his longest outing of the season.

Ryan Dempster picked up his eigth save on the season as he shut down the Phillies in the ninth.

For the offense, Alfonso Soriano went 0-4 stopping his 20 game hit streak along the way.  Soriano has really been playing better ever since moving from centerfield to leftfield.  It is very important for him to continue his hot steak and jumpstart this Cubs offense.

Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on run-scoring singles by Matt Murton and Cesar Izturis. Nunez made a costly throwing error at third that allowed Ramirez to reach on a grounder. Murton singled and, two outs later, Izturis squibbed a grounder just inside the third-base bag and into left field.

The Cubs added two runs in the ninth on Mark DeRosa’s bases-loaded walk off Fabio Castro and Ramirez’s RBI grounder against Clay Condrey.  You gotta love when a team can tack on a few extra insurance runs in the ninth inning.  You never know how the Cubs bullpen will do so it was really nice to see those two runs in the ninth inning.

The Cubs will now travel to New York City and take on the Mets tomorrow night.  Gametime is set for 7:10 eastertime.  It will be Jason Marquis facing Tom Glavine. 

Wow, what and up and down game for the Cubs today.  First it was falling behind 0-2 in the second inning and then Angel Guzman settled down in the game and held the Cubs in it.  The Cubs taking the lead in the seventh inning, and then blowing it in the bottom of the inning.  Hmm I wished I never watched the game today.

We have to wonder how the game would of turned out if Soriano hustles around third and actually scores, or if the rain never happend.  Hell we will never know but I know one thing, our bullpen stinks right now.  I will give them no credit at all.  They serve up beach balls to the opposing team and they get hit hard.

Tomorrows game won’t be any easier for the Cubs to win.  Now, will they come out and battle like a real team?  Or not hustle and play like a bunch of panzies?

Rich Hill was pretty good against everyone in the Phillies lineup except for Pat Burrell tonight.  Burrell went deep twice and had five RBI’s in the game.

In a left handers pitching battle, it was Cole Hamels who picked up the win for the Phillies.  Hamels (5-1) allowed two runs on solo homers by Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez and seven hits. He struck out seven and walked two batters.

The two teams will battle it out again tomorrow afternoon on FOX so tune and hopefully watch the Cubs pick up a win of the Phillies.

Once again, Carlos Zambrano had a terrible first inning on got the Cubs down into a deep hole.  The Pirates scored three runs off Big Z in the first as he got hit hard pretty much all day long.

Zambrano through six innings, allowing seven hits, six runs, four earned runs, six strikeouts, and two walks.  If he has better control during the first inning, I think this would have been an entire different ballgame.  The “ace” of the staff shouldn’t pitch so bad every first innings of a game….

I think the highlight of the game was in the second inning when Aramis Ramirez hit a homerun and a little boy leaned over and caught the ball in his glove.  The little guy was probably 8-10 years old and he made a clean catch.  That a boy!

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Today the Cubs recalled Angel Pagan from Triple A Iowa and sent Felix Pie back down.  I don’t mind the move to be honest.  Pie needs more time and he wasn’t getting that with the big league team.  Sitting on the bench won’t do anything for a young player trying to develope.

Pagan is getting the start in todays game.  It will be interesting to see how he does.

Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs have decided to ban all alcohol inside the home clubhouse and on their chartered flights back into Chicago.  Pretty much anytime the Cubs will be driving home after being with the team alcohol will be banned.

The players and coaches will still have alcohol on their charter flights when they are on the road and in their visitor clubhouse as long as the hometeam has not banned it from there as well.

I like the idea and I’m sure before long all the MLB teams will have some sort of ban in their home clubhouse.  What do you all think about the ban? Are you in favor of it?  Or should adults be able to know when to drive and when to get a cab after the game?

What a game by starting pitcher Jason Marquis last night as he shut down the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 and picked up a complete game shutout!  Just want the Cubs needed as they were able to rest everyone in the the bullpen after playing 15 innings the night before.  Over the nine innings, Marquis only gave up three hits.

The Cubs offense was very bad last night, but they got the only run they needed when Alfonso Soriano went deep in the first inning.  One player who had a terrible game was Jacque Jones who stranded seven baserunners while facing the lefthander Tom Gorzelanny of the Pirates.

The Cubs and Pirates will battle again today at 1:20 central time from Wrigley Field.  It will be Carlos Zambrano against Pat Maholm for the Pirates. Should be a good game and I full expect the Cubbies to pull it out and take this series 2-1 against the Pirates.

Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates fought deep into the night at Wrigley Field and it was the Pirates who came out ont op 4-3 in 15 innings of play.

Lou Piniella used all his position players, relivers, and even Jason Marquis was called upon to pitch hit.  Piniella did have a one playcall work out for him when he asked Rocky Cherry too intentionally walk Freddy Sanchez to face Jason Bay. Bay smacked the first pitch to left, and Soriano fired a perfect strike home to get the runner and end the inning.

But for the Cubs it was lack of pushing across that winning run when they had the chance.  In the 8th inning when the Cubs had the bases loaded and one out, but Jacque Jones hit a sharp grounder to Pittsburgh first baseman Adam LaRoche, who threw home for the double play.

Hell, we wouldn’t have had to go extra innings if Ryan Dempster closes the door in the ninth inning and picks up the save.  Oh well, today is a new day, and tonights game is new game and I will be watching and cheering on the Cubs!

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Last night Peoria Chiefs coach Ryne Sandberg was ejected after sticking up for his pitching coach David Rosario who was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire.

On Monday, Rosario felt Peoria starter Rafael Dolis was being squeezed, and voiced his opinion from the dugout in the bottom of the third inning. Martinez ejected Rosario while he was still in the dugout. Rosario then went onto the field to argue face-to-face with Martinez, and covered home plate with dirt.

After Rosario exited, Martinez approached Sandberg and the two exchanged a few words. Martinez quickly tossed Sandberg, the Hall of Famer’s first ejection as a manager.

In his playing career, which spanned from 1981-94, and again from 1996-97, Sandberg was ejected twice. This is his first season as a manager.

Go get em Ryno!