The Chicago Cubs were on the wrong side of a slugfest at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night as they lost to the rivals from the north 10-7.  The loss was the fourth in the five games for the Cubs who have hit a slump after coming out of the gates strong.

The Cubs could never get going as the Brewers scored in six of nine innings against the Cubs pitching staff.  Jason Marquis got the start on the mound and lasted five innings as he gave up ten hits and five runs.  Kevin Hart gave up three runs, Sean Marshall and Jon Leiber also gave up a earned run out of the bullpen.

The Cubs batters faced a wild Ben Sheets who walked seven batters but the Cubs couldn’t string together three or four hits in a row to take advantage of all those walks and put up a big number on the scoreboard.

Mike Fontenot did double with the bases loaded to pick up three RBI but that was about the Cubs only big hit that scored more then one run at a time.  Derrek Lee did connect for his eighth home run in the in the third inning and finished with that one RBI.  Reed Johnson, Felix Pie, and Marquis all had one RBI as well.

It is time the Cubs get back to winning some games, and they really need to pick up the win tomorrow when they face the Brewers once again.  You can’t keep dropping these divisional games and expect to win the division.

So will the Cubs get the win tomorrow?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

The Chicago Cubs ended a dissapointing three game series with the Washington Nationals on Sunday with a 2-0 loss.  There were only eight hits in the entire game for both the Cubs and the Nationals, but the Nationals made sure that two of them scored runs.

Ted Lilly didn’t pitch too badly, but did allow two earned runs in his six innings of action.  Lilly gave up four hits and two runs while striking out seven batters.  Lilly dropped to 1-4 on the season with the loss.

Once again, the Cubs left a ton of men on base on the game.  This time it was 18 runners that were left on base as the offense struggled getting some hits.

The Cubs do have an off day on Monday so hopefully they will recoup and get back on track Tuesday when they open up a series against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Another early series with the Brewers where the Cubs can pick up some big divisional wins.

The Chicago Cubs back on the winning track just like I figured they would.  The Cubs shutout the Washington Nationals on Saturday night by the score of 7-0.  Carlos Zambrano went deep into the game just like manager Lou Piniella wanted.

Zambrano tossed seven innings while striking out five batters and walking four.  Zambrano lowered his ERA to 2.21 with the seven scoreless innings.  Zambrano is now 4-1 on the season.  A much better start for Big Z then last season.

Michael Wuertz and Jon Leiber pitched the final two innings and pitched very well.

Derrek Lee led the Cubbies at the plate as he went 2-3 with three RBI.  Aramis Ramirez also had two RBI’s that came off a double in the eighth inning.  One player that struggled at the plate was catcher Geovany Soto who struckout five times, and everytime it was against a different Nationals pitcher.  I wonder if Soto gets the day off on Sunday to get a day of rest?

Ted Lilly will try to win the series for the Cubs on Sunday.  Hopefully he will do it and the Cubs will pick up another win.

The Chicago Cubs lost their second game in a row as they lost to the Washington Nationals 5-3 on Friday night.  Bob Howry gave up a two run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Nationals went on to win.

Will Nieves took Howry deep to right field when Nieves swung at a ball that was high and outside.  He said he was just trying to move the runner along, but got good wood on the ball and it went over the fence.  Howry’s record dropped to 0-2 on the season.

Ryan Dempster had started the game for the Cubs and pitched seven innings while giving up three runs (two were earned).  Dempster gave up a two run home run to Nick Johnson in the first inning but then settled down the rest of the game.

Ryan Theriot, Aramis Ramirez, and Matt Murton all had RBI for the Cubs.  They stranded 19 base runners as they had plenty of chances to put more runs on the scoreboard, but they just didn’t come up with the big hit when they needed it.

The Cubbies will try to get back on their winning ways Saturday evening when they take on the Nationals once again.  It will be Carlos Zambrano vs Matt Chico.  I think the Cubs come out and win this game without any trouble.  What do you think?

The Chicago Cubs six game win streak was stopped today in Denver as the Colorado Rockies beat the Cubs 4-2.  Once again most of the offense happened late in the game but unlike Wednesday night, the Cubs were on the losing side of this one.

The key play in the game was in the eigth inning when Ronny Cedeno and Ryan Theriot tried to turn a double play that would have ended the inning.  Cedeno’s throw was a little bit off the bag and Theriot was unable to hold onto the ball.

Jason Marquis pitched seven innings for the Cubs today.  Two runs were charged to Marquis, and he allowed eight hits in the game.  Kevin Hart pitched in relief and took the loss as he gave up two runs.

The Cubs will now travel to Washington to take on the Nationals.  I think they will take two of three or possibly sweep this weekend.  What does everyone else think on the Nationals series?

The Chicago Cubs picked up another extra inning victory as they beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 in 10 innings.  Both teams blew ninth inning leads with their closers, but it was the Rockies who ended up losing their fourth straight game when leading after seven innings.

The Cubs took the lead in the ninth innnig when Aramis Ramirez hit a two run homer off of Manny Corpas that gave the Cubs a 6-5 lead.  However, the Cubs couldn’t hold onto that lead as Kerry Wood blew the save in the bottom half of the inning Ryan Spilborghs tripled and scored Scott Podsednik.

In the tenth inning, Ryan Theriot singled in Mike Fontenot for the game winning run.  Carlos Marmol pitched the bottom half of the inning to pick up his second save of the season.  Wood picked up the win after blowing the save in the ninth inning.

It was the Cubs 10,000 win in their history which is a little milestone for the team.  I sure don’t remember a lot of those wins lol!

Who are these guys and what have they done with the Cubs we know so well? This has got to be the question on the mind of every Cubs fan, all over the world. With 8 players on the roster batting over .300, the Cubs are off to their most promising start in recent history. Although they started off with a relatively easy schedule, that included 6 games with the Pirates (all wins), the Cubs swept their 2 game series with the (former) NL East leading New York Mets and extending their winning streak to 5, and putting them eight games over the .500 mark.

The Cub that has gotten off to the most impressive start is Derrek Lee. Typically, a slow starter, Lee leads all Cubs in HRs, AVG, and RBI. Kosuke Fukudome in his first month in the majors has already looked like a star, and with Aramis Ramirez heating up, the middle of the Cubs order is downright scary. Reed Johnson has been a pleasant surprise and Geovany Soto is becoming a well above average offensive force. The Cubs have also run into a good problem at shortstop with Ryan Theriot coming off a 4 hit game against the Pirates and Ronny Cedeno coming through with several clutch hits in the recent 2 game set with New York. The scariest part of the offense however, may just be that the Cubs are doing all of this without Alfonso Soriano, who remains out with a calf injury. Bringing yet even more hope to the northsiders, is the starting pitching. After a rough first week of starts, the rotation has settled in nicely. A solid outing today by Ted Lilly combined with Rich Hill and Jason Marquis wins last week and the dominance of Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, has the rotation looking better than ever.

The Cubs are clearly the favorite in the NL Central, as the Brewers and Cardinals hit pitching woes of their own. The big question is, can they keep it up? With tomorrow comes the start of a 5 game road-trip to Colorado, and the nations’ capital. Watch out Rockies, the Cubs train rolls into town Wednesday night.

Mike

The Chicago Cubs continued to swing the bats very good and Ted Lilly picked up his first win of the season as the Cubs beat the New York Mets 8-1 on Tuesday afternoon.  The Cubs finished their eight game homestand by winning seven of the right games and moving into first place in the central divsion.

Ronny Cedeno led the Cubs at the plate as he went 2-5 with a grand slam in the eigth inning and a RBI double in the second inning that scored Kosuke Fukudome.  Fukudome also had a good day at the plate as he went 3-3 and reached base all five times he batted.

Reed Johnson and Mark DeRosa both had one RBI for the Cubs as well, who got productivity from pretty much everyone in their lineup.  The Cubs were very patient at the plate again as they drew eight walks and only struckout three times.  Great job today at the plate!

Lilly finally picked up his first win of the season as he pitched six innings of four hit baseball.  He only gave up one earned run while walking four batters and striking out four.  He didn’t have his best stuff, and still isn’t throwing the ball as hard as he was last year, but hopefully this will get the lefty on track and het can start producing some wins for the team.

Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol, and Kevin Hart all threw one inning each and did a very good job.  The Mets were only able to get one hit and that came off of Hart in the ninth inning.

The Cubs will now travel to Denver for a short two game series against the Rockies.  Jason Marquis and Rich Hill will be taking the mound for the Cubs.  Hopefully they will be able to keep the ball down, and hold the Rockies offense down.

What do you think of how well the Cubs are playing right now?  How long will they be able to keep this up?

The Chicago Cubs are playing some good baseball and that showed Monday night when they faced the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.  A 2-1 ballgame was quickly 7-1 after the Cubs put up five runs in the bottom of the eigth inning with some patience at the plate and timely hitting.

Aramis Ramirez first got the Cubs on the scoreboard with a two run home run in the fourth inning.  Ramirez is heating up the last couple of games, hopefully he continues to hit the ball with power and knock in some more runs.

With the score 2-1 heading into the eigth inning, Ronny Cedeno hit a bases loaded single to center field to put the Cubs up 4-1.  Cedeno really battled during the at bat and came away with the hit.  Cedeno was added to the lineup about 30 minutes before first pitch after Ryan Theriot was scratched with bask spasms.

After Cedeno’s single, Felix Pie came up to the plate and hit a three run home run his first home run of the season.  You could see how excited the young player was after hitting the home run.  He has been putting more work in at the batting cage and he just kept telling himself “go through your front foot” just like manager Lou Piniella has been trying to tell him.

Kosuke Fukudome had a huge at bat in the eigth inning as well when he made Mets reliever Aaron Heilman throw 10 pitches to him.  Fukudome said that he kept fouling off pitches that were close until he got a ball he knew he could hit hard and that is what he did as he hit a single to left field.

Big Carlos Zambrano pitched great during his seven innings.  Zambrano only allowed five hits and one earned run.  He did walk two batters but also struckout four batters.  The doubel play balled came up big for Zambrano as he got four double plays off the Mets bats.  Zambrano is now 3-1 on the season as he is throwing the ball really well.

Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood pitched hitless baseball the last two innings of the game.

The Cubs and Mets will finish up the short two games series Tuesday afternoon as Ted Lilly tries to get on track and pick up his first win of the season.  Lilly needs to come out and get on track right away in the game so he can get a little bit of confidence going.  Hopefully he will do that and the Cubs will get another victory.

The Chicago Cubs completed a three game sweet of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday with a 13-6 victory.  Ryan Dempster picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season.  Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Theriot both had a good day at the plate.

Theriot had four hits, including two doubles and two RBIs, while Ramirez contributed three hits and four RBIs, including his fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth.  Derrek Lee and Matt Murton both had two RBI while Ronny Cedeno had one RBI.

In the games on Friday and Saturday, the Cubs picked up 3-2 and 13-1 victories over the Pirates.  On Friday, Rich Hill picked up his first win of the season as he tossed five innings.  On Saturday, Jason Marquis picked up his first win of the season as the Cubs crushed the Pirated 13-1.

After the three game sweep, the Cubs are tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Keep on playing good baseball!