Daryle Ward has been place on the 15 day disabled list with a bulging disk in his back.  Ward is hitting just .200 (5-for-25) but has come up big as a pinch-hitter in this homestand, despite his back pain, coming up with game-tying and game-winning hits against Arizona in consecutive games.

Micah Hoffpauir has been called up to take Ward’s spot on the roster.  Hoffpauir can play the corner outfield positions as well as first base but I would expect most of his at bats to come as a pitch hitter just like Ward has done.

First off, sorry for the lack of delays lately.  I have been busy the past few weekends with graduation ceramonies for family members.  Now that those are all over, we are back and ready to blog about the Cubs!

The Cubs and Pirates split games this weekend as it was the Pirates winning 7-6 on Saturday and the Cubs winning 4-3 on Sunday.  Saturday’s game saw Carlos Marmol give up a two run home run in the top of the ninth inning as the Pirates won and Sunday it was a rbi single in the fifth inning by Reed Johnson that gave the Cubs the lead and eventually the win.

Alfonso Soriano stayed hot all weekend long as he has raised his batting average up to .296 and now has ten home runs and 26 rbi on the season.

The Cubs have a 27-17 record as they head down to Houston to begin a series on Monday night.  The Cubs are two games up on the St. Louis Cardinals and 2.5 games up on the Astros.  This series is a huge one for the Cubs and hopefully they can take atleast two our of three games in Houston.

Alfonso Soriano once again led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run as he continues to swing a very hot bad. Soriano also hit a three run shot in the second inning as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4 to open up the three game weekend series.

Soriano led the Cubs with four rbi in the game as he has raised his average up to .265 after starting the season off slowly and spending 15 days on the disabled list.  It is awsome to see him swinging the bat the way he is right now even though he is still swinging that the first pitch every at bat and watching every flyball he hits like it is a home run.

Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa both hit home runs for the Cubs as well as they both hit solo shots.  Aramis Ramirez also had one rbi as he had a rbi groundout in the first inning.

Sean Gallagher picked up the win in and his now 1-0 on the season.  Gallagher tossed six innings and allowed four hits and three runs.  Gallagher could have stayed in the game longer but he started getting a little wild and Lou Piniella didn’t want to take any chances with the young pitcher.  I would exptec that Gallagher would get atleast two more starts and many more if he continues to throw the ball like he did on Friday.

Bob Howry came in after Gallagher left the game and had some trouble.  Howry actually let the Pirates back in the game as he gave up three hits and three runs.  Two of those three hits were home runs.  Kerry Wood was called upon in the ninth inning to close out the game.  Wood didn’t have any problems as he picked up his ninth save of the game.  I’d expect Wood to get Saturday off as he has pitched in the last three game.

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The Chicago Cubs closed out their four game series against the San Diego Padres with wins on Wednesay and Thursday.  On Wednesday the Cubs beat the Padres 8-5 and then on Thursday the Cubs shut the Padres out 4-0.  The Cubs are now up 2 full games on the St. Louis Cardinals in the division.

On Wednesday it was Ted Lilly and Alfonso Soriano leading the way.  Lilly picked up his fourth win of the season and struckout eleven batters over six inning while Soriano hit a lead off home run and collected three rbi in the game.  Lilly and Soriano are heating up and that is a great sign for Cubs fans!

On to Thursday where the Cubs fans seen Jim Edmonds take the field for the first time as a Chicago Cubs.  Edmonds went 1-4 in his Cubs debut.  You could hear some boos as well as cheers for him during his first at bat.

Ryan Dempster stole the show from everybody however as he came within two out of being the first Cubs player to pitch a complete game this season.  Dempster threw 8 1/3 innings while only allowing five hits and zero runs.  Dempster struck out 12 batters as he was locating the ball well all day long.  Kerry Wood came in to get the save which was his eighth of the season.

Derrek Lee had two rbi while Ryan Theriot and Dempster both had one rbi in the game.  All four of the Cubs runs came in the fifth inning when they knocked Greg Maddux out of the game.

Now the Cubs will welcome in the Pittsburgh Pirates for a weekend series.  The Cubs are 6-0 against the Pirates this year so I would expect them to have a pretty good weekend.

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Exactly what I did not want to happen even though last night it appeared it was guranteed to happen.  Jim Edmonds has had a physical today in Chicago and if he passes that physical he will be the newest member of the Chicago Cubs.   We blogged here at CCB last night about the deal, and why we didn’t want it to happen so I won’t get into all that again.

But it appears that Felix Pie is headed back down to the minor leagues where he has proven that can hit and defend down there without any problems.  He needs work at the major league level, and right now the Cubs aren’t going to give him that chance.  Hell before we know, Pie will be out of options in the minor leagues.

Please Edmonds, suck it up so the Cubs can release you in the first two weeks.

The Chicago Cubs four game win streak is no more as they were beaten by the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.  Jason Marquis gave up four runs in the fourth inning and the Padres beat the Cubs 4-3 on a rainy night at Wrigley Field.

Now comes the question once again if Marquis will make his next start.  Marquis seems to pitch a few good innings but then give up three or four runs in the next inning.  You can’t do that if you want to keep your team in the game.  Marquis has struggled pretty much all season long and he now has a 1-3 record with a 5.26 era on the season.

I would like to give some props to Michael Wuertz though.  Wuertz had a great effort tonight as he pitched the final three innings of the game and only allowed one hit.  That is a great job, and he did everything he had to do to keep the Cubs in the game.

The offense just wasn’t able to come back and score a run late in the game.  Hell, they didn’t score a run after the second inning of the game.  Alfonso Soriano got the Cubs on track with a lead off home run which was his fifth of the season.  Reed Johnson then had a two run double to deep right-center field that scored Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa.

Look for the Cubs to have some trouble tomorrow night as well as they have to face off against Jake Peavy.  Ted Lilly will take the mound for the Cubs as they hope to start another winning streak.

The bidding partners that are interested in the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field got some good news today after the Tribune Company rejected an offer by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to acquire Wrigley Field.

Once again it looks like the Cubs and Wrigley Field will be sold together.  If you were one of the groups interested in the team, of course you would want to have Wrigley Field included in the sale and it looks like that will more then likely happen.

Will we know if it will still be called Wrigley Field at the point?  Who knows.

Well crap, the one player I never want to see in a Chicago Cubs uniform just might be a Chicago Cubs on Wedneday after he clears waivers.  Jim Edmonds who was cut by the San Diego Padres after hitting .178 will come off waivers on Wednesday and reports are saying that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry will sign him right away if he is available.

Hendry, will Edmonds do anything that Felix Pie can’t do?  Who cares if Pie is struggling at the plate, atelast he isn’t trying to play centerfield with bum legs like Edmonds is doing.

I don’t like the move one bit, and a lot of other Cubs fans that I have talked to think the same way.  What do you think?  Would a Cubs jersey burn right off of Edmonds when he put it on?

The Chicago Cubs took advantage of a huge San Diego Padres error as they scored six runs in the fifth inning to break open the game on Monday night.  The Cubs weren’t done with done however as they scored another five runs in the sixth inning as they went on their way to beat the Padres 12-3.

Alfonso Soriano hit a two run home run while Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa also finished the game with two rbi.  Derrek Lee, Reed Johnson, Kosuke Fukudome, and Aramis Ramirez all finished the game with one rbi as well.  We can’t forget about big Carlos Zambrano either as he went 2-4 including a double off the right-center wall.

Zambrano threw seven innings to improve his record to 6-1 on the season.  Zambrano could have probably went longer in the game but with the Cubs up that much, the Cubs decided to let Scott Eyre and Bob Howry finish out the game,  Eyre had to be relieved after only getting two outs though so hopefully he will pitch better next time he is called upon.  Howry recorded the final four outs in the game.

With the win the Cubs are now up a game in the division as the St. Louis Cardinals lost up in Milwaukee.  The Cubs will try to make it a 5-0 current homestand as they face off against the Padres again tomorrow night with Jason Marquis getting the start.

How will Marquis do?  Will this be his last start if he struggles once again?

The Chicago Cubs got a little bit of revenge this weekend as they finished off a three game sweep of the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.  The last time the two teams played, it was the Diamondbacks sweeping the Cubs in the playoffs.

The Cubs were out of it on Sunday until the seventh inning when Reed Johnson hit a two run home run to tie the game at 4-4.  In the eighth inning, Daryle Ward came to the plate with the bases loaded and doubled to right-center field scoring two runs.  Earlier in the game Derrek Lee hit his tenth home run of the season as well.

Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano was scratched from his start due to the wet conditions and the fact that the game started about an hour late.  Instead it was Sean Gallagher making the start.  Gallagher tossed 4 1/3 innings while he gave up five hits and four runs.

Chad Fox, Michael Wuertz, Carlos Marmol, and Kerry Wood all pitched in relief and no one gave up a hit!  The bullpen pitched awesome as Marmol picked up the win and Wood picked up the save.  Just like it should be every game, Marmol and Wood closing the game in the eighth and ninth innings!

The Cubs will now welcome in the San Diego Padres for a four game series starting Monday night.  The first three games of the series will be a night so Wrigleyville is going to be buzzing into the late hours.