The Cubs seven game winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cubs 5-2. The Cubs had plenty of opportunities to score some runs, but the offense sputtered with runners on base and never came up with a big hit to get a rally going.

Ted Lilly took the loss on the mound and fell to 13-8 on the season. He gave up a solo home run to Jayson Werth in the fifth inning and then a two run single to Werth in the sixth. Lilly wasn’t too bad, just made some mistake pitches that Werth made him pay for.

Neal Cotts was terrible out of the pen as he came in for Lilly. Cotts gave up solo home runs to Werth and Ryan Howard in the eighth inning. Those two home runs were some big insurance runs for the Phillies as the Cubs were not able to come back.

Aramis Ramirez attemped to get the Cubs going as he had a rbi single in the bottom of the eighth inning. However with two runners on base, the Phillies brought in J.C. Romero and he struck out Jim Edmonds, Ronny Cedeno, and Geovany Soto to end the inning. Soto had the Cubs first run of the game in the second inning when he singled and  Mark DeRosa scored.

The Cubs will try to win the series on Sunday afternoon as they face the Phillies for the last time of the regular season. Carlos Zambrano will get the start for the Cubs and hopefully he will throw the ball well and and not be wild like he has been in his last four starts.

Let’s start a new winning streak! GO CUBS!

Another day, another Cubs win as the Cubbies took game two against the Phillies by the score of 3-2. It was a pitching show down between ex teammates in Rich Harden and Joe Blanton but both pitchers only lasted a little over five innings in the game. Once again it was the Cubs scoring late to win the game.

Alfonso Soriano crushed a home run off of Clay Condrey in the seventh inning for the winning run. Soriano absolutely  crushed the ball and it was a no doube about it home run. The first run the Cubs scored came in the fifth inning when Daryle Ward grounded into a fielders choice. It sould have been an inning ending double play, however Jimmy Rollins’s throw was high and Mark DeRosa was able to score. The second run for the Cubs came in the sixth inning when Kosuke Fukudome walked off of former Cub Scott Eyre and Ryan Theriot scored.

As for Rich Harden, he only lasted five innings as his pitch count got high right away in the game. Harden was wild as he walked four batters and struck out five. The Cubs bullpen was awesome as they held the Phillies scoreless the final four innigs of the game while the offense came from behind to get the win. Chad Gaudin, Jeff Samardzija, and Carlos Marmol all threw out of the pen. Samardzija tossed 1 1/3 innings to get his first win of his career and Marmol tossed 1 2/3 innings to get the save as he filled in for Kerry Wood. Marmol came in in the eighth inning and got the Cubs out of a jam as he struck out both batters. He added another strike out in the ninth inning as well.

So now the Cubs are up two games in the four game series and hope to make in three on Saturday afternoon. It will be Ted Lilly on the mound against Brett Myers for the Phillies.

Holy cow what a win for the Chicago Cubs over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night! With the score 4-2 in the eighth inning, Aramis Ramirez came to the plate with the bases loaded and smashed a grand slam off of Phillies reliever Chad Durbin to give the Cubs the 6-4 lead. Kerry Wood made sure that lead held up in the ninth and the Cubs took the first game in the four game series.

I knew that it would be a tough game against the Phillies as they were sending Cole Hamels to the mound. Hamels pitched seven innings and only allowed five hits as the Cubs just couldn’t get anything going off of him. Once Hamels was pulled from the game however, the Cubs bats came alive.

Mike Fontenot got everything started with this solo home run off of Ryan Madson to lead off the eighth inning and then we all know what happened when Ramirez came to the plate with the bases loaded. It just seemed like the hitters had a big sigh of relief when Hamels was taken out of the game and they had a lot more confidence hitting against the Phillies bullpen.

Ryan Dempster struggled as he threw six inning and allowed eight hits and four runs. He ended up with the no decision in the game and is still 15-5 on the year. Bob Howry who pitched the eighth inning received the win to improve his record to 6-4. Wood made his fourth straight appearance for his 28th save of the season. I’d expect Wood to get Friday off and see Carlos Marmol in the closers role.

It will be a short turn around for both teams as they will play a afternoon game at Wrigley Field on Friday. Rich Harden will be going against his ex teammate in Oakland Joe Blanton.

The Chicago Cubs stayed hot as they won for the fifth straight time and defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon. The game was awesome because the Cubs swept the Pirates and it keeps pressure on the Milwaukee Brewers who will play tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals. No matter what, we know that the Cubs will be up atleast five games tomorrow.

Jason Marquis pitched awesome has he picked up the win and and is now 9-7 on the year. Marquis didn’t have that one big inning that hurt him like in the past few outings and it definately showed in his stats. Jason did not walk a batter and struckout three. In classic fashion, Carlos Marmol tossed the eighth inning and then Kerry Wood came in to get the save which was his 27th of the season.

For the Cubs offense, they struggled for most of the game as they were up there swinging at a lot of pitchers to make sure the game got finished before the rain came. They did not want to sit through a long rain delay as they had to fly back to Chicago right after the game. The two runs that they did score came on back to back plays in the seventh inning. The first was on a slow roller to third base by Ronny Cedeno that Reed Johnson scored on. Johnson went on contact and the ball was hit slowly enough it allowed him to score without a throw to home. On the very next pitch with Mark DeRosa at third base, Lou Piniella called for the squeeze play which Henry Blanco barely got down. DeRosa scored on the play but it could have easily been a double play the way Blanco bunted the ball up into the air. Sometimes you just have to get lucky.

So now the Cubs will head back to Chicago where they will open up a four game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies are playing some great baseball and are in the playoff hunt in the East division so it will be a very good series. I’m expecting the Cubs to take two or three games in the series.

GO CUBS!

It was a back and forth slug fest between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. The Cubs used a big seven run eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Pirates by the score of 14-9 and will now be going for the three game sweep Wednesday afternoon.

Geovany Soto had the best night of his career at the plate as he finished the game with seven rbi’s. Soto was the man as he came to the plate twice with the bases loaded and both time hit doubles that scored three runs. His last double that scored three runs was about 5 ft from being a home-run as he hit the scoreboard about half way  up in right-center field. Hit other rbi on the night did come on a solo home run in the sixth inning.

Derrek Lee picked up a couple of rbi in the game even though he continues to struggle at the plate. Lee had a rbi groundout and then walked with the bases loaded. When was the last time Lee hit the ball hard into the gap instead of rolling over and grounding out to shortstop or striking out?

Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, and Carlos Zambrano all had rbi in the game as well. Zambrano extended his hitting streak and rbi streak in the game. It was Zambrano’s 13th straight game with a hit and his eighth straight game with an rbi.

Big Z wasn’t his usual self on the mound however. He gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and got a no decision in the game. Once again Zambrano had problems with the free passes as he gave up four walks. You could tell it was going to be a long night for Z after the first inning and his pitch count was already high.

Sean Marshall who pitched the seventh inning ended up getting the victory in relief and is now 3-3 on the season. Kerry Wood pitched the ninth inning and gave up three hits and a run. Wood was clearly going in there with a big lead and just making the Pirates put the ball in play and that is exactly what they did.

It will be a short turnaround for the teams as they play an early game in Pittsbugh on Wednesday. Jason Marquis will go to the mound for the Cubs as they look for the three game sweep.

The Chicago Cubs stayed hot as they opened up a three game road trip in Pittsburgh. The Cubs bats were smoking hot as they clobbered the Pirates by the score of 12-3. With the Cardinals and Brewers both off, the Cubs are now up a full five games in the division!

Kosukue Fukudome led the Cubs with four rbi as he went 3-4 in the game. The four rbi was a career high in a game for Fukudome in a Cubs uniform. Aramis Ramirez also stayed hot has he clubbed a three run home run to finish the game with three rbi. The Cubs also got single rbi’s from Derrek Lee, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, and Ted Lilly. It was a huge performance out of the Cubs offense as they swung the bats very well and never really let the Pirates in the game.

Ted Lilly one his 13th game of the year as he tossed seven innings. He did allow two home runs which scored all three runs but there was plenty of run support to help him out. Bob Howry and Kerry Wood threw the last two innings of the game and both pitched scoreless innings.

So now the Cubs are up a full five games in the standings and are 31 games over .500! Wow, I didn’t think I would ever be able to say that the Cubs are 31 games over .500 lol. It is a good time to be a Cubs fan that is for sure!

Go Cubbies!

Another series down, and another series win for the Chicago Cubs as the defeated the Washington Nationals on Sunday by the score of 6-1. After losing on Friday, the Cubs came back to win the two games over the weekend to win the series and win theit 80th game of the year. The Cubs are now 80-50 on the year and are 30 games over .500!

Once again Rich Harden was dominate on the mound as he struckout 11 Nationals batters and pitched seven innings to pick up the win. Harden has been a great pickup for the Cubs and I feel like he could be the guy that gets the team farther in the playoffs. Harden only gave up two hits over his seven innings of action and is now 4-1 with the Cubs.

Carlos Marmol pitched the eighth inning and loaded the bases but did not allow a run. Jeff Samardzija pitched a scoreless ninth inning as well to finish off the Nationals.

Mark DeRosa, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome both hit home runs. It was DeRosa’s fourth straight game with a home run as he has been HOT at the plate. In his postgame interview, he said he has just been seeing the ball great and guessing right when he needs to and is making good contact. Fukudome did not start and had a long talk with manager Lou Piniella about his struggles at the plate lately. He did get the game and hit a two run home run in the seventh inning.

So the Cubs will be up atleast 4.5 games no matter what happens with the Brewers game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs will fly to Pittsburgh this evening for a three game series against the Brewers and then come right back to Chicago for a homestand against the Phillies and Astros. Lets hope for another series win in Pittsburgh and then a winning homestand against the Phillies and Astros. It’s a great time to be a Cubs fan!

Yeah, this is a quite a bit late as the game was yesterday but I figured I would blog about it a little bit. What a frustrating game as the Cubs held a 4-0 lead heading into the sixth inning but then the wheels came off and the Nationals put a six spot up in the sixth inning to take the lead and go onto win the game 13-5.

The bullpen was absolutely terrible in the game. Neal Cotts gave up a grand slam, Bob Howry gave up a run, and Chad Gaudin allowed two home runs and six runs to score in the final two innings of the game. I hope this is just one of those games where your pitchers just don’t have it but come back and throw the ball good the next game.

It was also nice to see Derrek Lee actually hit another home run. It was his first home run since July 27th. Mark DeRosa also had a home run in the game as he reached Waveland Avenue in the fourth inning to score two runs.

The Cubs had a short turn around as they are currently playing the Nationals in game two. Need a big win out of Ryan Dempster and get back on the winning track.

The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday and won the three game series by two games to one. It was another hard fought battle between the two teams as the Cubs pulled out a 3-2 victory.

Big Carlos Zambrano helped out his own cause as he hit the game winning home run in the fourt inning when he took Josh Fogg deep to the right-center bleachers. Zambrano went onto win the game on the mound as well as he pitched seven innings and improved to 13-5 on the year. Big Z had to work out of a couple jams as he gave up six hits and walked four batters but his defense helped him out when needed.

Carlos Marmol’s scoreless inning streak ended as Joey Votto hit a solo home run off of him in the eighth inning. That home run brough the Reds within one run but Marmol finished the inning off and then Kerry Wood finished the Reds off in the ninth to record his 26th save of the year.

Mark DeRosa hit a solo home run to go along with Zambrano’s. DeRosa has been on fire lately and has really been playing some great defense at second base. The Cubs first run came in the first inning when Derrek Lee grounded into anther double play and Alfonso Soriano scored.

The Cubs will now play the Washington Nationals through the weekend. This is a series that the Cubs should sweep and keep their five plus game lead on the Brewers and Cardinals.

GO CUBBIES!

Well that sure wasn’t the outcome that I was hoping for as the Cubs lost to the Reds 2-1 on Wednesday night. Ted Lilly pitched a good game but gave up single runs in the sixth and seventh runs and took the loss to fall to 12-7 on the season.

Lilly pitched well enough to get the win, the offense just didn’t show up tonight. The batters only came up with three hits the entire game and could only score one run. Mark DeRosa had two of those hits while Aramis Ramirez had the other hit. It really seemed that the offense was free swinging at the plate when they really didn’t need to the way the home plate ump was calling the game. There was a tight zone the entire game and the Cubs should have been more selective at the plate in my opinion.

The Cubs will now be looking to win the series on Thursday afternoon when they send Carlos Zambrano to the mound. I think Big Z will come out strong and the Cubs will get back on the winning track. With the Brewers and Cardinals winning, the Cubs are now up 5 games in the division.