The Cubs were four outs away from a winning home stand to start the 2010 season at Wrigley Field but the Houston Astros and Geoff Blum had other ideas. Blum singled off Cubs closer Carlos Marmol in the eighth inning and the Astros scored the game winning run in the 10th inning on a sac fly to beat the Cubs 3-2. The one run loss was the second in as many games for the Cubs and it also spoiled a marvelous outing by Ryan Dempster who pitched into the eighth inning.

After the game Lou said that he would once again tinker with the line up and try to get a little spark in the offense. One guy that needs to start swinging the bat better is Aramis Ramirez. If you remember back in spring training, Ramirez said he only needed ten at bats to get ready for the season and it wasn’t a big deal with him missing time due to the sore arm. Well it looks like A-Ram could have used some more at bats down in Arizona as he is swinging the bat like a girl right now.

Alfonso Soriano is another guy that needs to get on base more often. Only expect Soriano to play seven innings during close games and Lou has been pulling him late in games and inserting Tyler Colvin in for defensive purposes. I find it funny that now Soriano says he will stop the hop before catching a ball. Hmm, why did you even start that Sori?

Now the Cubs will go on a week long road trip with stops in New York City and Milwaukee. These are all in win-able games for the Cubs so hopefully we can see a 5-2 road trip or similar.