Randy Wells has been the most surprising player on the Cubs roster this season in my opinion and once again he showed why on Monday night. Wells took a shutout into the eighth inning and he picked up his eighth win of the season with a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Wells could easily have over ten wins this year had he got some offensive support early on after being called up May 8th.

Wells allowed just one run which came in the eighth inning when Alex Gonzalez hit a solo home run. Over 7 1/3 innings, Wells gave up just six hits and recorded his fourth victory in a row.

Carlos Marmol filled in for Kevin Gregg in the closers role and notched his fourth save of the season. Marmol did give up one run as he still isn’t throwing the ball like he is capable of doing. Gregg probably won’t pitch on Tuesday as he says he has a “sore arm”.

The little offense the Cubs had against Reds starter Aaron Harang came in the third inning when Mike Fontenot hit a three run blast to put the Cubs up 3-0. Harang struck out ten Cubs batters but took the loss and is now 5-13 on the year.

Derrek Lee would add a rbi double that scored Kosuke Fukudome in the eighth inning for a little bit of insurance.

With the two run victory, the Cubs are now tied for first with the Cardinals who had the night off.

Blah, what a terrible weekend it was for the Cubs down in Miami where they lost two out of three games against the Florida Marlins. Heck, they were almost swept in the three game set because Kevin Gregg can’t close out a damn ball game. This is not the way the team needs to finish up games especially when they are in a divisional race at this point in the season.

Friday’s Notes:

• Carlos Marmol is charged with three runs in the eighth inning as the Marlins beat the Cubs 5-2.
• Rich Harden strikes out eleven batters but lasts just five innings.
• Jake Fox hits a two run home run for the teams only runs.

Saturday’s Notes:

• Cubs win 9-8 in ten innings.
• Kevin Gregg blows the save in the ninth inning by giving up three runs.
• Derrek Lee saves Gregg’s butt with a solo home run in the top of the tenth for the game winning hit.
• Carlos Zambrano left the game with a stiff back while Aramis Ramirez left the game after being dizzy and having some pain after being hit by a pitch.

Sunday’s Notes:

• Cubs lose 3-2 and lose two out of three games in the series.
• Kevin Gregg gives up back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning to blow the save and lose the game.
• Derrek Lee and Jake Fox both had one rbi each. Fox’s coming on a solo home run in the ninth inning.
• All three Marlins runs came via solo home runs.
• Thanks to a weird start time and not being local to Chicago I was unable to watch the game thanks to some awesome blackout rules and the game not being available on Extra Innings.

So overall it was an ugly series was the bullpen pitched terrible. Especially Marmol and Gregg. The offense didn’t put many runs on the board but they gave the team a chance to win which Mamol and Gregg blew. Hopefully things will turn around Monday when the team begins a series in Cincinatti.

Good evening Cubs fans. The Cubs had a very busy day today as they defeated the Houston Astros 12-3 in the final game of their four game series. The Cubs took three out of four games against the visiting stros and could find themselves in first place if the Cardinals lose to the Dodgers to night.

The offense was led by back-to-back home runs from Jake Fox and Milton Bradley. Kosuke Fukudome reached base all five times and had four rbi as did shortstop Ryan Theriot. All around it was a great day for the offense as they beat up on Astros pitching.

Kevin Hart got the win for the Cubs but then found out that he had been traded to to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hart, Jose Ascanio and minor leaguer Josh Harrison were sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for left handers John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny.

Jim Hendry was after a left hander to add to the bullpen as the only lefty out of the pen has been Sean Marshall. Grabow is 3-0 with a 3.42 ERA for last-place Pittsburgh, with 41 strikeouts and 28 walks in 47 1/3 innings. He has two blown saves and 16 holds.

Gorzelanny will report to Triple-A Iowa where he will go into the rotation.

Not a bad deal for the Cubs. They gave up decent players for decent players. It will be interesting to see if Hendry can swing a deal for a left handed hitting right fielder before the trade deadline. Who would you like added to the roster if Hendry can work something out?

- Cliff

It was a good afternoon for the Chicago Cubs as they got back in the win column with a 12-0 shutout against the Astros on Wednesday. I was busy working all day and was unable to watch one pitch of the game but it looks like the team had a huge first inning where they scored six runs including a three run home run by Alfonso Soriano.

Soriano wasn’t the only Cubs to go deep as Aramis Ramirez hit his ninth of the year and Andres Blanco also hit his first career home run.

Randy Wells threw a gem as he tossed eight shut out innings to improve to 7-4 on the year. He is the first Cubs rookie start to win atleast seven games in a season since Kerry Wood did it back in 1998. Wells now has a 2.84 for the year.

The only downside of the game was that Reed Johnson suffered a broken eft foot after fouling a ball off himself in the first inning, and could miss a month or more.

Sorry for the short post, but since I wasn’t able to watch the game I don’t have a lot of input this evening. The Cubs are now up 2-1 in the series and will look for the series win on Thursday afternoon. Let’s all hope for a Cardinals loss and the Cubs flag will be flying at the top on Thursday!

- Cliff