Sup Cubs fans? It was a great weekend for the Cubs as they finished off the final two games in a four game series with the Washington Nationals. With a 11-3 demolishing victory on Sunday the Cubs swept the four game series and moved into second place and just two games out of first place in the division. This was exactly what the Cubs needed coming out of the All Star break, but things will get much harder in Philadelphia when they begin a series on Monday night.
Alfonso Soriano heated up over the weekend which was great too see. Soriano hit a home run in both games over the weekend as he recovered from a swollen / jammed finger that he sustained earlier in the series.
I wanted to let everyone know that the blog is now available via Twitter as well at @chicagocubsblog . Go ahead and add the blog and you will be notified anytime there is a new post here at the blog. This next week I will be in Las Vegas celebrating our third wedding anniversary so I will be updating via Twitter rather then here on the actual blog. Hope you all add us @chicagocubsblog and let’s see the Cubs move into first place this week!
- Cliff
Good morning Cubs fans! It sounds like it was a little bit of a sloppy game last night but the Cubs were able to pull out a 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals in the second game of a four game series in the nations capital. I was unable to watch or listen to any of the game as I was out of town at my brothers last home baseball game of the season.
Carlos Zambrano was wild but effective through his five innings of action. Zambrano struck out six batters but walked four Nationals including a bases loaded walk in the first inning that gave the Nationals their only run of the ball game. Big Z once again helped himself out with the bat as he knocked in two runs in the top of the second inning with a two run double.
The Cubs also seen third basemen Aramis Ramirez connect for his fifth home run in the season. Ramirez’s solo home run was his first long bomb since coming off the disabled list due to a dislocated shoulder. Let’s all hope that A-Ram heats up and continues to crush the ball!
I would have to say the story of the night was the Cubs bullpen as I look over box scores and news articles though. Aaron Heilman, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall and Kevin Gregg all did a good job out of the pen and kept the Cubs two run lead. The four combined pitchers allowed just two hits over the final four innings of the game. Great job!
Ted Lilly will not be making his start today due to a sore left knee so Randy Wells will be moved up a day and will throw against the Nationals Saturday night.
Chicago Cubs Blog is now on Twitter! add @chicagocubsblog if you would like to be updated on our posts via Twitter!
Welcome back from the three day break Cubs fans! I took the three games off of the blog as well and didn’t even blog about the All Star game which of course the American League won. Anyways enough about that, lets talk some Cubs baseball!
Rich Harden got the nod Thursday night in Washington D.C. and Rich threw a great game. Much better than he had been throwing the ball. Harden improved his record to 6-6 as the Cubs beat the Nationals 6-2. Harden gave up three hits over six innings for the win. The best thing about Harden’s performance was that he did not walk a batter but struck out seven Nationals. Rich was really throwing his fastball (95 MPH) and locating it very well. Harden had this to say after the game:
“It’s nice to have a couple of days off and kind of regroup,” Harden said of the All-Star break. “[It] kind of helps put things behind you, put the first half behind you. There are a lot of games left. It’s almost like you’re starting over.”
The offense was backed by Derrek Lee who was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Lee continued swinging a hot bat and making good contact despite the three day break. Now if we can get Milton Bradley and Aramis Ramirez swining for power this offense could really take off!
Ryan Theriot led the team with two rbi. Reed Johnson and Koyie Hill both chipped in with rbi’s as well in the game. Jake Fox knocked in Sam Fuld but was not awarded an rbi due to an error by the Nationals. Thanks for that crappy defense in the ninth inning Nationals.
I expect the Cubs to win the next three games in the series. There is no reason they should lose to this Nationals who are just a terrible ball club. Let’s take the next three and hope for some Brewer and Cardinal loses!
The Cubs also signed former Blue Jay closer BJ Ryan to a minor league contract. The Cubs will pay Ryan the league minimum while the Jays pick up the rest of his contract. Ryan will report to Mesa, AZ and work out before going to Triple A most likely.
- Cliff
Well I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a great weeked as our little town celebrated with their yearly weekend celebration which was blast. I didn’t get to watch much baseball except for Sunday’s first game but looking through stats and replays it looked to be an alright series for the Cubs. I’ll take a four game split but it sure would have been nice to at least pick up one game on the division leaders.
The Cubs remain 3.5 games back and are tied for third in the division with the Houston Astros. The Milwaukee Brewers are 2.5 games behind the Cardinals. Pretty tight race but the Cubs are just one back in the loss column as are the Brewers if you want to look at things that way.
The three day break will hopefully do the team good. Ted Lilly is the only player that will be making the trip to St. Louis for the All Star Game on Tuesdsay night and it will more less be a side session for him as he will probably throw an inning or two at the most.
Heading into the second half the Cubs are going to need to get healthy and stay healthy. They need Geovany Soto and Ryan Dempster to get back and also hope that Derrek Lee’s neck spasms stop. The offense needs to get swinging the bats better on a consistent basis which Lou is very aware of. He had this to stay after the 4-2 loss Sunday night.
“We have to swing the bats better in the second half than we did in the first half. … We swing the bats, stay healthy, we have a good chance to win the division. We’ve been through a lot this summer. If we don’t, we’ll see what happens. I’m curious myself.”
It’s going to be an exciting second half and I’m ready to see how it will all unfold!
- Cliff
