Another game and another poor showing by the Cubs offense. This time it was against the Houston Astros as the Cubs were shut out 3-0. Roy Oswalt shut down the Cubs as he pitched 8 2/3 innings and held them to only four hits in the game.
The Cubs only had two hits heading into the ninth inning when they had a mini rally going. After Ryan Theriot grounded out to start the inning, Daryle Ward and Alfonso Soriano both singled to bring the tying run to the plate. However Kosuke Fukudome grounded into a fielders choice and Derrek Lee flied out to deep right field to end the game.
The offense needs to turn things around on Tuesday and score some runs. The pitching wasn’t bad at all on Monday as Jason Marquis threw six innings and gave up five hits and two runs. The third Astros run was charged to reliever Jeff Samardzija.
The only good news to come out of the day was that the Milwaukee Brewers also lost so the Cubs are still up 4.5 games in the division.
Let’s get em tomorrow.
The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs once again played a close ballgame but for the second straight game the Cubs came out on the losing end. They fell behind 3-0 in the first inning and were never able to battle all the way back and lost the game 5-3.
Sean Marshall was a spot starter in the game as he filled in for Carlos Zambrano who’s arm felt “heavy” and needs a couple more days of rest before he takes the mound. Marshall gave up three quick runs in the first inning as Ryan Howard had a rbi single and new cub killer Jayson Werth had a two run double. Werth also added a solo home run off Marshall in the fifth inning.
As for the Cubs offense, they scored two runs in the second inning on rbi single by Ronny Cedeno and Marshall. The Cubs attempted to rally late in the game as Henry Blanco had a rbi single to make the score 5-3, however with two runners on base, Alfonso Soriano struck out on a pitch that he shouldn’t have even swung at.
So at the end of the series, it ended about how I thought it would. The Cubs and Phillies split and now the Cubs are are up 4.5 games on the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs will now play a three game series with the Houston Astros while the Brewers will have a three game series with the New York Mets.
So how do you think the Cubs will do against the Astros? I say they take two out of three and pick up one game in the division.
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.
