It was a pretty disappointing game for the Cubs on Thursday as they played a makeup game against the White Sox. It was such a bad game I didn’t even want to watch the end of it but I sat there anyways for some reason. I still don’t why to be honest.

Alfonso Soriano once again misplayed a fly ball which accounted for a three base error and allowed the White Sox to score. Before that play in the eighth inning, the Cubs were right there in it as it was only a 1-0 ballgame. Soriano man, come on!

The tough luck loser was Ryan Dempster who threw a great game. He didn’t call Soriano out in his press conference as he said we are a 25 man team and we just have to keep on going out there and playing. Soriano should be the one up there saying my fault, I totally messed up once again. Maybe I would be better to sit on the bench and let Jake Fox or Sam Fuld play left field.

It looks like the Rockies are going to lose this afternoon as well so the Cubs could have picked up a full game had they been able to hit the damn ball and catch a fly ball. Is it to early to ask “Can this season just be over?”

- Cliff

Wahoo, two wins in a row for the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros! The offense didn’t have their bats swinging on Wednesday afternoon but starting pitcher Ted Lilly was there to pick them up as he threw eight strong innings to pick up his tenth win of the season. The 2-0 victory over the Astros gave the Cubs two out of three games in the three game set.

Lilly was dominate on the mound as he did not walk a batter and only allowed four hits on the day. A great start by the crafty left hander who had the Astros guessing at the plate the entire afternoon. In his last four games, Lilly has given up four earned runs over 27 1/3 innings, it was about time he got a victory to show for it.

Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth inning to pick up the save.

The one hit that mattered for the Cubs was Derrek Lee’s two-run home run blast in the the fourth inning off of Felipe Paulino who took the loss for the Astros. Lee now has 27 home runs and 90 rbi on the season. Just think how much worse the Cubs season would be if Lee wasn’t hitting the ball as good as he has.

Now let’s sit back this evening and hope that the Giants and Rockies lose. The Braves an Marlins continue their series so the Cubs will pick up a little ground on one of them tonight.

- Cliff

It was a good night at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night for the Cubs and starting pitcher Randy Wells. Wells pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on seven hits while striking out four and walking two. The tenth victory for Wells puts him a little bit of unique territory as he is the first Cubs rookie pitcher to have double digit wins since Kerry Wood did it eleven years ago.

“He’s had a really nice first year,” Piniella said of Wells, a converted catcher. “He needs to finish up strong. We’ve been impressed with him. He’s a serious-minded kid, who goes about his business and competes really well.”

Wells will need to have another quality start in five days as he is the best option they have to take the mound every 5th day. Yes, better than Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano at this point in the season.

The Cubs offense took advantage of two Astros errors or ths game would have been a lot closer than the 4-1 final score. In the fifth inning, Koyie Hill knocked in Alfonso Soriano as the inning was extended on a Miguel Tejada error when he attempted to turn two on a Jeff Baker hit up the middle. In the sixth inning it was Hunter Pence dropping a fly ball out in right field that allowed Milton Bradley to score one batter later when Aramis Ramirez singled to center.

Bradley got the Cubs scoring started in the fourth inning when the turned on a inside fastball and hammered it over the fence in right field. Finally Milton seen a ball early enough to put good wood on it and be able to turn through and pull the ball with authority. I really like how Bradley has been hitting the ball.

Kosuke Fukudome added an insurance run in the eighth inning when he doubled and Derrek Lee scored.

The bullpen once again had a nice outing as John Grabow and Kevin Gregg both recorded two outs before Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his seventh save of the year. Marmol struckout  three batters and gave up one hit in the final frame.

It will be an afternoon game on Wednesday so hopefully the Cubs can keep on winning and picking up ground in the wildcard!

- Cliff

Rich Harden took the mound on Monday night hoping to help out the club pick up some ground in the wild card as the Rockies and Giants were both off while the Marlins and Braves were playing each other. Things didn’t turn out the way he had hoped however as control issues and the Astros bats knocked him out of the game after just five innings.

All five of the Astros runs were charged to Harden and six walks that he gave up sure didn’t help out his cause. Earlier in the day, Harden was told that he would be staying with the club and not be traded to the Minnesota Twins who had claimed him off waivers late last week. I wonder if that had any affect on his performance Monday night? Harden says no:

“You can’t just ignore [the rumors],” Harden said, “but the whole thing was ridiculous and had nothing to do with my performance today. I won’t make excuses. I still knew I was starting on Monday and I had to prepare myself, and I got prepared and I just didn’t get it done.”

The Cubs bats had their own problem as they couldn’t seem to figure out Roy Oswalt this time around. Oswalt threw seven innings and allowed just six hits and two runs on Monday night. Both of the runs given up by Oswalt came in the fifth inning when Koyie HIll and Ryan Theriot knocked in runs.

Derrek Lee would take LaTroy Hawkins deep in the eighth inning as he smashed a 398 foot home run to center field to draw the Cubs within two runs. That would be as close as they got however as Jose Valverde shut the Cubs down in the ninth inning with a 1-2-3 inning.

The Cubs will now look to Randy Wells to get them back on track against the Astros Tuesday night. Wells did not have a good start his last time out and hopefully he has figured out his mechanical issues and can throw a good game and the team in the win column tonight. Every game is a huge one and the Cubs need as many wins as they can get.

- Cliff