The Chicago Cubs stayed hot as they won for the fifth straight time and defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon. The game was awesome because the Cubs swept the Pirates and it keeps pressure on the Milwaukee Brewers who will play tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals. No matter what, we know that the Cubs will be up atleast five games tomorrow.

Jason Marquis pitched awesome has he picked up the win and and is now 9-7 on the year. Marquis didn’t have that one big inning that hurt him like in the past few outings and it definately showed in his stats. Jason did not walk a batter and struckout three. In classic fashion, Carlos Marmol tossed the eighth inning and then Kerry Wood came in to get the save which was his 27th of the season.

For the Cubs offense, they struggled for most of the game as they were up there swinging at a lot of pitchers to make sure the game got finished before the rain came. They did not want to sit through a long rain delay as they had to fly back to Chicago right after the game. The two runs that they did score came on back to back plays in the seventh inning. The first was on a slow roller to third base by Ronny Cedeno that Reed Johnson scored on. Johnson went on contact and the ball was hit slowly enough it allowed him to score without a throw to home. On the very next pitch with Mark DeRosa at third base, Lou Piniella called for the squeeze play which Henry Blanco barely got down. DeRosa scored on the play but it could have easily been a double play the way Blanco bunted the ball up into the air. Sometimes you just have to get lucky.

So now the Cubs will head back to Chicago where they will open up a four game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies are playing some great baseball and are in the playoff hunt in the East division so it will be a very good series. I’m expecting the Cubs to take two or three games in the series.

GO CUBS!

It was a back and forth slug fest between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. The Cubs used a big seven run eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Pirates by the score of 14-9 and will now be going for the three game sweep Wednesday afternoon.

Geovany Soto had the best night of his career at the plate as he finished the game with seven rbi’s. Soto was the man as he came to the plate twice with the bases loaded and both time hit doubles that scored three runs. His last double that scored three runs was about 5 ft from being a home-run as he hit the scoreboard about half way  up in right-center field. Hit other rbi on the night did come on a solo home run in the sixth inning.

Derrek Lee picked up a couple of rbi in the game even though he continues to struggle at the plate. Lee had a rbi groundout and then walked with the bases loaded. When was the last time Lee hit the ball hard into the gap instead of rolling over and grounding out to shortstop or striking out?

Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, and Carlos Zambrano all had rbi in the game as well. Zambrano extended his hitting streak and rbi streak in the game. It was Zambrano’s 13th straight game with a hit and his eighth straight game with an rbi.

Big Z wasn’t his usual self on the mound however. He gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and got a no decision in the game. Once again Zambrano had problems with the free passes as he gave up four walks. You could tell it was going to be a long night for Z after the first inning and his pitch count was already high.

Sean Marshall who pitched the seventh inning ended up getting the victory in relief and is now 3-3 on the season. Kerry Wood pitched the ninth inning and gave up three hits and a run. Wood was clearly going in there with a big lead and just making the Pirates put the ball in play and that is exactly what they did.

It will be a short turnaround for the teams as they play an early game in Pittsbugh on Wednesday. Jason Marquis will go to the mound for the Cubs as they look for the three game sweep.

The Chicago Cubs stayed hot as they opened up a three game road trip in Pittsburgh. The Cubs bats were smoking hot as they clobbered the Pirates by the score of 12-3. With the Cardinals and Brewers both off, the Cubs are now up a full five games in the division!

Kosukue Fukudome led the Cubs with four rbi as he went 3-4 in the game. The four rbi was a career high in a game for Fukudome in a Cubs uniform. Aramis Ramirez also stayed hot has he clubbed a three run home run to finish the game with three rbi. The Cubs also got single rbi’s from Derrek Lee, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, and Ted Lilly. It was a huge performance out of the Cubs offense as they swung the bats very well and never really let the Pirates in the game.

Ted Lilly one his 13th game of the year as he tossed seven innings. He did allow two home runs which scored all three runs but there was plenty of run support to help him out. Bob Howry and Kerry Wood threw the last two innings of the game and both pitched scoreless innings.

So now the Cubs are up a full five games in the standings and are 31 games over .500! Wow, I didn’t think I would ever be able to say that the Cubs are 31 games over .500 lol. It is a good time to be a Cubs fan that is for sure!

Go Cubbies!

Another series down, and another series win for the Chicago Cubs as the defeated the Washington Nationals on Sunday by the score of 6-1. After losing on Friday, the Cubs came back to win the two games over the weekend to win the series and win theit 80th game of the year. The Cubs are now 80-50 on the year and are 30 games over .500!

Once again Rich Harden was dominate on the mound as he struckout 11 Nationals batters and pitched seven innings to pick up the win. Harden has been a great pickup for the Cubs and I feel like he could be the guy that gets the team farther in the playoffs. Harden only gave up two hits over his seven innings of action and is now 4-1 with the Cubs.

Carlos Marmol pitched the eighth inning and loaded the bases but did not allow a run. Jeff Samardzija pitched a scoreless ninth inning as well to finish off the Nationals.

Mark DeRosa, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome both hit home runs. It was DeRosa’s fourth straight game with a home run as he has been HOT at the plate. In his postgame interview, he said he has just been seeing the ball great and guessing right when he needs to and is making good contact. Fukudome did not start and had a long talk with manager Lou Piniella about his struggles at the plate lately. He did get the game and hit a two run home run in the seventh inning.

So the Cubs will be up atleast 4.5 games no matter what happens with the Brewers game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs will fly to Pittsburgh this evening for a three game series against the Brewers and then come right back to Chicago for a homestand against the Phillies and Astros. Lets hope for another series win in Pittsburgh and then a winning homestand against the Phillies and Astros. It’s a great time to be a Cubs fan!