Tuesday’s night game against the Cincinnati Reds could be the one game that really seperated the Chicago Cubs from the rest of the division. Behind seven strong innings from Rich Harden, the Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 and went up six games on the Milwaukee Brewers and eight in a half games up on the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m not saying the Cubs have things locked up, but if they can extend this six game lead into a an eight or nine game lead this week, things will be looking very good for the Cubs.
Harden through his best game in a Cubs uniform as he limited the visiting Reds to only two hits in seven innings of action. Harden once again struckout atleast ten batters which was his fourth time in seven starts for the Cubs. Harden also bunted in the first Cubs run when Geovany Soto scored from third in the fifth inning.
Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood had no problems shutting down the Reds in the eighth and ninth innings as the combination kept the Reds hitters guessing at the plate over the final few innings.
The Cubbies added four runs in the eighth off relievers Reds relievers Mike Lincoln and Bill Bray. Derrek Lee started things off with an RBI single, Aramis Ramirez then hit a double down the left field line that scored a run. Kosuke Fukudome then had a two run single to center field with the bases loaded to score two more runs.
The Cubs improved to a season-high 29 games over .500 at 77-48. Chicago has won seven of eight and 17 of its last 21.
Ted Lilly will be going to the mound on Wednesday evening against Bronson Arroyo. It seems that the Cubs either hit Arroyo very hard and score a lot of runs, or they have problems with his junk pitches and struggle at the plate. It will be interesting to see how the game turns out.
Trailing 2-0 in the 7th yesterday afternoon, the Cubs scored 8 in the 7th to take 2 of 3 from the Marlins. Alfonso Soriano tied the game when he doubled to left with the bases loaded. 3 batters later, once again with the bases loaded, Aramis Ramirez doubled in 2 more Cubs with a liner down the 3rd base line. After a Fukudome sac fly, Reed Johnson gave the Cubs their 3rd bases loaded double of the inning, clearing the bases. Johnson finished 4 for 5 with 3 doubles.
Ryan Dempster went 6 strong to pick up his 14th win of the season. Neal Cotts, Jeff Samardjiza, and Carlos Marmol finished off the victory. The Cardinals and Brewers also lost yesterday, extending the Cubs division lead back to 5.5 games with an off day coming Monday and a home series with Cincy starting Tuesday night.
Mike
What an ending for the Cubs on Friday night as they came back and defeated the Florida Marlins 6-5. Daryle Ward hit a three run home run with one out in the ninth inning to give the Cubs the one run victory. It was about time that Ward came up big as I have been telling my wife that he has been sucking for so long every time he comes up to bat.
Carlos Zambrano was happy for the Ward homerun as he was in line to get the loss after struggling once again. The right-hander was in line to take the loss after walking five, making a throwing error, hitting a batter and serving up a three-run homer to Jorge Cantu. Big Z gave up five runs on four hits and five walks over five innings, striking out six
The Cubs have now won nine straight road games and will look for ten in a row on Saturday night!
The Chicago Cubs won their eighth straight road game as they completed a three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 11-7 victory on Thursday night. That is exactly what the team was hoping to do as far as the offense goes. They rocked Braves starting pitcher Tom Glavine right when they game started and never let up.
It seemed like anytime the Cubs scored the Braves would come right back with a couple of runs of their own. Good thing that the Cubs offense was four runs better then the Braves and they were still able to get the victory.
Ted Lilly didn’t have his best stuff but the offense picked him up. Lilly improved to 12-6 as hey got the win after pitching six innings. Lilly gave up eight hits and four runs in the game. Bob Howry gave up the other three runs as Jeff Francoeur took him deep in the seventh inning for a three run home run.
Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood also pitched in the game. Marmol threw 1 1/3 innings without giving up a hit while Wood allowed two hits in the ninth but did not allow the Braves to score.
Aramis Ramirez went 2-2 in the game with three rbi. Ramirez went deep in the third inning for all three of his rbi’s. He later scored in the fifth inning and left the game with a contusion on his hip. Hopefully he will stop sliding into home plate head first because he is just asking for trouble when he does that.
Geovany Soto also had a good game at the plate as he went 1-2 with two rbi and two walks. Geo is swinging the bat pretty good the past week or so. Alfonso Soriano absolutely crushed a home run and finished with two rbi. Reed Johnson, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Theriot, and Daryle Ward all added single rbi’s in the game as well.
With the Brewers loss to the Padres, the Cubs are now up 4.5 games in the division. They will now fly down to Florida to take on the Marlins over the weekend. Hopefully they can play well against the Marlins as they always seem to give the Cubs problems.
Go Cubbies!
