The Chicago Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night by the score of 6-5 after Mike Fontenot hit the game winning home run in the top off the eighth inning off Giants reliever Tyler Walker. Fontenot came up big for the Cubs as the Giants had just tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Giants were able to tie the game up when Ray Durham hit a three run home run off of Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol. I don’t know what is going on with Marmol but I sure hope it is all mental and nothing physical is wrong. Marmol just hasn’t been the same the last two weeks or so. Even though Marmol gave up the three run homer, he ended up getting the win in the game and is now 2-3.
Kerry Wood was finally back in the game and in the spot where he could get the save for the Cubs. Woody gave up one hit but struck out two batters and nothced his 21st save of the year. Wood has had a great year so far in the closers role.
Ryan Dempster pitched a quality start for the Cubs as he lasted six innings. Dempster gave up a two run homer to John Bowker but that was really his only mistake in the game where he gave up five hits and two runs while striking out seven. Even with the quality start, Dempster is still winless on the road this season.
Jim Edmonds swung the bat good once again as he had a two run home run in the sixth inning. Geovany Soto added two runs on a rbi single in the seventh inning for the Cubs. Matt Murton got the Cubs scoring going in the second inning when he grounded into a double play and Edmonds scored. Of course Fontenot also had one rbi in the game with his game winning home run.
The Cubs will now send Sean Gallager to the mound on Thursday as the Cubs and Giants will battle it out once again before the Cubs fly to St. Louis for a big weekend series.
The Chicago Cubs wasted a good outing by Jason Marquis on Tuesday night as they struggled at the plate and lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 2-1. Marquis tossed seven innings and only gave up four hits and two runs in the game but took the loss and is now 6-5 on the season. The Cubs and Giants have each won one game in the four game series now.
The first run that Marquis allowed was when Fred Lewis stole home in the first inning. The second run came in the sixth inning when Randy Winn singled in Lewis. That was all the offense that the Giants needed in the game as the Cubs offense was pretty much dead until the late innings.
In the seventh inning I thought that Daryle Ward should have had a triple, and then scored on the Jim Edmonds fly ball to center. Too bad Ward is too damn slow! In the ninth inning the Cubs had a rally going as well as Derrek Lee led off the inning with a triple and scored on a Geovany Soto single. Edmonds then flied out before Mike Fontenot reached on a infield single to put runners at first and second. Ryan Theriot had a good at bat but ended up striking out against Brian Wilson to end the game.
This loss goes completely on the offense who only had five hits in the game. Matt Cain dominated them as he held them to only two hits through the first eight innings of the game. That just can’t happen when you have the offense that the Cubs do.
The Chicago Cubs got a great pitching performance out of Ted Lilly who threw his best game of the year and then a great performance out of Mark DeRosa at the plate as they beat the San Francisco Giants by the score of 9-2. It was a great win for the Cubs who really kept the pressure on the Giants all game long with runners getting on base. The Cubs could have made the score a lot worse then it was in my opinion but they left 24 runners on base against Barry Zito and the Giants bullpen.
Lilly pitched into the ninth inning until he ran into some problems and the Cubs had to call on Kerry Wood. Wood then gave up a double that scored two runs (both runs were charged to Lilly), and walked a batter before finally ended the game with a fly out to center field. Lilly improved to 9-5 with the victory as he threw the ball very good.
DeRosa was filling in for some big shoes at third base and he filled those shoes with out any problems. DeRosa was playing third base for Aramis Ramirez who will miss the Giants series as he takes care of an emergency down in the Dominican Republic. DeRosa hit a two run home run in the fifth inning that traveled over 410 feet and then added a grand slam in the eighth inning to really blow the game wide open. DeRosa finished with six rbi in the game and was the Cubs MVP at the plate.
Matt Murton got the start out in left field and went 2-4 with a two run double in the third inning. I’d like to see Murton get some more playing time out there and I know a lot of other Cubs fans do as well. Kosuke Fukudome also added a rbi single in the game for the Cubs. Besides leaving 24 runners on base, the Cubs did a really job at the plate on Monday night.
Jason Marquis will now take the mound on Tuesday night as the Cubs try to win their second straight road game. He will face off against Matt Cain who will pitch for the Giants.
The Chicago White Sox returned the favor to the Chicago Cubs as they south siders pulled away late to beat the Cubs 5-1 and sweep the Cubs in the three game series. It wasn’t how I pictured the weekend going for the Cubs, but the White Sox bullpen held up all weekend and the Cubs bullpen did not.
Sunday night we say manager Lou Piniella get thrown out of the game after arguing a check swing call that went against the Cubs in the bottom of the second inning. Piniella rushed out of the dugout towards the first base dugout and was quickly told to stop and get back in the dugout and as he was walking back was thrown out of the game by the home play umpire. Lou got some words in with him as well. From what I understood during the telecast last night, both the first base and home plate umpires were called up from the minor leagues for the series.
Sean Marshall pitched pretty good but took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season. Marshall gave up two home runs, five hits, and three runs over seven innings of action. Jose Ascanio gave up another home run (two run shot) in the eighth inning as the Jim Thome took him deep to extend the White Sox lead by 4.
The Cubs had chances to score runs in the game but once again failed to come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position. Only one run for this Cubs offense is pretty bad. Ronny Cedeno provided the one rbi for the Cubs when he singled in the seventh inning and Mark DeRosa scored. Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez went a combined 0-11 in the game.
The Cubs boarded a plane right after the game and flew out to California where they will begin a series with the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. Yay more night games on the West coast. I really hate these late games.
