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Cubs actually win in extra innings!

For the second straight night the Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Atlanta Braves and once again they blew that two run lead and played extra innings. This time however, the Cubs were able to come out on top with a 3-2 victory after pitch hitter Micah Hoffpauir singled in Derrek Lee for the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. I sure wasn’t expecting to see the Cubs pull this game off but they did. I was talking with our other blogger (Mike) late in the game and told him the only way the Cubs win this is with a solo home run. I’m glad I was wrong lol!

Once again the Cubs got a great performance out of their starting pitcher as Ted Lilly tossed seven strong innings. Lilly was pretty dominate as he struck out seven Braves and only walked one while giving up seven hits and one earned run. Even though Ted didn’t get the win, he pitched great and kept the team in the game as the offense struggled.

I know we all bagged on the bullpen after blowing the lead on Tuesday night but on Wednesday they actually got the job done. Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman and Kevin Gregg pitched a combined four innings and they only allowed one total hit. Guzman pitched the ninth and tenth innings to earn the win while Gregg actually picked up the save which was his ninth of the season.

Mike Fontenot had the only other runs batted in besides the Hoffpauir game winning RBI. Fontenot delivered in the fourth inning with the bases loaded. Ryan Theriot and Kosuke Fukudome scored on a double by Mike that was hit to deep center field. Fontenot came up big with his bat and without that hit, the Cubs would have lost this game without a doubt.

So now the series is tied up a one game each and the rubber match is set to be played Thursday night. Carlos Zambrano finally made it to Atlanta after missing the teams chartered flight before the series started and will will be making the start tonight. He will face off against Jair Jurrjens who is 5-2 with a 2.59 ERA. Should be a fun game to watch tonight!

AP Photo/John Bazemore

It’s official, the Cubs bullpen SUCKS

Ok, so I had a nice long article all wrote up in the bottom of the ninth inning as I thought the Cubs were going to start off their nine game road trip with a win against the Braves. Well, if you are reading this, you know that the Cubs bullpen once again blew the lead late in the game and once again screwed Randy Wells out of his first victory.

Wells through a great game as he lasted seven innings and only gave up two hits in the game. Lou pulled him out of the game which I thought was the right move at the time but then all hell broke lose in the eighth inning when Carlos Marmol came into the game. Marmol quickly gave up a walk, hit a batter, gave up a hit, forced in a run with another walk and allowed another run to score via a sac fly as the Braves drew within two runs and made the score 5-3 heading into the ninth inning.

Kevin f’ing Gregg than came into the game to record what would be the final three outs of the game. Gregg actually had three outs in the inning without the Braves scoring however Anderson reached base on strike three when the ball went back to the back stop. Anderson would end up scoring two batters later when Jeff Francoeur homered to left center to tie the game up at 5-5.

Yes, once again Marmol and Gregg completly sucked it up out of the pen. This team is going to go no where this season if Marmol and Gregg cannot finish out games when they are given a lead. Marmol can’t throw a strike to the first batter he sees and is constantly in trouble. Gregg just sucks plain and simple. I don’t even want to blog about the entire game because I’m so pissed off at the the bullpen. It would have been awesome to start the road trip off with a win because the next two nights are going to be tough for the Cubs. I’m betting that the Cubs will be swept in Atlanta…

Hope they can pull it out tonight, but I really doubt it happens with the way the offense has been swinging the bats and the way the pen has been throwing the ball.

Cliff

Cubs split four game series with the Dodgers

Well I will be honest and say that I’m kind of happy with a four game split against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sure things didn’t turn out how we had all hoped for on Sunday night when Sean Marshall got rocked and the Dodgers went on for a 8-2 victory, but overall in the four game set I had to come away happy. The pitching was there for three of the games, the offense was hit or miss but showed some life which they did not have in the week before. Overall, I’ll take a 2-2 series against a 35-17 ballclub who has the best record in the major leagues.

The only highlight at the plate for the Cubs on Sunday night was Reed Johnson who knocked in two runs in the sixth inning with a double off of Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Milton. Isn’t Milton like 50 years old now by the way? I’ll give him credit though, he went out there and pitched great and got a nice preformance from his offense.

The Dodgers offense sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning when the lefty Marshall struggled to start the game. Five straight singles and five runs in the first, every Cubs fan knew it was going to be a long night and that was exactly what it was for the Cubs pitching staff. We won’t be seeing Marshall in the starting roation for a while as he will be headed back out to the bullpen as Rich Harden makes his return to the active roster. Harden is expected to pitch off the mound on Tuesday.

I guess another bright spot on the night was the Cubs bullpen. The pen pitched 4 2/3′s innings and did not allow the potent Dodgers offense to score a run. They had their chances, but the Cubs relievers did their job and got out of jams without allowing a run to score. Jose Ascanio, Jason Waddell, David Patton, Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg all seen action out of the bullpen.

So after the month of May, the Cubs are one game over .500 with a 25-24 record. Not exactly where we want to be but still within striking distance of the division leaders. Currently the team is 4.5 games out of first place. The Milwaukee Brewers are are in first place followed by the St. Louis Cardinals who are just one game out. The Cubs do have a long road trip coming up that starts on Tuesday night down in Atlanta so the rankings in the division could really move around in the next 10 days. The Cubs will make stops in Atlanta, Cincinnati and Houston. Let’s hope for atleast a .500 road trip.

Enjoy the off day today everyone!

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Cubs get a little revenge on the Dodgers

After losing a close 2-1 ballgame Thursday night, the Cubs bounced back and got a little bit of revenge on Friday afternoon against the Dodgers. This time it was two runs in the eighth inning that led them to a 2-1 victory which evened up the series at one game each. It was the first time all season long that the Cubs won a game without scoring over three runs!

The team struggled during the first six innings of the game at the plate as once again they could not come up with a big hit to knock in runners. However, once the seventh inning came around, Koyie Hill smashed the first pitch in his at bat over the fence for a solo home run off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. The Cubs would score the winning run later in the inning when Kosuke Fukudome knocked in Chad Fox on a sacrifice fly to center field. It was nice seeing Fukudome step up and get a fly ball with the bases loaded and one out in the inning.

The lone run that the Dodgers offense was able to score came off the bat of Matt Kemp who took Ted Lilly deep in the seventh inning. Kemp’s homerun barely got over the basket in left field but it was just enough to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead at the time. If you were like me, you were probably thinking oh crap, there is the winning run the way the offense has been swinging the bats. Good thing, I was wrong!

The one run win did not come easy though. The Dodgers would get two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning off of closer Kevin Gregg but Gregg got out of the inning when he got Mark Loretta to ground out to shortstop to end the game. Bobby Scales could have ended the game a batter earlier but he bobbled a ground ball to third base which would have been the third out of the inning. It was a close one but the fans were singing “GO CUBS GO” in the end!

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh