Former Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jason Marquis made his return to Wrigley Field on Wednesday afternoon and showed the Cubs what they traded away. Marquis tossed seven innings of one run baseball as he picked up the win for the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies would end up winning the game 5-2 and salvage a split in the short two game series.

Marquis didn’t just do it with his arm, he also knocked in a couple of RBI’s in the second inning when he had a run scoring single with the bases loaded off of Cubs starter Rich Harden. Speaking of Harden, he had eight strikeouts in the game but also gave up five hits and four runs in just three innings of action. Harden threw 92 pitches in the game as he struggled in the second and third innings to put away batters.

I thought that we might see another comeback for the Cubs against the Rockies but a stupid base running mistake by Mike Fontenot in the bottom of the ninth inning changed those thoughts rather quickly. Fontenot attempted to make it to third base on a ball that bounced five feet away from Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta and he was out by about three steps at third. Geovany Soto then grounded into a game ending double play to end the game.

You can tell right now that the lineup needs Milton Bradley and Aramis Ramirez in there. There just isn’t enough power in the middle of the lineup to score a lot of runs. How about starting Micah Hoffpauir in right field for a game and see what he does Lou? Just a thought…

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

It was a cold and rainy day at Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon but that did not stop the fans from showing up to kick off the 2009 season at Wrigley. The players didn’t let the fans down as they beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 after a one hour and 12 minute rain delay. I do have to give credit to the fans that stayed for the entire game and the bleacher bums that had to have been soaked!

Crafyy left-hander Ted Lilly pitched great in his 6 2/3′s innings as he only allowed one hit. It was a great outing my Lilly as he only gave up two walks while striking out eight batters. Lilly did not give the Rockies a chance in the game and that is exactly what you wanted to see today. Lilly and three other Cubs relievers combined to only give up the one hit in the game as it was their best outing of the young season I had though.

At the plate, Derrek Lee led the team with two hits and two walks while picking up two RBI. Lee raised his poor average to .143 on the season. Kosuke Fukudome and Koyie Hill had an RBI each in the game as well. Kosuke added three walks and a hit as well.

The Cubs are now 5-2 on the season after getting the win on Monday. Over the Easter weekend, they took two out of three from the Milwaukee Brewers. We didn’t blog about the Saturday and Sunday games due to it being Easter but they were both exciting games that came right down to the end. The team will be off on Tuesday and then will be back at Wrigley to take on the Rockies on Wednesday.

Oh yeah, is anyone else scared when Kevin Gregg comes into the game?

Well the Chicago Cubs didn’t start things off on the right foot in Milwaukee as they dropped a 4-3 contest late Friday afternoon. Closer Kevin Gregg gave up the game winning hit for the second time already this season and the Cubs dropped to 2-2 on the season.

Rickie Weeks tied the game up in the ninth inning off of Gregg when he doubled over the head of Alfonso Soriano that allowed Chris Duffy to tie the game at 3-3. Weeks then made it to third base on a wild pitch by Gregg and later scored on a fielders choice by Ryan Braun. Ryan Theriot attempted an off balanced throw to homeplate when he could have possibly turned a double play to get out of the innings. It’s hard to tell if he would have been able to turn it, but it would have been a smarter play then throwing home off balanced.

The blown save and loss by Gregg takes away what would have been a win for Rich Harden. Harden threw six innings and struck out ten batters. His only blemish in the game was giving up a solo home run to Corey Hart. The Brewers other run off of Harden came in the first inning when they took advantage of an error by Theriot. For the game, Harden only allowed three hits and the two runs to score.

The Cubs once again lacked offensive scoring even though they out hit the Brew crew nine to four. The rbi producers just aren’t doing their job. All three of the Cubs runs came via the home run ball as Milton Bradley went deep for a solo shot and Koyie Hill had a two run shot. Derrek Lee went 0 for 4 as he continues to struggle at the plate.

Hopefully the team will bounce back and even up the series on Saturday. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to blog about the game tomorrow or not since it is the Easter weekend and we have some family coming into town. Hopefully I will have an update up, if not expect one on Sunday.

Everyone have a safe and happy Easter!

**Photo via AP/Jim Prisching**

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