Finally the Cubs held on for a victory late in the game but boy were things shaky once again. A win is a win however, and with the Milwaukee Brewers winning earlier in the day, the Cubs needed to win on Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals to keep their 4.5 game lead in the division.

Ted Lilly tossed eight inning and only allowed one run on five hits. Lilly was able to last so long in the game because he did not walk a batter and struck out five batters. He even ran over Yadier Molina on a close play at the plate. Even though Lilly was out on the play, it was awesome to see him attempt to knock the ball loose as Molina blocked the plate off.

Kerry Wood was bad once again in the ninth inning however. He allowed a Ryan Ludwick two-run home run that brough the Cardinals within one run. Luckily for Wood and the Cubs he was able to get Josh Fields to fly out to center field to end the game. It was Wood’s 29th save of the season in the game.

Felix Pie got the Cubs scoring started in the second inning when he hit an off-speed pitch to left-center and Kosuke Fukudome scored on the play. It was awesome to see Pie make a contribution as he started his first game in a long time.

The Cubs got a huge break later in the second inning when Felipe Lopez committed an error when he tried to turn a double play. Mark DeRosa and Pie both scored on the error to score the cubs second and third runs of the game. Aramis Ramirez added another run in the second inning when he knocked in Alfonso Soriano with a rbi single to left field.

The Cubs now have Rich Harden coming back on Thursday night as they finish up the series against the Cardinals. The Cubs will really watch Harden’s pitch count but the bullpen is ready to go as Wood was the only reliever to throw on Wednesday night.

Stay positive cubs fans, still up 4.5 games which a good thing!

Wow, another game and another loss for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 as the Cardinals pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on an excuse me swing by former cub Cesar Izturis. The cubs simply aren’t getting the breaks that they were early in the year.

Wow, I don’t even know what to really blog about as I’m furious with this loss. The cubs were controlling this game until starting pitcher Ryan Dempster gave up a three run home run to Albert Pujols in the sixth inning.  I just knew sitting here watching the game that if the Cubs didn’t score in the top of the ninth that the Cardinals were going to come back to win.

Carlos Marmol took the loss as he threw 1 2/3 innings and gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Cubs were looking good as the were up 3-0 in the game behind two rbi’s from Aramis Ramirez and one rbi from Derrek Lee. Finally the two big guys show up and the Cubs still find a way to lose the game.

So now I sit here watching the Reds / Brewers game. Reds just blew a great opportunity with the bases loaded and one out. Game is tied 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Say a prayer cubs fans…

I just came across a 2008 TBS playoff commercial on youtube and thought it was pretty funny to pass it on. In the first half of the commercial you will see cubs highlights with Alfonso Soriano, Kosukue Fukudome, and Carlos Zambrano and then the second half consists of takes that were show during the making of the video.

The second half of the video is pretty funny. Mark DeRosa and Ryan Theriot are trying to sing the Bon Jovi song and they have no clue lol! Hopefully this stays up for a while for everyone can view it.

These are the Chicago Cubs we’re talking about. A franchise that hasn’t won a World Series in nearly 100 years. They always break our hearts, why should 2008 be any different? I’ll tell you why – because this is the best Cubs team in years, and the best in the National League, maybe the majors. Up until basically last week, nothing has gone wrong for the Cubs. The rotation has been great (and healthy). The bats have been hot, the bullpen – solid. Zambrano, Harden, and Dempster were the big 3, Lilly and Marquis would pick up the pace at times. Ramirez and Soto couldn’t be retired and Edmonds was the Edmonds of 2004. Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol were unhittable. The Cubs swept a 4 game set in Milwaukee.

Welcome to September 7th; the Cubs have just lost 7 of 8 and 5 of those to the Reds and Astros. Zambrano and Harden and hurt. Lee has no more power… Fukudome just isn’t the player he was in April and May. Kerry Wood is blowing 3-1 leads to the Louisville Bats. I mean, Jolbert Cabrera, come on now. Lucky for the Cubs, their NL Central cohorts the Brewers have been just as cold. Coming off a 4 game split with the majors’ worst San Diego Padres, where they scored only 7 runs themselves, the Brewers still sit 4 back of the Cubs. Despite the fact that the Cubs lead on a playoff spot will be only 7 with a Phillies victory tonight, the magic number continues to drop with each Brewer loss.

So it’s September 7th, and the Cubs still have a 4 game lead despite going through their toughest slump of the year, bar none. Even though we’ve seen it all before with the Cubs, they are going to make the playoffs one way or another. But for now, the slump rolls on.

Better now than October.

Mike