It wasn’t the outcome that the Cubs players were all hoping for as the American League beat the National League All Stars 4-3 in 15 innings.  Both teams had their chances to score in the late innings but it wasn’t until the 15th inning that the A.L. pushed across the winning run.

The Cubs players didn’t do badly in the game.  Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome both went 0-2 including a strikeout each.  Soto also allowed two runners to steal bases but he really didn’t have a good shot at either runner as they had huge leads.  Aramis Ramirez went 0-0 with a walk in the ninth inning.  He was then replaced by Cristian Guzman who pitch ran.  The Cubs pitchers did great as Carlos Zambrano threw two scoreless innings while Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol both pitched a scoreless inning each.

It was very funny watching Big Z throw a 96 MPH fastball to Manny Ramirez and then come back with his slow curve ball that went over the head of Manny.  Both players laughed it off and then Z was able to get him to ground out to second.  Dempster and Marmol struckout a combined five batters in their two innings of action.

Now if the Cubs do happen to make it far in the post season, they will not have home field advantage for the series.  That is the part that really sucks about losing the all star game.  What are your opinion on that?

Carlos Zambrano made one mistake to Adam Dunn in the second inning but after that he shut down the next 20 batters and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-1.  Zambrano was dealing as he picked up his 10th win of the season.

There was a little trouble in the ninth inning for Carlos Marmol who gave up a infield single and then walked the next two batters to load the bases.  Lou Piniella then brought in closer Kerry Wood who got Brandon Phillips to pop up to Derrek Lee to end the game.  Only giving up two hits is awesome and better yet the Cubs picked up another victory.

Aramis Ramirez got back on track going 2-3 with a solo home run and rbi double to finish the game with two rbi.  Kosuke Fukudome and Lee both had a rbi in the game as well.  The other run for the Cubs that was unearned came in the second inning when Mark DeRosa scored on an error by the Reds shortstop.

It was a great win because the Cardinals and Brewers both lost as well.  The Cubs wll turn right around and play the Reds once again on Thursday afternoon as Ted Lilly takes the mound for the Cubs.

GO CUBS GO! 

After the big news of Rich Harden being traded to the Cubs, Cubs fans were treated to a good game against the Reds.  The Chicago Cubs had held the Reds to only two hits until the ninth inning when they scored a run and had three hits in the inning.  The Cubs were finally able to finish off the Reds to pick up a 7-3 victory.

Ryan Dempster improved to 10-0 at home as he pitched seven innings to get the win.  Dempster gave up two hits and one run while walking four batters and striking out five batters.  Dempster let his defense really help him out in the game as Aramis Ramirez had multiple nice plays on ex Cub Jerry Hairson Jr.

Neal Cotts came in to pitch the eighth inning but walked two batters and was quickly pulled in favor of Carlos Marmol.  Marmol had no problems getting the Cubs out of the inning.  It was Marmol’s third straight great performance as it appears that he is back on track.  Bob Howry tossed the ninth inning and had some problems as he gave up three hits and one run.

Geovany Soto had a two run home run and a sac fly to lead the team at the plate with three RBI.  Soto has now hit 16 home runs and has 55 rbi on the season.  Mike Fontenot added a two run home run to dead center field in the sixth inning.  Ramirez had the other rbi for the Cubs which came on a sac fly in the third inning.

Great win for the Cubs as the Cardinals and Brewers both won.  The Cubs remaine up 3.5 games on the Cardinals.

The Chicago Cubs finished up a three game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday with a 7-1 victory.  The Cubs took two out of three games from the Cardinals in St. Louis and extended their lead to 3.5 games over the Cardinals and Brewers.  Yeah, if Wood wouldn’t have blown the game on Saturday, the Cubs would have swept but I’ll take two out of three games on the road any time against the Cardinals.

Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Reed Johnson, and Geovany Soto all had good games on Sunday for the Cubs.  Ramirez finished the game with three rbi, while Lee, Soto, and Mark DeRosa all had one rbi.  Eveyone at the plate did a pretty good job over the weekend and that was really nice to see.

Sean Marshall earned his first victory of the season and is now 1-2.  Marshall tossed six innings while giving up six hits and one run.  It was also awesome to see Carlos Marmol throw a scoreless inning in the eighth as he got back on track and threw some strikes.

The Cubs are now off on Monday and will pick things back up on Tuesday when they start a series with the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.  Will the Cubs stay hot in Chicago and extend their lead over the Cardinals and Brewers?

The Chicago Cubs lost 8-3 to the San Francisco Giants on Thursday as the two teams split a four game series out in San Francisco.  The Cubs were right in the game until the the seventh inning when Carlos Marmol gave up a three run home run to Rich Aurilia.  Something is wrong with Marmol like we have blogged about before.  I just hope the kid can make it to the all stat break and get a much needed rest.  He needs rest for the body and the mind I’m afraid.

Sean Gallagher had one bad inning where he gave up four runs.  He was only charged with three runs however as one of the runs scored unearned due to a Cubs error.  Gallagher is now 3-4 and could be moved to the bullpen soon.

Jose Ascanio gave up two runs while Jon Lieber gave up one run.  The Cubs pitchers just didn’t have it going on the mound.  Hopefully they weren’t thinking ahead to the big weekend series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mark DeRosa had two rbi to lead the Cubs at the plate. DeRosa doubled in the sixth inning to score Derrek Lee and Jim Edmonds.  Lee had the Cubs first rbi in the first inning when he scored Reed Johnson.  It was nice to see Johnson make his return to the lineup as he went 1-3.

To make room for Johnson on the roster, the Cubs sent Eric Patterson back down to Triple A Iowa.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe July 4th tomorrow and we can all sit down and watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals!

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 lost to the Chicago White Sox for the second straight day as the White Sox outscored the Cubs 6-5 on Saturday afternoon.  A home run by Carlos Quentin off of Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol in the seventh inning won it for the White Sox.  Most times the ball wouldn’t have been a home run, but with Marmol’s fastball and the wind blowing out, the ball was able to get over the fence.

So now the Cubs have lost two in a row to the White Sox and will have to win on Sunday night to avoid the three game sweep by their crosstown rivals.  The Cubs just didn’t get that big hit late in the game like they have in the past.  Derrek Lee started off the ninth inning with a double and was moved over to third on a ground ball by Daryle Ward but Aramis Ramirez and Jim Edmonds both hit little ground balls to end the game.  Have to get better swings on those kind of pitches late in the game with a runner on third base.

Lee finished the game 5-5 at the plate and knocked in three rbi.  Mark DeRosa and Daryle Ward had the other two rbi for the Cubs.  As a team they struck out a season high 14 times as they were not patient at all.  Usually they will have more walks than strikeouts but this time they only had three walks compared to the 14 strike outs.

On the mound for the Cubs, Sean Gallagher gave up five runs over six innings of action.  Gallagher gave up two home runs and eight total hits in the game.  I was actually suprised that Lou left him in the game for as long as he did because he was really getting hit hard and the pitch count was getting up there.

Carlos Marmol ended up taking the loss as he gave up the home run to Quentin in the seventh inning.  Like I mentioned before, in most cases that ball doesn’t leave the ballpark, and it was actually a pretty decent pitch by Marmol.  Tough break for the kid and the team.

So now the Cubs will send Sean Marshall to the mound on Sunday night.  The game will be on ESPN in front of a national audience.  Hopefully Marshall and the Cubs can put on a show and pick up a win in the series.

The Chicago Cubs got right back in the win column on Wednesday night as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 7-4.  The Cubs jumped out to a 6-2 lead after the second inning and never looked back.  The wind was blowing out but the Cubs didn’t take advantage of it with any moster home runs like the Orioles did.

Ted Lilly picked up the victory even though he didn’t pitch that great.  I will give Lilly credit as he battled all seven innings that he pitched.  Lilly gave up two two-run home runs to Jay Payton who has always hit Lilly hard.  Lilly is now 8-5 on the season and has been pitching well enough to get wins and that is all we can ask for out of the crafty left hander.

Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were lights out in the eighth and ninth innings.  They struck out the final five batters of the game.  Wood fanned all three batters he seen with swinging strike outs to close out the game.  Wood now has 20 saves on the season.

Geovany Soto had a good game at the plate for the Cubs as he led the team with three rbi.  Soto had a two run single in the first inning and then a rbi single in the second inning.  Jim Edmonds stayed hot as he had a solo home run and then another rbi on a groundout.  Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa both had a rbi in the game as well.

It was a weird lineup for the Cubs as it was changed around a couple of times before the game started.  Kosuke Fukudome was scratched due to a calf strain so Mark DeRosa moved around on the scorecard and finally settled in right field.  Eric Patterson started in left field and led of while Mike Fontenot got the start at second base.  Fukudome is day-to-day and I wouldn’t be suprised if he takes off Thursday’s game as well.

Well it was another win for the Cubs so all we can say is Go Cubs Go!

The Chicago Cubs were not able to extend their 14 home winning streak to game as the Baltimore Orioles got the better of them on Tuesday night.  The Cubs had their chances in the ninth inning as they loaded the bases with no outs but then it seemed the next three batters swung at everything in site and ended the came with three straigh strikeouts.

Ronny Cedeno, Kosuke Fukudome, and Henry Blanco all struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.  I don’t know why all three of them went up there swinging the bat like they were considering how George Sherrill was throwing the ball.  Make him throw some strikes before you go up there hacking like that.

Sean Marshall who was just called up from Triple A pitched 4 2/3 innings as he gave up seven hits and four runs in his return to the big league team.  Marshall started the game off strong but then started to fade in the fourth and fifth innings.  I don’t know if it was fatigue or what but he really lost control over the game in the fourth and fifth innings.

Michael Wuertz pitched one inning after Marshall left the game and he didn’t fare to good.  Wuertz gave up two hits and three runs in only one inning of action.  Neal Cotts, Jon Lieber, and Carlos Marmol pitched the rest of the game for the Cubs without allowing another run to score.  Marmol still didn’t look that good out there, hopefully get can figure out what is wrong and get it fixed soon.

Jim Edmonds had a three run home run in the seventh inning that made the score 7-4.  Edmonds led the team with three rbi.  In the eighth inning the Cubs scored two runs on a Aramis Ramirez single.  Fukudome also had a solo home run in the game as he scored the Cubs first run.

Hopefully the Cubbies can start a new home winning streak on Wednesday night as they will send Ted Lilly to the mound against the Baltimore Orioles.  GO CUBS GO, lets get back on the winning track!

I should also mention that Daryle Ward is back with the big league club and Micah Hoffpauir was sent back to Triple A.  Ward is expected to be the DH this weekend against the White Sox.

What a sour way to lose on Thursday night as Carlos Marmol and Scott Eyre pitched terribly in the seventh inning and the Chicago Cubs lost 8-3.  Yeah, the Cubs were ahead 3-1 heading in to the bottom of the seventh but two walks and two hit batters for Marmol led to Scott Eyre giving up a grand slam, triple, double, and sac fly before the inning was over.

It sucks to see both of them throw the ball so bad.  Was it because Marmol hadn’t been used for four days?  Was it just one of those nights where the Cubs weren’t meant to win?  Who knows but it sure sucked seeing them pitch like that and not be able to hold down the lead so Sean Gallagher could win.  Gallagher tossed six innings of four hit and one run baseball.  Great job by Gallagher, hopefully next time he will be able to get the win.

Kosuke Fukudome, Ryan Theriot, and Mike Fontenot all had a rbi for the Cubs.  Derrek Lee went 3-4 but struck out with runners in scoring position one time.  The Cubs really struggled at the plate in this series with the Rays.  Hopefully they can bounce back out of it as they taked on the White Sox Friday afternoon.

And what is up with the Cubs playing a night game in Tampa and then having to fly all the way back to Chicago and play an afternoon game against their rivals?  Shouldn’t the Cubs and Rays been playing in the afternoon so the Cubs would have had more time to get back to Chicago?  Talk about some weird scheduling.

Well we will be back this afternoon to blog about the Cubs and White Sox game.  I hope we can kick some white sox ass!

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