I have been watching the remaining playoff games, and I’m still pissed off that the Cubs aren’t playing.  Am I the only one?  I wouldn’t think so but who knows lol.

I started thinking forward to the 2008 season, and what we might see out of the Chicago Cubs. Manager Lou Piniella will be back for his second season that is for sure. Will the team resign Kerry Wood?  Wil Geovany Soto be the opening day catcher?  What do you do with Jacque Jones?  Will Cliff Floyd be back?

As far as the free agents on the Cubs roster, I would expect the team to sign Kerry Wood, Daryle Ward, and Cliff Floyd if he chooses to come back.  Also, Scott Eyre does have a players option and has stressed that he would love to stay with the Cubs.  Time will tell what they do with Eyre, but I would expect him to be in Cubbie Blue in 08 as well.

That leaves Steve Trachsel and Jason Kendell as the free agents that the team would let go.  Neither player has a future with the Cubs team I don’t feel.  Atleast I sure hope not.

Right now I think we can expect Geovany Soto to be the starting catcher, Aramis Ramirez at thirdbase, Ryan Theriot at shortstop (would love to upgrade), Mark DeRosa playing second base, Derrek Lee at first, Alfonso Soriano out in leftfield, Jacque Jones/Felix Pie in centerfield, and Matt Murton in rightfield.

Time will only tell what the Cubs will be able to do as far as signing free agents and trades this offseason.� With the team up for sale, and no owner in place as of right now, nothing to drastic is going to happen.� I’d love to pick up a right fielder and a shortstop, but I understand if nothing happens at those positions as well.

It was a crazy night at Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubsscored three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 and stay one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the Central Division.

Mark DeRosa had the game winning hit against a 5 man infield that scored Sam Fuldfrom third base.  Fuld was pitch running for Aramis Ramirez who had tripled to deep center field.  Ramirez’s tripled plated Derrek Leeand Ryan Theriotwho led off the inning with a walk and then a single.

DeRosa finished the game going 5-5 including a solo homerun in the 3rd inning.  Cliff Floyd connected for a homerun in the 2nd inning as well.  Jacque Jones had the other RBI for the Cubs when he singled in the 5th inning scoring Lee.

Rich Hill started the game for the Cubs and he struggled in his 4.2 innings.  Hill gave up four earned runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts.  He had a few balls that could have been strikes that would have really helped but his curve ball wasn’t always being called for a strike.

Michael Wuertzpitched one inning and allowed another two earned runs.  Once Wuertz was done sucking it up, Scott Eyre, Kevin Hart, and Will Ohman came in to hold the Reds to six runs.  Hart pitched two scoreless innings and that was awesome to see.  The young guy has to be full of confidence after how he threw the ball tonight.

With the 7-6 win, the Cubs remain one game ahead of the Brewers who defeated the Houston Astros 6-0.  It will be crucial for the Cubs to keep on winning as the Brewers will be facing rookie pitchers the next two games against the Astros.

Tonight’s Cubs/Cardinals game should not have come down to the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with the winning run on 1st for the redbirds, but it did. Either way, Aaron Miles grounded out and the Cubs hung on 5-3 while the Brewers lost 6-3 to the Reds, pushing them to 1.5 games back. The Cubs scored first in the 4th when Mark DeRosa’s bloop single scored Aramis Ramirez. Albert Pujols homered off Carlos Zambrano in the 6th to tie the game at one. Cliff Floyd answered in the 7th with a solo blast of his own, his 3rd straight game with a HR and 8th of the season. Lou Piniella had to make a key decision in the 9th when the Cubs loaded the bases with 2 outs and Zambrano due up. Daryle Ward came up big with a 3 run pinch hit double to make it 5-1.

Ryan Dempster gave up 9th inning homers to Jim Edmonds and Ryan Ludwick, but managed to get 2 outs. That’s when the fun began. Yadier Molina singled bringing the tying run to the plate and ending Dempster’s night. Russell Branyan and So Taguchi then hit back to back pinch hit singles off Bob Howry, loading the bases for Aaron Miles. Howry induced a 6-3 groundout and got credited with a save in the 5-3 win. Carlos Zambrano’s brilliant 8 innings earned him his 16th win. Adam Wainwright got the loss. The Cubs and Cards play a day night double header Saturday with game 1 at 12:10 CT and game 2 at 7:10. Ted Lilly and Sean Marshall will start for the Cubs.

-Mike

The Chicago Cubs hit four homeruns in the “juicebox” tonight against the Houston Astros and they took the series 2-1.  Steve Trachsel picked up his first win since rejoining the Cubs as the Cubs moved back into first place of the Central Division by half a game over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Daryle Ward, and Cliff Floyd all connected for homeruns.  All were solo shots except for Ramirez who hit a three run homer in the first inning.  Ramirez’s homerun followed Soriano who led off the game with a long bomb.

Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol shut down the door on the Astros in the final three innings.  Wood pitched the 7th inning, and Marmol pitched the 8th and 9th innings.  I hope Marmol can get some rest and not need to be used the next 2-3 days.  He could really use some rest at this point in the season.

The Cubs and Cardinals will begin a huge weekend series tomorrow night.  The Cardinals have lost seven in a row so it is important that the Cubs come out strong and win these ballgames.

It was another tight ballgame for the Chicago Cubs tonight as they held on to defeat the Houston Astros 3-2.  It was a rocking 9th inning for the Cubs and Ryan Dempster as the tieing run was at thirdbase with 1 out but Dempster was able to get a double play to end the ballgame.

Rich Hill pitched seven great innings only allowing one earned run on three hits and seven strikeouts.  Exactly what the Cubs needed and it was nice to see Rich throw a gem tonight.  Way to step up and help out the ballteam!

Cliff Floyd had a solo homerun into the upper deck in right field to lead the offense tonight.  Ryan Theriot had the other two RBI’s for the team in the 2nd and 4th innings.  The Cubs only scored three runs tonight and we always want to score 4-5 but tonight it held up with the outstanding performance by Hill.  Lets hope for a big game out of Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee tomorrow.

The Cubs are back in a tie for first place with the Brewers now.  I have a feeling this is going to go down to the last 2-3 days of the season. Say your prayers Cubs fans!

What an up and down game for the Chicago Cubs tonight.  The offense was dead for the first six innings of the game as they could not move a runner along and killed any sort of hope to score with inning ending double plays.

It was Rich Hill however that kept the team in the game as the threw seven strong innings and striking out seven Brewer batters.  An outstanding starting performance for Hill, exactly what the team needed tonight as they have a short bullpen after the team optioned Carmen Pignatiello to Triple A Iowa when Alfonso Soriano rejoined the team.

In the 7th inning, Cliff Floyd was hit by a pitch to lead off, then with Floyd stealing, Mark DeRosa reached safely on a grounder into the hole between shortstop and third.  With two runners on and 0 outs, Jacque Jones came up and drilled a double to the right-center field gap that scored Floyd and Derosa.  The Jones doubled tied the game up at 3-3.

Jason Kendall then flight out to right which brought up pitch hitter Daryle Ward who was hitting for Hill. Ward was intentionally walked and Soriano followed up with a flyout to rightfield.  With two outs and runners on the corners, Ryan Theriot hit a sharp ball to Linebrink the Brewers pitcher and he was unable to handle it and was charged with an error.  On the play Jones scored from third, Ward advanced to second, and Theriot was at first base.  Felix Pie came in and ran for Ward at second base and it was a good thing that he did because Derrek Lee came up and singled to left field and Pie scored from second to push the lead to 5-3.

Bob Howry and Ryan Dempster finished out the game for the bullpen as they did not allow a run in the 8th or 9th innings.  Great job guys!  Way to hold the lead.

This was a huge come from behind win for the Cubs tonight.  First off it was against the Brewers who are now down 2.5 games after dropping tonights game.  The Cardinals continued to stay hot as they beat up on the Astros and are now in second place of the division.  It is the Cubs, Cards, and Brewers with the Cubbies ahead by two games.  Will they stay there?  Time will only tell but we all sure hope so!

It was another late inning rally by the Chicago Cubs tonight against the SanFrancisco Giants.  It was a 2-2 game from the 4th inning until the top of the 10th inning when the Cubs were finally able to push across the game winning runs to beat the Giants 4-2.  They wouldn’t have had a chance though if it wasn’t for the great pitching perfomance by Rich Hill.

Hill pitched an outstanding game for the Cubs tonight.  He only allowed two earned runs during his seven innings.  Hill kept the Giant batters off balance all night long and really helped out the team by throwing seven innings.  Hill also had 10 strikeouts and only allowed one walk on the night.  Now that is good!

Aramis Ramirez got the Cubs offense started in the top of the 4th inning when he had a two RBI double tied the game 2-2.  The game stayed tied until the top of the 10th inning when Cliff Floyd led off with a double, and then Felix Pie (who was pitch running) advanced to third on a passed by.  Mike Fontenot then walked and Jason Kendall hit a sharp groundball to Rich Aurilia who bobbled the ball and let it get into the outfield which allowed Pie to score the go ahead and game winning run!

The Cubs were not done however as they still had Fontenot at third base and Kendall at first when Henry Blanco came to the plate with one out and succesfully laid down a suicide squeeze that score Fontenot from third base to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead.

Ryan Dempster then came into the game and closed it out with his 20th save of the season.  With the victory tonight, the Cubs moved 1 game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers who lose 2-3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks!

The Cubs are in first place, do you have tickets to watch the Cubs at Wrigley Field or on the road? If not, you are missing out and need to order some tickets through our Partners at Stubhub!  Great tickets at great prices 100% guranteed!

- Cliff

For 8 innings Tuesday night, the Cubs were dominated by Tim Lincecum. Luckily for the Cubs, they had only given up 1 run in that span. Jason Marquis went 7 strong giving up only 3 hits and 1 run. Coming into the 9th, the Cubs had only 2 hits. Ryan Theriot led off with a double and then back to back singles by Jacque Jones and Derrek Lee to tie the game brought the end of the night for Lincecum. After a walk to Ramirez, Cliff Floyd drove in 2 with a single to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. DeRosa sac bunted and Jake Fox struck out before Jason Kendall brought in 2 more with a single of his own. Ryan Dempster pitched a scoreless 9th. Both the Cards and Brewers won as well on Tuesday so no change was made in the NL Central standings. Barry Zito faces Rich Hill at 9:15 CT Wednesday night.

-Mike

Cliff Floyd was placed on the bereavement list for the second time this season.  Floyd’s dad is very sick and it doesn’t sound like he will make it much longer so Floyd went back to Chicago to spend time with his family.  We wish the Floyd family all the best, and please keep them in your prayers.

Daryle Ward is back with the team in his pitch hitters role as he has recovered from his calf injury.  It will be good to have him back as a pitch hitter so we don’t have to run Carlos Zambrano up there like Lou did Thursday night in Denver lol.

Cubs Injuries

In front of a huge Cub fan dominated crowd at Great American Ballpark Saturday night, the Cubs beat the Red 8-1 behind homers by Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano. Lee hit a 2 run shot off Aaron Harang in the 1st. Harang left after 1 with back spasms. Soriano hit a 3 run shot in the 2nd and a 2 run shot in the 9th to add to a great night (3-5). Cliff Floyd added an RBI double in the game as well. Sean Marshall left in the 7th. After Carlos Marmol finished the 7th and 8th, Ryan Dempster loaded the bases in the 9th but got out of it without giving up any runs. With the Cardinals sweep of the Brewers in their double header Saturday, the Cubs are just 1.5 games back of 1st place in the central.