Albert Pujols belted his 28th home run, Rick Ankiel added a solo shot, and Scott Rolen had three hits and drove in three runs to power the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-4 victory Monday over the Cubs in a game delayed one hour and 27 minutes by rain.

Ted Lilly (13-6) took the loss, serving up five runs on seven hits and three walks over six innings. It’s the second straight outing in which the left-hander has been hit hard. He gave up six runs over five innings to Cincinnati in his previous start.

Joel Pineiro (3-1) served up back-to-back home runs to Daryle Ward and Mark DeRosa but held on for the win, which helped the Cardinals pull within three games of the Cubs in the division.  I will still take 2 out of 3 this point in the season against the Cardinals.  Lets hope that the Brewers lose tonight so the Cubs can remain one game ahead in the standings!

The Cubs continued their recent home success with their 3rd straight win, a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday. Despite 2 rain delays, they got 9 innings in. The Cubs scored all 5 of their runs in the 3rd to take a 5-0 lead. Derrek Lee, who went 3-4 started it with an RBI single and Daryle Ward hit his first HR has a Cub, a grandslam to the left center field bleachers. Solo homers for St. Louis by Juan Encarnacion, Brendan Ryan, and Albert Pujols weren’t enough to overcome Sean Marshall who got his 6th win. Anthony Reyes got the loss and Ryan Dempster converted his 2nd straight save. The Cubs and Cards play game 3 of the 4 game set on ESPN’s Sunday Night baseball at 7:05 CT.

Two bad starts in a row for Big Carlos Zambrano now.  Tonight Zambrano lasted seven innings even though he gave up 11 hits, two walks, and six earned runs in the game.  Carlos was getting the ball over the plate a little to much and he was hit hard by the Cincinnatti Reds offense.

Speaking of offenses, it was nice to see Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez go back-to-back in the 4th inning.  Jacque Jones also connected for a solo homerun in the 6th inning.  It was a rocket shot that reached Sheffield Avenue.  The Cubs did a nice rally going in the bottom of the 8th inning but Daryle Ward popped up to shallow center field with runners on second and first base.  In the 9th inning, Matt Murton did hit one to the warning track in left, but was a few feet from the ivy covered wall, and then Mike Fontenot came up with a runner on first, and flied out to deep right field and his ball was caught at the wall as well.

It was a good thing that the Cardinals beat the Brewers tonight.   The Cubs are still back 1.5 games behind the Brew Crew but we still think we can catch them.  The Cubs just need to get on another roll and win four out five games.  We can put the Cardinals out of this race this weekend, with a big series at Wrigley Field.  Lets get business done!

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

Another minor leaguer brought up today as Scott Moore was recalled from Triple A Iowa to fill in for Daryle Ward who has been placed on the disabled list because of his calf injury he sustained yesterday.  Sounds like Moore is going to be starting first base today for the team as they open a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Lets hope for error free ball from Moore, and possibly a few hits!

Ryan Dempster is also back with the team after throwing in a couple of minor league games for the Iowa Cubs.  Sean Gallagher was sent back to Triple A where he will once again be in their rotation of starting pitchers.  So do you throw Dempster right back in there in the closers role? I don’t until Bob Howry blows one to be honest.  What do you think?  Dempster or Howry for closer?

The wind was blowing in today but that didn’t matter as the Cubs and Giants combined for 17 runs in todays game.  The Cubs went on to win 9-8 but Barry Bonds sure made it close!  Bonds hit two homeruns in the game to inch closer to Hank Aaron on the alltime list.

Aramis Ramirez led the Cubs at the plate going 3-5 with 3 RBI’s and two runs scored.  Ramirez came up very big for the Cubbies today.  No way they would have won if he wasn’t in the lineup.

Jacque Jones had another good day at the plate as he went 3-4 with an RBI.  Jones has really played well the last few games.  Lou needs to keep running him out there in centerfield as he has really been playing well.

Others chipping in with RBI’s on the game were Alfonso Soriano, Cliff Floyd, Angel Pagan, and Mike Fontenot.  Gotta love that many players getting RBI’s in the game.

Ted Lilly started the game for the Cubs and lasted five innings giving up six hits and three earned runs.  He did give up Barry Bond’s first homerun of the game as well in the second inning.  Lilly did work out of some jams that helped him out but he wasn’t that sharp today.

The Cubs really used their bullpen once again as five relievers got into the game.  Billy Petrick pitched one inning allowing one hit, two walks, and two earned runs.  Michael Wuertz then came into the game and didn’t have much luck as he also allowed two earned runs.  Will Ohman served up Barry Bond’s second homerun of the game in the seventh inning that brough the score to 9-8.  Carlos Marmol did have a good outing over 1.1 innings allowing 0 runs on 0 hits.  Bob Howry picked up his eigth save of the year as he closed out the game in the ninth inning.

The Cubs took 3-4 from the Giants so that is always good when you win a series.  It wasn’t all good for the Cubs as Cliff Floyd and Daryle Ward both left the game with injuries.  As of right now we aren’t sure how server they are, but from early reports it sounds like they both could be day-to-day. 

The Cubs will start a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow afternoon.   Lets hope this winning keeps on happening!

The Cubs continue to play good baseball for the most part and once again won another series as they beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 tonight.  With the win, the Cubs won three of four games in the nations capital and moved within 5 games of the Milwaukee Brewers for the lead in the Central Division.

Sean Marshall started for the Cubs and was able to go 5.1 innings while allowing two earned runs.  He was a bit wild with the walks as he gave out four free passes and five hits.  Luckily for Marshall and the Cubs, the Nationals were able to do much except for a triple by Dimitri Young and a sac fly by Austin Kearns in the sixth inning.

Will Ohman, Michael Wuertz, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry shut down the Nationals the rest of the game.  The Nationals were only able to get two hits off Marmol while they were shut out by the other three pitchers.

Daryle Ward who filled in for Derrek Lee at first base went 2-4 with two RBI’s.  Once Lee starts to serve his suspension, hopefully Ward will be able to do the same thing every night and play good defenese as well.

Mike Fontenot and Jacque Jones also had a pretty good night at the plate. Fontenot went 3-5 and an RBI while Jones went 2-4.  It was really nice to see Jacque get a couple basehits early in the ballgame.  We can only hope that it gives him a little confidence at the plate with Piniella decides to play him.

The Cubs will now travel to Pittsburgh to begin a three game series with the Pirates.  These three games are huge as the Brewers will now be taking on the Nationals.  The Brewers didn’t play good in Pittsburgh so I expect them to do pretty good against the Nationals.  Cubs need to atleast take 2 of 3 against the Pirates if not sweep them!

The Cubs are playing some hot baseball right now and Cubs Tickets are on fire!  Home and away games, Cubs fans are packing the stadiums and raising the prices for tickets.  Make sure to get the Cubs Tickets you want at a great price at StubHub!