Yay, the Cubs are back in the win column!  The Cubs avoided a three game sweep down in Arizona by beating the Diamondbacks 10-6 on Wednesday night.  The Cubs had their leadoff man Alfonso Soriano back in the lineup, Derrek Lee hit a home run, Reed Johnson hit a grand slam, and Ted Lilly won his 10th game of the year!  Yeah, all that happened in last nights game!

The Cubs blew the game wide open in the 8th inning when Geovany Soto singled in Ryan Theriot, then with the bases loaded Mark DeRosa walked.  Leo Rosales then came into the game in relief of Micah Owings and Reed Johnson welcomed Rosales with a grand slam to right center field.  It appeard that a fan might have helped the ball get over the fence but the umpires all met and kept the call as a home run.

It was nice to see Lee hit a ball in the air and over the fence as he hit a home run in the first inning.  Lee has really been struggling while hitting into a lot of double plays.  Soriano made his return and went 1-5 while picking up one rbi.  Ryan Theriot also had one rbi in the game as did Lilly.  Soriano,’s Theriot’s, and Lilly’s rbi’s all came in the 5th inning when the Cubs scored three runs.

On the mound Lilly tossed six innings to pick up his 10th win of the season.  He allowed six hits and three runs in the game.  Tony Clark hit a two run home run in the 4th inning and then Conor Jackson had a rbi single in the 5th off of him.   Neal Cotts and Carlos Marmol both threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen.  However, once again Bob Howry had to give up runs.  He pitched the eighth inning and gave up a three run home run to Chris Snyder.  Right now I don’t have a lot of trust in Howry.  No way can I trust him and put him a tie or one run game.

The Cubs will now head back to Chicago and begin a four game series with the visiting Florida Marlins on Thursday evening.  Carlos Zambrano will take the mound for the Cubs as he hopes to get back on the winning ways and pick up his 11th win of the season.

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The Chicago Cubs once again lost down in Arizona as they fell to the Diamondbacks by the score of 9-2 on Tuesday night.  Once again the offense struggled at the plate as they just can’t get any runs across the plate.  The pitching was terrible as well in the late innings so the team really deserved to have their butts kicked like they did.

Jason Marquis started the game for the Cubs and pitched six innings.  Marquis gave up five hits and three runs as he took the loss and is now 6-6 on the year.  Things got bad once Marquis left however as Sean Marshall gave up three hits and two runs while only recording two outs in the 7th inning.  Chad Gaudin came in to get Mark Reynolds for the final out of the 7th inning.  In the 8th inning, Kevin Hart allowed four more runs (two were earned) to score on only two hits.  The big hit was a double by Conor Jackson.  Neal Cotts came in and finally got the Cubs out of that inning by striking out Miguel Montero.

As for the offense, or we should say crappy offense, they struckout nine times and left 19 runners on base while scoring only two runs.  Mike Fontenot had a rbi triple that scored Mark DeRosa in the 4th inning and then Daryle Ward hit a solo home run in the 8th inning for the Cubs second and final run.  The middle of the lineup hurt the Cubs once again as Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and Jim Edmonds went a combined 0-10 in the game.  All three of those players are in big slumps.  Lee can’t seem to stop hitting into double plays and could probably use a day off.  I say Piniella should sit Ramirez and Lee for Wednesday’s game and let them get a little bit of rest.

One bright spot is that Alfonso Soriano might be back in the lineup for the game on Wednesday.  That might be exactly what the Cubs need to get going.  Let’s all hope so anyways.

So once again the Chicago Cubs offense struggled as they were only able to come up with two hits and they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 2-0 on Monday night.  The Cubs did hit some hard balls to the warning track in the game, but they just didn’t have enough to get it out of the stadium.  This offense should never be two hit or shutout in a game if you ask me.

It was really bad that the offense struggled because starting pitcher Rich Harden pitched great.  He made one mistake in the sixth inning when he gave up a solo home run to Alex Romero but other then that he pitched great.  Harden struckout ten batters in his seven innings of action but took the loss and is now 0-1 in the National League.

Bob Howry gave up a rbi triple in the eighth inning to Stephen Drew which was a big run for the Diamondbacks.  It seems that Howry has been giving up atleast one run everytime he takes the mound as of late.  Hopefully he can get that figured out soon.

The Cubs did get a little rally going in the ninth inning when they got the first two runners on base but Derrek Lee got jammed on a 2-0 pitch and grounded into a double play.  Aramis Ramirez then ended the game on a groundout and the rally was all over.  So will the offense get going on Tuesday night?  I sure hope so because Jason Marquis will be taking the mound.

Here is one interesting note that I heard after the game:  Randy Johnson is now 13-0 in his career against the Chicago Cubs.  Wow, talk about dominating one team…

It just wasn’t a good day to be a Chicago Cubs pitcher on Thursday as all five Cubs pitchers gave up atleast home run.  The Cubs gave up a total of seven home runs and twelve runs while they lost 12-7.  The Cubs still took two out of three from the Reds, but it would have been nice to get the sweep.

Ted Lilly, Michael Wuertz, Jon Lieber, Chad Gaudin, and Neal Cotts all gave up home runs.  Lilly and Lieber both gave up two while Wuertz, Gaudin, and Cotts all gave up one each.  Bad day to be a Cubs pitcher when the wind was blowing straight out.  Gaudin and Rich Harden have to be thinking so this is what it is like to pitch at Wrigley Field during the summer.

The Cubs didn’t have a bad day at the plate as they scored seven runs, they just couldn’t keep up with the Reds.  Mike Fontenot hit a two run home run for the only long ball for the Cubs.  Ryan Theriot added a two run single while Derrek Lee had a rbi double.

The Cubs will now wait for the San Francisco Giants to fly into town as they will play a three game series this weekend.  Make sure you get out there this weekend and catch a game.  Rich Harden will making his Cubs debut on Saturday!

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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! 

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 wasted a good outing by Jason Marquis on Tuesday night as they struggled at the plate and lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 2-1.  Marquis tossed seven innings and only gave up four hits and two runs in the game but took the loss and is now 6-5 on the season.  The Cubs and Giants have each won one game in the four game series now.

The first run that Marquis allowed was when Fred Lewis stole home in the first inning.  The second run came in the sixth inning when Randy Winn singled in Lewis.  That was all the offense that the Giants needed in the game as the Cubs offense was pretty much dead until the late innings.

In the seventh inning I thought that Daryle Ward should have had a triple, and then scored on the Jim Edmonds fly ball to center.  Too bad Ward is too damn slow!  In the ninth inning the Cubs had a rally going as well as Derrek Lee led off the inning with a triple and scored on a Geovany Soto single.  Edmonds then flied out before Mike Fontenot reached on a infield single to put runners at first and second.  Ryan Theriot had a good at bat but ended up striking out against Brian Wilson to end the game.

This loss goes completely on the offense who only had five hits in the game.  Matt Cain dominated them as he held them to only two hits through the first eight innings of the game.  That just can’t happen when you have the offense that the Cubs do.

The Chicago White Sox returned the favor to the Chicago Cubs as they south siders pulled away late to beat the Cubs 5-1 and sweep the Cubs in the three game series.  It wasn’t how I pictured the weekend going for the Cubs, but the White Sox bullpen held up all weekend and the Cubs bullpen did not.

Sunday night we say manager Lou Piniella get thrown out of the game after arguing a check swing call that went against the Cubs in the bottom of the second inning.  Piniella rushed out of the dugout towards the first base dugout and was quickly told to stop and get back in the dugout and as he was walking back was thrown out of the game by the home play umpire.  Lou got some words in with him as well.  From what I understood during the telecast last night, both the first base and home plate umpires were called up from the minor leagues for the series.

Sean Marshall pitched pretty good but took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season.  Marshall gave up two home runs, five hits, and three runs over seven innings of action.  Jose Ascanio gave up another home run (two run shot) in the eighth inning as the Jim Thome took him deep to extend the White Sox lead by 4.

The Cubs had chances to score runs in the game but once again failed to come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position.  Only one run for this Cubs offense is pretty bad.  Ronny Cedeno provided the one rbi for the Cubs when he singled in the seventh inning and Mark DeRosa scored.  Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez went a combined 0-11 in the game.

The Cubs boarded a plane right after the game and flew out to California where they will begin a series with the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. Yay more night games on the West coast.  I really hate these late games.

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.