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!

Sean Marshall through six strong innings last night and then Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry, Michael Wuertz, and Ryan Dempster finished off the game as the Cubs extended their Central Division lead to 1.5 games over the Brewers.

Marshall really only had one bad pitch and that was a first pitch fastball that he through the the Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings who hit it into the left field seats for a homerun.  Other then that Marshall was pretty dominate as the Diamondback hitters were aggressive all night and popped a lot of balls up.

The Cubs offense got off to a really good start as they were able to push across two runs in the top of the first.  Derrek Lee singled that brough in Ryan Theriot and then Mark DeRosa singled which scored Lee.  The Cubs would not score again until the sixth inning when Aramis Ramirez hit a sac fly that plated Jacque Jones.  We should mention that Jones also went 4-5 on the night to continue his hot streak.

It was a big ninth inning that sealed the deal for the Cubs however.  They scored three insurance runs off a wild reliver who couldn’t find the strikezone, and when it was a strike, the ball got it hard.  DeRosa, Felix Pie, and Jason Kendall all scored in the ninth inning to make it a 6-1 game.  The D-backs did score once in the bottom of the inning but it was nearly enough.

The same two teams will face off Saturday night.  It will be Ted Lilly starting for the Cubs and Doug Davis starting for the Diamondbacks.  Lets win another one Cubbies!

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!

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- Cliff

Felix Pie was called up to the Chicago Cubs for the third time this season after the Cubs placed outfielder Angel Pagan on the disable list.  I have to wonder if this is just a move to get Pie on the roster to spark up some excitment.  Is Pagan really hurt?  Either way Pie is better then Pagan.

Look for Pie to get most of the starts in centerfield, Matt Murton and Eric Patterson playing left field, and Jacque Jones / Cliff Floyd in right field until Alfonso Soriano comes back.

The Cubs continued their winning ways tonight as they beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 at Wrigley Field.  The Cubs are still 7.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers as they beat the Astros tonight but as long as the Cubs keep on winning good things will happen for them.

The Cubs first scored in the first inning when Alfonso Soriano scored on a double by Aramis Ramirez.  Cliff Floyd then smoked a two-run homerun to right field to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.  Mike Fontenot, Koyie Hill, Mark DeRosa, and Felix Pie all had RBI’s for the Cubs as well.  I love seeing an offensive performace like this where it is more then one playing producing for the team.

Ted Lilly picked up his sixth win on the season as he went 6 innings.  He did give up four earned runs on five walks and five strikeouts.  I don’t like those walks and normally your team is going to lose when your starting pitchers allows five walks but tonight the Cubs offense helped out the pitchers.

Michael Wuertz, Carlos Marmol, and Will Ohman pitched the final three innings for the Cubs.  Ohman picked up his first career save as he got the last out in the ninth inning when he got Todd Helton to popup to short.

The Cubs have now won five straight and will be going for the sweep tomorrow afternoon as it will be Jason Hirsh (3-6) facing off against Carlos Zambrano (8-6).  I look for Zambrano to have a very good game tomorrow and the Cubs completing this three game sweep.

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The Cubs got a big win lastnight down in Arlington, Texas as they beat the Rangers 5-4.  What was so great about the win was seeing the bullpen throw five strong innings and not allow one hit!  Carlos Marmol pitched three great innings, Bob Howry threw the eigth inning, and closer Ryan Dempster finished up the ballgame in the ninth picking up his 16th save on the season.

There were plenty of Cubs fans down at the game as alot of them went to also see former Cubs Sammy Sosa try to his homerun #600.  It wasn’t meant to happen last night as Sosa struckout three times.

Leading the Cubs at the plate was Felix Pie with a triple and two RBI, and Derrek Lee who went 2-5 and had the game winning RBI in the sixth inning.

Both teams will play again tonight as Jason Marquis will face off against Kameron Loe.  Gametime is set for 7:35 central time.