Carlos Zambrano finally looked like the ace on his way to a 5-1 win Saturday night. Z went 6+ innings to pick up his 15th win. Alfonso Soriano added his 3rd homer in 3 games with a 2 run shot in the 5th. Jacque Jones added 2 RBIs and Derrek Lee picked up an RBI single as well. The rubber game is Sunday afternoon with a matchup of veterans: Steve Trachsel and Matt Morris.

The Chicago Cubs got a much needed win tonight as they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 8-2.  It was a big 8th inning that put the nail in the coffin for the Dodgers as the Cubs scored four big insurance runs.

The Cubs got on the scoreboard with the first three runs of the ballgame behind a RBI single by Geovany Soto that scored Craig Monroe in the second inning, and then two runs in the third inning behind a big Aramis Ramirez 2-run homerun that score Mark DeRosa.

In the 5th inning, Derrek Lee singled to right field and scored DeRosa from second base.  That gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead.

It was then onto the big 8th inning when the Cubs pushed across four big insurance runs.  With Soto at first base via the walk, Ryan Theriot came up in a pitch hitters role and hit a line drive double to right-center field that scored Soto.  Jacque Jones then came to the play against a drawn in-infield and hit a single up the middle that plated Theriot who had stolen third.  With Jones at third, and Alfonso Soriano at second, DeRosa hit a single to left field that pushed the lead to 8-2 Cubbies!

Ted Lilly pitched an outstanding game tonight and that is exactly what the Cubs needed from him.  Lilly lasted 6 2/3 innings while only allowing two earned runs while striking out three and walking one batter.  Very good performance tonight for Lilly, and even better that he had some offensive support.

Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry and Ryan Dempster closed out the final 2 1/3 innings to secure the win the Cubs.  It was a huge win as the Brewers and Cardinals both also won tonight.  The Cubs remain .5 games ahead of the Brewers in the Central Division.

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!

I’ll just catch to the chase today as I’m pretty pissed off with out the last inning of the Cubs and Diamondbacks game went.  Why in the damn world do you have your two base runners attempting to steal third and second base with 0 outs?  I don’t care if Jason Kendall makes any sort of contact, in most cases, if he makes contact the least that happens is you have Mike Fontenot at third base if Kendall grounds into a DP?  Well what happens?  Kendall strikes out and Fontenot is thrown at third ending pretty much all hopes of any sort of game tying run in the ninth.

Stupid move by the coaching staff if you ask me.  Say Kendall strikes out, but you still have runners on second and first but Ryan Theriot and Jacque Jones are due up.  Theriot makes good contact, and ended up walking, and Jones grounded out at first by a nice diving stop by Tony Clark, but what would have been had the damn runners not been trying to steal during the Kendall at bat?  I guess we will never know…

As it stands know, the Cubs are 1.5 games up on the Brewers but only 2 games up on the damn Cardinals.  I’m not scared of the Brewers at this point, it is the damn Cardinals that are playing red hot baseball that I’m scared of.  The Cubs had better take two of three against the Brewers during their mid-week series or this season isn’t going to end up in the Cubs favor.

What do you all think?  Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts on the 9th inning of todays game.

- Cliff

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!

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

Ah, what a hot day at Wrigley Field yesterday as I sat out in the left-center bleachers.  It was a pitchers game yesterday as Rich Hill and Braden Looper both pitched well.  Hill and the Cubs were saved on a nice over the shoulder grab by Jacque Jones in the 5th inning that saved a couple of runs from scoring.

Jones also had the game winning homerun in the 6th inning right after Albert Pujuols gave the Cardinals a lead with his homerun in the top of the inning.  What was awsome out both of these homeruns, was we were right in the middle of it all in the bleachers.  If you watch the videos of the homeruns, I’m the guy in the blue shirt that is moving over towards the ball on the Jones homer.  I had it in my hands and dropped it!  (Yeah, I know I should have brought my glove!)  Nothing like watching the guy that got the Jones ball to jump in into the basket and then get kicked out of the game lol.  He was pretty scared after his girlfriend/wife got the Pujols ball and the Cubs fans really let them have it for not throwing it back.

I will be back at the game this afternoon and I’m hoping for some more Cubs fun!

The Chicago Cubs got back on the winning track today as the beat up on the Reds in a 12-4 blowout.  The Cubs had 20 hits behind Mark DeRosa’s 5-5 day.  It was really nice to see the offense come through and hit a lot of singles and doubles.  Jacque Jones and Aramis Ramirez both contributed with four hits apiece and two RBI’s as well.

Jason Marquis allowed seven hits and four runs which all of came in the second.  Scott Eyre, Carmen Pignatiello, and Ryan Dempster finished out the ballgame without allowing a run.  Good job pitchers!

The Cubs are only two games above .500 but moved within a half game of first-place Milwaukee when the Brewers lost again to St. Louis, 8-0. The Cardinals now come to Wrigley Field for an important four-game series. St. Louis is just 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee after sweeping three from the staggering Brewers at Miller Park.

The next four games against the Cardinals are going to be huge in the Central Division.  We will either be able to push the Cardinals away and in first place, or be in third place in the divison after this series.  Lets hope the Cubbies take atleast 3 out of 4 against the red hot Cardinals.

Another poor game by the Chicago Cubs have they have now lost 4 games in a row after dropping the game last night to the Cincinnatti Reds 9-11.  It was two runs by the Reds in the top of the 8th inning that pushed them over the top.  The Cubs were unable to come back in their final six outs continued their losing streak.

It was a two run homer by Josh Hamilton off by Bob Howry that gave the Reds the lead for good.  It was and up and down for the Cubs.  The offense was there today, but the pitching just sucked.

Ted Lilly threw the first six innings of the game and stuggled as he allowed six earned runs on six hits with two of them being homeruns.  It’s good that Lilly lasted six innings, but cut down on those homeruns!

After Lilly, it really didn’t get much better.  Michael Wuertz and Howry both allowed two earned runs.  Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were the only relievers that didn’t not allow a run to score while they pitched.

Aramis Ramirez hit a solo homer, his second in as many games, Jason Kendall hit a two-run shot, his first homer for the Cubs, and Jacque Jones and Ryan Theriot each drove in two runs in the loss.  But it wasn’t enough since the Cubs pitching staff sucked…

The Cubs better get playing better baseball or they are going to find themeselves in third place in the Central Division as the St. Louis Cardinals are red hot and only 3.5 games back of the division leading Brewers.  The Cubs and Cardinals begin a four game series this Friday in Chicago.  They better win, as we have came half way across the country to watch the games on Friday and Saturday!

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!