After scoring only 5 runs in the entire series in Houston, the Cubs put up a 10 spot to beat Colorado 10-2 at Coors Field Thursday night. Jacque Jones had a big night with 4 hits and 4 RBIs. He drove in Ryan Theriot for the 1st run of the game in the opening inning. The Cubs got 3 in the 2nd thanks to a Garrett Atkins error scoring Jason Kendall. Jones followed up with another hit to make it 4-0. Matt Murton led off the 3rd with his 3rd homer of the season. The Cubs would add 4 more that inning. Mike Fontenot and Kendall had RBIs as well. Ted Lilly picked up his 13th win of the season going 6 innings giving up only 2 runs. The bullpen finished off the game as Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry pitched scoreless frames. With 3 games still to be played in Denver, the Cubs send Jason Marquis to the mound against Aaron Cook Friday night.

It wasn’t the way the Chicago Cubs wanted to start off their road trip as they lost to the Houston Astros 1-2 in 10 innings.  Michael Wuertz picked up the loss for the Cubs as Eric Munson and the game winning hit that scored Ty Wigginton from third base.  Wigginton moved to third base a few pitches earlier on a passed ball by catcher Jason Kendall.

Rich Hill pitched seven strong innings only allowing a solo homerun to Carlos Lee in the fourth inning.  Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry came in and pitched two scoreless innings before Wuertz blew the game in the 10th inning.

The Cubs lone run came in on a groundout by Derrek Lee that scored Ryan Theriot from third base.  Other then that, the Cubs had no offense tonight.  You would think playing in the “juicebox” down in Houston they could have pushed across 4-5 runs but that didn’t happen tonight.

The Cubs need to take the next two games of this series and then win three of four in Colorado to stay in this race I’m thinking.  Can they do it?

It wasn’t the way the Chicago Cubs wanted to start off this three game series with the New York Mets.  The Cubs scored every inning that the Mets did in the low scoring affair except the ninth inning when it mattered most.

Ryan Dempster allowed four runs out of the bullpen in the ninth inning giving the Mets the lead for good.  It was a terrible showing by Dempster, hopefully if he gets called upon tomorrow he will have a much better outcome.

Carlos Zambrano only lasted five innings as he threw 90+ pitches and had to leave with some heat cramp issues.  Zambrano wasn’t himself today, as he was wild from the beginning and was really letting his emotions show.

The Cubs offense wasn’t very good today against Orlando Hernandez.  It seemed like they couldn’t tell if it was a fastball or one of his junk pitches as they were always way out in front of the ball and hardly making contact.

Derrek Lee did connect for his 12th homerun of the season in the sixth inning.  It was also nice to see Jason Kendall contribute with a RBI double of the leftfield wall in the seventh inning.  The Cubs did have a little rally going in the ninth inning as they had the first two runners on, but then Jacque Jones grounded into a double play.

Lets go get em tomorrow Cubbies.

The Chicago Cubs came back to tie the series with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight as they won 7-3.  The Cubs weren’t always leading the game as they were down 2-3 until the bottom of the sixth inning when they pushed across three runs to take a 5-3 lead and went on to win 7-3.

Jason Marquis pitched a decent game as he lasted six innings allowing three earned runs on three walks, eight hits, and four strikeouts.  He did serve up a homerun to Pat Burrel in the sixth inning but other then that he worked himself out of jams when he needed too.

The Cubs bullpen pitched really well tonight.  Will Ohman, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry all seen action and they were all pretty good. Marmol struck out the side in the eigth inning with his deadly slider as he continues to be one of Lou’s best bullpen guys.

Everyone in the Cubs starting lineup had a hit in the game except Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot.  It was a suprise to see that Jason Kendall had two RBI’s in the game to lead the team.  Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Jacque Jones, and Mike Fontenot all had 1 RBI’s each as well.

The two teams will battle it out again tomorrow evening as it will be Jamie Moyer facing off against Rich Hill.  Game time is set for 7:05 central so make sure to tune in and watch the Cubbies go for their second straight win over the Phillies.

Cubs Blog

The Cubs have once again made a trade for a catcher hoping to get some offensive productivity from the catchers spot.  According to ESPN, the A’s will receive Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins from the Cubs for Jason Kendall.

Kendall was only hitting .226 in 80 games for the A’s this year.  I don’t like him at all. Give Soto a real chance before you go trading for Kendall.  Atleast they only had to give up Bowen and a Blevins to get this deal done. 

What do you all think of this trade?  Is Kendall the answer behind the plate for the Chicago Cubs in 2007?