The Chicago Cubs stayed hot as they opened up a three game road trip in Pittsburgh. The Cubs bats were smoking hot as they clobbered the Pirates by the score of 12-3. With the Cardinals and Brewers both off, the Cubs are now up a full five games in the division!

Kosukue Fukudome led the Cubs with four rbi as he went 3-4 in the game. The four rbi was a career high in a game for Fukudome in a Cubs uniform. Aramis Ramirez also stayed hot has he clubbed a three run home run to finish the game with three rbi. The Cubs also got single rbi’s from Derrek Lee, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, and Ted Lilly. It was a huge performance out of the Cubs offense as they swung the bats very well and never really let the Pirates in the game.

Ted Lilly one his 13th game of the year as he tossed seven innings. He did allow two home runs which scored all three runs but there was plenty of run support to help him out. Bob Howry and Kerry Wood threw the last two innings of the game and both pitched scoreless innings.

So now the Cubs are up a full five games in the standings and are 31 games over .500! Wow, I didn’t think I would ever be able to say that the Cubs are 31 games over .500 lol. It is a good time to be a Cubs fan that is for sure!

Go Cubbies!

The Chicago Cubs finished up a day - night double header against the Atlanta Braves with a 8-0 win in the night cap.  Earlier in the day the Cubs crushed the Braves 10-2.  It was the first time since 1992 where the Cubs swept both games of a double header.  Chicago now has won seven straight road games for the first time since June 12-22, 2004, and is 26 games over .500 at 73-47 for the first time since the team finished the 1984 season 31 games up at 96-65.  The Cubs are also up 3.5 games on the Brewers in the division.

Rich Harden picked up his second win with the Cubs and is now 2-1 as he tossed five innings and only allowed two hits.  Harden did work out of a couple of jams and his pitch count was getting up around 90 so he was taken out after five innings.  The Cubs are being very cautious with Harden and if he can give them five or six innings everytime out there they will be happy with that.  Chad Gaudin, Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood, and Neal Cotts all threw one inning of relief out of the bullpen.  Cotts was the only reliever to give up a hit as the entire pitching staff limited the Braves to only three hits.

Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome led the team with two rbi’s each.  Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Jim Edmonds, and Mike Fontenot all chipped in with one rbi as well.  It was a big combined effort at the plate as the Cubs plated eight runs in the game.  The bats jumped all over the Braves pitchings from the get go and put a lot of pressure on the Braves bullpen.  I look for the bats to continue scoring runs and the Cubs to win again on Thursday night.

Now can we just start seeing the Brewers lose some games!?

The Cubs got things started off nicely with a 10-2 victory in the first game of two against the Atlanta Braves.  After last nights game was rained out, the Cubs came out of the gates and swung the bats very good while knocking out the Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton out of the game after only 2 1/3 innings.  The Braves bullpen had to throw a lot of pitches so I really like the teams chances of sweeping the double header.

Geovany Soto and Jim Edmonds had a great game at the plate.  Soto had a two run double and a two run home run to finish the game 3-4 with four rbi.  Edmonds had a two run home run and a rbi double to finish with three rbi.  Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot, and Mark Derosa all added one rbi each as well.

Jason Marquis threw a lot of pitches as he worked out of multiple jams but lasted 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win.  Marquis is now 8-7 on the year with a 4.67 era.  Neal Cotts finished up the sixth inning after Marquis exited the game and then Jeff Samardzija pitched the seventh and eighth innings.  Bob Howry finished things up with a scoreless inning in the ninth.

The Cubs should be setup nicely for the second game of the double header as Rich Harden will start the game.  The Cubs still have Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol in the bullpen as well.  Hopefully we see a double header sweep of the Braves and then a Padres win over the Brewers!

GO CUBS!!

What a way to kick off an exciting weekend of baseball between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals!  The Cubs and Cards played extra innings and it was the Cubs coming out on top with a 3-2 victory in 11 innings on Friday afternoon.  Great pitching and timely hitting for the Cubs was what pushed them over the top.

Jim Edmonds, playing against his former team had two solo home runs to lead the Cubs with two rbi.  Edmonds went deep in the second and seventh innings of the game.  Without Jimmy, the Cubs would have been shutout and lost the game.  Great game for Edmonds!

The game winning run in the 11th inning came off the bat of Henry Blanco who was hitting with zero outs and the bases loaded.  Blanco signled to left field and Derrek Lee scored the winning run.  Lee started the inning off with a walk and then moved to third base on a single by Aramis Ramirez.  Cardinals pitcher Ryan Franklin then walked Kosuke Fukudome to load the bases before Blanco’s game winning hit.

On the mound it was Bob Howry picking up the win to improve his record to  5-4.  Howry looked pretty good in his one inning of action as he threw a lot more breaking balls early in the count then he has been.  Great to see Howry out there throwing the ball like he is capable of.

Jeff Samardzija allowed one hit in two innings as he did a great job as well.  Jeff has really been throwing the ball well and Lou has a lot of confidence in him right now.  Ted Lilly pitched 7 1/3 innings before being taken out in the eighth inning for Carlos Marmol.  Marmol finished up the eighth inning by recording the final two outs.

The Cubs and Cards will battle it out Saturday afternoon in the second game of the series.  The game will be shown on FOX so make sure you tune if you can’t make it to the game. I’ll be sitting out in the bleachers with my wife and I can’t wait!

Wow!  The Chicago Cubs beat up on the Milwaukee Brewers once again and completed a four game sweep of the Brewers up in Milwaukee.  The Cubs got great pitching from Rich Harden and great hitting in the game as they won 11-4.  The Cubs are now five games up on the Brewers in the division!

Harden threw seven innings to get his first win with the Cubs.  Harden allowed six hits and one run while striking out nine batters.  His only mistake was to Prince Fielder who hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.  Other then that one mistake, Harden was wheeling and dealing all game long.  Bob Howry tossed a scoreless inning in the eighth inning and then Scott Eyre was charged with three runs in the ninth inning.  Yeah you read that right, Howry threw a scoreless inning!  Eyre continues to struggle as he just isn’t getting used that much anymore.  He needs to get into a good rythum but I don’t think Lou has very much confidence in him right now.

The offense was led by Jim Edmonds who had two home runs and five rbi.  Edmonds first hit a solo home run in the third inning, and then added a grand slam in the fourth inning.  Kosuke Fukudome added a two run home run while Alfonso Soriano also had a solo shot.  Mike Fontenot had two rbi in a pitch hitters role and Aramis Ramirez added a rbi as well.

Overall it was a great series for the Cubs as they pretty much crushed the brew crew in every game.  The Cubs will now welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates into town for a afternoon game on Friday.  Hopefully the Cubs keep playing good and we can get another sweep and extend the lead in the division!

GO CUBS GO!

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.

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 defeated the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night by the score of 6-5 after Mike Fontenot hit the game winning home run in the top off the eighth inning off Giants reliever Tyler Walker.  Fontenot came up big for the Cubs as the Giants had just tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Giants were able to tie the game up when Ray Durham hit a three run home run off of Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol.  I don’t know what is going on with Marmol but I sure hope it is all mental and nothing physical is wrong.  Marmol just hasn’t been the same the last two weeks or so.  Even though Marmol gave up the three run homer, he ended up getting the win in the game and is now 2-3.

Kerry Wood was finally back in the game and in the spot where he could get the save for the Cubs.  Woody gave up one hit but struck out two batters and nothced his 21st save of the year.  Wood has had a great year so far in the closers role.

Ryan Dempster pitched a quality start for the Cubs as he lasted six innings.  Dempster gave up a two run homer to John Bowker but that was really his only mistake in the game where he gave up five hits and two runs while striking out seven.  Even with the quality start, Dempster is still winless on the road this season.

Jim Edmonds swung the bat good once again as he had a two run home run in the sixth inning.  Geovany Soto added two runs on a rbi single in the seventh inning for the Cubs.  Matt Murton got the Cubs scoring going in the second inning when he grounded into a double play and Edmonds scored.  Of course Fontenot also had one rbi in the game with his game winning home run.

The Cubs will now send Sean Gallager to the mound on Thursday as the Cubs and Giants will battle it out once again before the Cubs fly to St. Louis for a big weekend series.

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 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.