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 are sending a total of seven players to the 2008 All Star game in New York City.  Kosuke Fukudome, Alfonso Soriano, and Geovany Soto will all be starters in the game.  Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, and Kerry Wood were all named reserves.

The seven All-Stars is a franchise record. The Cubs have had six, most recently in 1988, when Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston, Vance Law, Greg Maddux, Rafael Palmeiro and Ryne Sandberg were all named.

We cannot forget that manager Lou Piniella will also be a coach on the team.

Congrats to everyone, and good job by all the Cubs fans voting for for the players!

Carlos Zambrano came off the 15 day disabled list at the right time as he pitched six innings and the Chicago Cubs defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1.  Zambrano was on a pitch count of 90 and he threw 87 pitches before being pulled.  Big Z said that he could have went one or two more innings but he appreciates the way the coaching staff handled the situation.

Kosuke Fukudome got the Cubs started in the first inning when he hit a solo home run to put the Cubs up 1-0.  Geovany Soto then hit his 14th home run of the season in the fourth inning to make it 2-0 in favor of the Cubs.

Kerry Wood pitched the ninth inning to get his 22nd save of the season and the Cubs are now up 3.5 games on the Cardinals in the division.

I sure hope that Aramis Ramirez can come out of his slump on Saturday afternoon as the two teams play once again on Saturday afternoon.  Ramirez is in an 0-for-22 slump his last six games.

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 got a great pitching performance out of Ted Lilly who threw his best game of the year and then a great performance out of Mark DeRosa at the plate as they beat the San Francisco Giants by the score of 9-2.  It was a great win for the Cubs who really kept the pressure on the Giants all game long with runners getting on base.  The Cubs could have made the score a lot worse then it was in my opinion but they left 24 runners on base against Barry Zito and the Giants bullpen.

Lilly pitched into the ninth inning until he ran into some problems and the Cubs had to call on Kerry Wood.  Wood then gave up a double that scored two runs (both runs were charged to Lilly), and walked a batter before finally ended the game with a fly out to center field.  Lilly improved to 9-5 with the victory as he threw the ball very good.

DeRosa was filling in for some big shoes at third base and he filled those shoes with out any problems.  DeRosa was playing third base for Aramis Ramirez who will miss the Giants series as he takes care of an emergency down in the Dominican Republic.  DeRosa hit a two run home run in the fifth inning that traveled over 410 feet and then added a grand slam in the eighth inning to really blow the game wide open.  DeRosa finished with six rbi in the game and was the Cubs MVP at the plate.

Matt Murton got the start out in left field and went 2-4 with a two run double in the third inning.  I’d like to see Murton get some more playing time out there and I know a lot of other Cubs fans do as well.  Kosuke Fukudome also added a rbi single in the game for the Cubs.  Besides leaving 24 runners on base, the Cubs did a really job at the plate on Monday night.

Jason Marquis will now take the mound on Tuesday night as the Cubs try to win their second straight road game.  He will face off against Matt Cain who will pitch for the Giants.

The Chicago Cubs got right back in the win column on Wednesday night as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 7-4.  The Cubs jumped out to a 6-2 lead after the second inning and never looked back.  The wind was blowing out but the Cubs didn’t take advantage of it with any moster home runs like the Orioles did.

Ted Lilly picked up the victory even though he didn’t pitch that great.  I will give Lilly credit as he battled all seven innings that he pitched.  Lilly gave up two two-run home runs to Jay Payton who has always hit Lilly hard.  Lilly is now 8-5 on the season and has been pitching well enough to get wins and that is all we can ask for out of the crafty left hander.

Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were lights out in the eighth and ninth innings.  They struck out the final five batters of the game.  Wood fanned all three batters he seen with swinging strike outs to close out the game.  Wood now has 20 saves on the season.

Geovany Soto had a good game at the plate for the Cubs as he led the team with three rbi.  Soto had a two run single in the first inning and then a rbi single in the second inning.  Jim Edmonds stayed hot as he had a solo home run and then another rbi on a groundout.  Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa both had a rbi in the game as well.

It was a weird lineup for the Cubs as it was changed around a couple of times before the game started.  Kosuke Fukudome was scratched due to a calf strain so Mark DeRosa moved around on the scorecard and finally settled in right field.  Eric Patterson started in left field and led of while Mike Fontenot got the start at second base.  Fukudome is day-to-day and I wouldn’t be suprised if he takes off Thursday’s game as well.

Well it was another win for the Cubs so all we can say is Go Cubs Go!

The Cubs seem unbeatable at home. Victories over the cross town White Sox finished off the 3 game sweep and marked the Cubs 14th straight home win. Saturday’s game was all about the 4th inning. The Cubs got 9 runs to turn a 4-1 defecit into a 10-4 lead. Jim Edmonds was the front end of a back to back homerun coupling with Mike Fontenot and then the back end of one with Aramis Ramirez later in the 4th. Jason Marquis didn’t pitch great, but the offense got him the win. Jose Contreras picked up the loss and Kerry Wood nailed down the save in the 11-7 victory.

Sunday night was all about Aramis Ramirez once again. He went 2-4 with a solo homerun and an RBI double. Eric Patterson also hit his first major league homerun, a 2 run blast in the 5th. Derrek Lee added a couple of RBI as Ryan Dempster went 8 strong for his 9th straight home victory in a 7-1 win. Next up for the Cubs, a 3 game set at Wrigley with the Baltimore Orioles, starting Tuesday night.

Wow, what an ending to the first game of the series against the cross town rivals Chicago White Sox!  The Cubs battled back with back to back home runs by Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez in the seventh inning off of Octavio Dotel and then Ramirez came right back with another solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off of White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink.  Ramirez came up huge after having a very bad series down in Tampa Bay.

Whew, I’m not sure what to blog about lol I’m still excited about the ending to the game.  Ted Lilly pitched decent and kept the team in the game.  Lilly lasted 6 2/3 innings while giving up all three runs to the White Sox.  All three runs came via two home runs that were hit off of Lilly.

Kerry Wood picked up the win as he pitched the top of the ninth inning. Woody is now 4-1 on the season.  Bob Howry tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings between Lilly and Wood.  Great job by the pitchers as they kept the team in it until the bats finally woke up.

Now that that Cubs have won the first game of the series, how do you see the second game going on Saturday afternoon?  It will be Jason Marquis taking the mound against White Sox starter Jose Contreras.  Leave us a comment Cubs fans and let us know what you think!

GO CUBS!

Wow, what a comeback for the Chicago Cubs as they beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Thursday in 11 innings.  Jim Edmonds hit the game tying home run in the ninth inning and then the Cubs loaded the bases in the 11th inning and Reed Johnson was hit by the first pitch that was thrown to him to score the winning run for the Cubs.

It was a pitching duel pretty much the entire game as Carlos Zambrano and Tim Hudson faced off.  Both pitchers ended up getting a no decision.  Zambrano threw seven innings and really only made one mistake.  He served up a two run home run to Jeff Francoeur in the second inning but other then that the Cubs pitchers all did a great job.

Scott Eyre, Carlos Marmol, Neal Cotts, and Kerry Wood all pitched out of the bullpen without allowing a run score.  Wood got the win for the Cubs as he pitched the 11th inning and he is now 3-1.

Good win for the Cubs as they swept the Braves in the three game series.  It will be interesting to see how they handle the D.H. situation up in Toronto this weekend as they take on the Blue Jays in a three game series.

How do you think the Cubs will do this weekend against the Blue Jays?

The Chicago Cubs salvaged a split in the four game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers as they were able to come away with a 3-1 victory on Sunday night. Mark DeRosa went 3-4 with two rbi and Jason Marquis tosseed 6 1/3 while only giving up three base hits.

DeRosa got the scoring started for the Cubs with a solo home run in the first inning and then had a rbi single in the fifth inning.  Marquis pitched very good which was actually kind of suprising.  Marquis improved to 4-3 with the victory.  Kerry Wood notched his 18th save has he was lights out in the ninth inning and shut the Dodgers down 1-2-3.

Good road trip for the Cubs even though they struggled through most of it.  Coming away with four wins and three losses is decent on the road.  Now they will head back to Chicago to take on the Atlanta Braves in a three game series on Tuesday.