It wasn’t the outcome that the Cubs players were all hoping for as the American League beat the National League All Stars 4-3 in 15 innings.  Both teams had their chances to score in the late innings but it wasn’t until the 15th inning that the A.L. pushed across the winning run.

The Cubs players didn’t do badly in the game.  Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome both went 0-2 including a strikeout each.  Soto also allowed two runners to steal bases but he really didn’t have a good shot at either runner as they had huge leads.  Aramis Ramirez went 0-0 with a walk in the ninth inning.  He was then replaced by Cristian Guzman who pitch ran.  The Cubs pitchers did great as Carlos Zambrano threw two scoreless innings while Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol both pitched a scoreless inning each.

It was very funny watching Big Z throw a 96 MPH fastball to Manny Ramirez and then come back with his slow curve ball that went over the head of Manny.  Both players laughed it off and then Z was able to get him to ground out to second.  Dempster and Marmol struckout a combined five batters in their two innings of action.

Now if the Cubs do happen to make it far in the post season, they will not have home field advantage for the series.  That is the part that really sucks about losing the all star game.  What are your opinion on that?

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 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 Chicago Cubs were not able to extend their 14 home winning streak to game as the Baltimore Orioles got the better of them on Tuesday night.  The Cubs had their chances in the ninth inning as they loaded the bases with no outs but then it seemed the next three batters swung at everything in site and ended the came with three straigh strikeouts.

Ronny Cedeno, Kosuke Fukudome, and Henry Blanco all struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.  I don’t know why all three of them went up there swinging the bat like they were considering how George Sherrill was throwing the ball.  Make him throw some strikes before you go up there hacking like that.

Sean Marshall who was just called up from Triple A pitched 4 2/3 innings as he gave up seven hits and four runs in his return to the big league team.  Marshall started the game off strong but then started to fade in the fourth and fifth innings.  I don’t know if it was fatigue or what but he really lost control over the game in the fourth and fifth innings.

Michael Wuertz pitched one inning after Marshall left the game and he didn’t fare to good.  Wuertz gave up two hits and three runs in only one inning of action.  Neal Cotts, Jon Lieber, and Carlos Marmol pitched the rest of the game for the Cubs without allowing another run to score.  Marmol still didn’t look that good out there, hopefully get can figure out what is wrong and get it fixed soon.

Jim Edmonds had a three run home run in the seventh inning that made the score 7-4.  Edmonds led the team with three rbi.  In the eighth inning the Cubs scored two runs on a Aramis Ramirez single.  Fukudome also had a solo home run in the game as he scored the Cubs first run.

Hopefully the Cubbies can start a new home winning streak on Wednesday night as they will send Ted Lilly to the mound against the Baltimore Orioles.  GO CUBS GO, lets get back on the winning track!

I should also mention that Daryle Ward is back with the big league club and Micah Hoffpauir was sent back to Triple A.  Ward is expected to be the DH this weekend against the White Sox.

What a sour way to lose on Thursday night as Carlos Marmol and Scott Eyre pitched terribly in the seventh inning and the Chicago Cubs lost 8-3.  Yeah, the Cubs were ahead 3-1 heading in to the bottom of the seventh but two walks and two hit batters for Marmol led to Scott Eyre giving up a grand slam, triple, double, and sac fly before the inning was over.

It sucks to see both of them throw the ball so bad.  Was it because Marmol hadn’t been used for four days?  Was it just one of those nights where the Cubs weren’t meant to win?  Who knows but it sure sucked seeing them pitch like that and not be able to hold down the lead so Sean Gallagher could win.  Gallagher tossed six innings of four hit and one run baseball.  Great job by Gallagher, hopefully next time he will be able to get the win.

Kosuke Fukudome, Ryan Theriot, and Mike Fontenot all had a rbi for the Cubs.  Derrek Lee went 3-4 but struck out with runners in scoring position one time.  The Cubs really struggled at the plate in this series with the Rays.  Hopefully they can bounce back out of it as they taked on the White Sox Friday afternoon.

And what is up with the Cubs playing a night game in Tampa and then having to fly all the way back to Chicago and play an afternoon game against their rivals?  Shouldn’t the Cubs and Rays been playing in the afternoon so the Cubs would have had more time to get back to Chicago?  Talk about some weird scheduling.

Well we will be back this afternoon to blog about the Cubs and White Sox game.  I hope we can kick some white sox ass!

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The Chicago Cubs and Carlos Zambrano lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 5-4 on Wednesday night.  Zambrano was shaky all game long and actually came out of the game with some shoulder discomfirt in the sixth inning after he recorded two outs.  Hopefully it won’t be too bad, but you never know with a shoulder injury.

The Cubs had plenty of changes to score more runs in the game but they kept on leaving runners stranded on the bases.  Geovany Soto did hit a solo home run in the ninth inning but it wasn’t enough for the Cubs to come back.  Soto almost hit a home run earlier in the game as well but it bounced a foot below the fence and he slide into second with a double.

Ryan Theriot had two rbi’s for the Cubs and Kosukue Fukudome had one rbi.  Fukudome did strike out looking for the final out of the game though.  Theriot was on first base but Troy Percival was able to settle down and get the next three guys out.

One other thing that I have been wondering lately.  Where in the hell have Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee been the last two or three weeks?  It really seems that both players are slumping badly.

So now the Cubs have lost two games in a row to the Rays.  They have both been one run games that we have been accustomed to seeing the Cubs win but that wasn’t the case against the Rays.  The Cubs will try to avoid the sweep on Thursday night and then fly right back to Chicago for an afternoon game against the hated rivals Chicago White Sox.

The Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays played their first game against each other ever and it was the Rays taking the 1-0 series lead with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.  The Cubs offense struggled until the late innings when they attempted a comeback but they still came up short by one run.

Reed Johnson almost tied the game in the ninth inning when he bunted with Kosuke Fukudome on third base with two outs in the inning.  Johnson laid down a very good bunt however Evan Longoria was able to bare hand the ball and make a bouncing throw to first base where Willy Aybar was able to dig it and hold on for the third out.

Earlier in the ninth inning Mark DeRosa scored on a passed ball.  DeRosa singled with one out in the ninth inning and then moved to third base on a double by pitch hitter Fukudome.  Fukudome also had a chance to score on a passed ball but he choose to stay at third base as the ball bounced to the Rays catcher pretty quickly.

Neal Cotts took the loss for the Cubs and is now 0-1 on the season.  Cotts gave up a home run to Longoria and then a rbi single to Eric Hinske in the seventh inning.  Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster pitched the first five innings for the Cubs.  Dempster gave up six hits but only one run which came on a home run.

The Cubbies will try to get back on track on Wednesday as Big Z takes the mounds.  I like the Cubs chances at evening the series at 1-1.  What do you all think?