Yay, the Cubs are back in the win column!  The Cubs avoided a three game sweep down in Arizona by beating the Diamondbacks 10-6 on Wednesday night.  The Cubs had their leadoff man Alfonso Soriano back in the lineup, Derrek Lee hit a home run, Reed Johnson hit a grand slam, and Ted Lilly won his 10th game of the year!  Yeah, all that happened in last nights game!

The Cubs blew the game wide open in the 8th inning when Geovany Soto singled in Ryan Theriot, then with the bases loaded Mark DeRosa walked.  Leo Rosales then came into the game in relief of Micah Owings and Reed Johnson welcomed Rosales with a grand slam to right center field.  It appeard that a fan might have helped the ball get over the fence but the umpires all met and kept the call as a home run.

It was nice to see Lee hit a ball in the air and over the fence as he hit a home run in the first inning.  Lee has really been struggling while hitting into a lot of double plays.  Soriano made his return and went 1-5 while picking up one rbi.  Ryan Theriot also had one rbi in the game as did Lilly.  Soriano,’s Theriot’s, and Lilly’s rbi’s all came in the 5th inning when the Cubs scored three runs.

On the mound Lilly tossed six innings to pick up his 10th win of the season.  He allowed six hits and three runs in the game.  Tony Clark hit a two run home run in the 4th inning and then Conor Jackson had a rbi single in the 5th off of him.   Neal Cotts and Carlos Marmol both threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen.  However, once again Bob Howry had to give up runs.  He pitched the eighth inning and gave up a three run home run to Chris Snyder.  Right now I don’t have a lot of trust in Howry.  No way can I trust him and put him a tie or one run game.

The Cubs will now head back to Chicago and begin a four game series with the visiting Florida Marlins on Thursday evening.  Carlos Zambrano will take the mound for the Cubs as he hopes to get back on the winning ways and pick up his 11th win of the season.

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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.

Wow, what another exciting win for the Cubbies as they beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Friday afternoon at Wrigley.  The game was tied 0-0 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning and then Aramis Ramirez unloaded a bomb that curved around the left field foul pole for a three run home run.  Once again it was A-Ram being the player of the game for the Cubs.

The hitters knew they had to score some runs because the pitching staff threw the ball so well.  Jason Marquis tossed the first seven innings of the game as he battled against Matt Cain.  Marquis only gave up three hits as the threw the ball the best he has all season long.  Bob Howry tossed a scoreless inning in the eighth and then closer Kerry Wood was called on.  Wood did have some trouble after Mark DeRosa couldn’t come up with a tough catch in left field as he allowed one run and gave the Giants the chance to score the tying runs as they had the tying runs on base.  Wood was able to get the job done however and pick up his 24th save of the season.

Now lets sit back and hope the Brewers and Cardinals both lose.  Enjoy you Friday night and see you all back here on Saturday afternoon!

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 finished up a three game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday with a 7-1 victory.  The Cubs took two out of three games from the Cardinals in St. Louis and extended their lead to 3.5 games over the Cardinals and Brewers.  Yeah, if Wood wouldn’t have blown the game on Saturday, the Cubs would have swept but I’ll take two out of three games on the road any time against the Cardinals.

Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Reed Johnson, and Geovany Soto all had good games on Sunday for the Cubs.  Ramirez finished the game with three rbi, while Lee, Soto, and Mark DeRosa all had one rbi.  Eveyone at the plate did a pretty good job over the weekend and that was really nice to see.

Sean Marshall earned his first victory of the season and is now 1-2.  Marshall tossed six innings while giving up six hits and one run.  It was also awesome to see Carlos Marmol throw a scoreless inning in the eighth as he got back on track and threw some strikes.

The Cubs are now off on Monday and will pick things back up on Tuesday when they start a series with the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.  Will the Cubs stay hot in Chicago and extend their lead over the Cardinals and Brewers?

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 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 White Sox returned the favor to the Chicago Cubs as they south siders pulled away late to beat the Cubs 5-1 and sweep the Cubs in the three game series.  It wasn’t how I pictured the weekend going for the Cubs, but the White Sox bullpen held up all weekend and the Cubs bullpen did not.

Sunday night we say manager Lou Piniella get thrown out of the game after arguing a check swing call that went against the Cubs in the bottom of the second inning.  Piniella rushed out of the dugout towards the first base dugout and was quickly told to stop and get back in the dugout and as he was walking back was thrown out of the game by the home play umpire.  Lou got some words in with him as well.  From what I understood during the telecast last night, both the first base and home plate umpires were called up from the minor leagues for the series.

Sean Marshall pitched pretty good but took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season.  Marshall gave up two home runs, five hits, and three runs over seven innings of action.  Jose Ascanio gave up another home run (two run shot) in the eighth inning as the Jim Thome took him deep to extend the White Sox lead by 4.

The Cubs had chances to score runs in the game but once again failed to come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position.  Only one run for this Cubs offense is pretty bad.  Ronny Cedeno provided the one rbi for the Cubs when he singled in the seventh inning and Mark DeRosa scored.  Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez went a combined 0-11 in the game.

The Cubs boarded a plane right after the game and flew out to California where they will begin a series with the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. Yay more night games on the West coast.  I really hate these late games.

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 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?