The Chicago Cubs four game win streak is no more as they were beaten by the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.  Jason Marquis gave up four runs in the fourth inning and the Padres beat the Cubs 4-3 on a rainy night at Wrigley Field.

Now comes the question once again if Marquis will make his next start.  Marquis seems to pitch a few good innings but then give up three or four runs in the next inning.  You can’t do that if you want to keep your team in the game.  Marquis has struggled pretty much all season long and he now has a 1-3 record with a 5.26 era on the season.

I would like to give some props to Michael Wuertz though.  Wuertz had a great effort tonight as he pitched the final three innings of the game and only allowed one hit.  That is a great job, and he did everything he had to do to keep the Cubs in the game.

The offense just wasn’t able to come back and score a run late in the game.  Hell, they didn’t score a run after the second inning of the game.  Alfonso Soriano got the Cubs on track with a lead off home run which was his fifth of the season.  Reed Johnson then had a two run double to deep right-center field that scored Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa.

Look for the Cubs to have some trouble tomorrow night as well as they have to face off against Jake Peavy.  Ted Lilly will take the mound for the Cubs as they hope to start another winning streak.

The Chicago Cubs got a little bit of revenge this weekend as they finished off a three game sweep of the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.  The last time the two teams played, it was the Diamondbacks sweeping the Cubs in the playoffs.

The Cubs were out of it on Sunday until the seventh inning when Reed Johnson hit a two run home run to tie the game at 4-4.  In the eighth inning, Daryle Ward came to the plate with the bases loaded and doubled to right-center field scoring two runs.  Earlier in the game Derrek Lee hit his tenth home run of the season as well.

Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano was scratched from his start due to the wet conditions and the fact that the game started about an hour late.  Instead it was Sean Gallagher making the start.  Gallagher tossed 4 1/3 innings while he gave up five hits and four runs.

Chad Fox, Michael Wuertz, Carlos Marmol, and Kerry Wood all pitched in relief and no one gave up a hit!  The bullpen pitched awesome as Marmol picked up the win and Wood picked up the save.  Just like it should be every game, Marmol and Wood closing the game in the eighth and ninth innings!

The Cubs will now welcome in the San Diego Padres for a four game series starting Monday night.  The first three games of the series will be a night so Wrigleyville is going to be buzzing into the late hours.

The Chicago Cubs back on the winning track just like I figured they would.  The Cubs shutout the Washington Nationals on Saturday night by the score of 7-0.  Carlos Zambrano went deep into the game just like manager Lou Piniella wanted.

Zambrano tossed seven innings while striking out five batters and walking four.  Zambrano lowered his ERA to 2.21 with the seven scoreless innings.  Zambrano is now 4-1 on the season.  A much better start for Big Z then last season.

Michael Wuertz and Jon Leiber pitched the final two innings and pitched very well.

Derrek Lee led the Cubbies at the plate as he went 2-3 with three RBI.  Aramis Ramirez also had two RBI’s that came off a double in the eighth inning.  One player that struggled at the plate was catcher Geovany Soto who struckout five times, and everytime it was against a different Nationals pitcher.  I wonder if Soto gets the day off on Sunday to get a day of rest?

Ted Lilly will try to win the series for the Cubs on Sunday.  Hopefully he will do it and the Cubs will pick up another win.

Michael Wuertz and the Chicago Cubs avoided salary arbitration on Monday as they both agreed on a new one year contract.  Wuertz was hoping for $900,00+ and he settled for $860,000 from the Cubs for the 2008 season.

Pretty good deal for both parties involved I think.  Wuertz is a good innings eater out of the bullpen.  Hopefully he will have a little better control in 08 however, and puts away batters instead of wasting so many pitches and end up walking them.

Cubs Transactions

Carlos Zambrano pitched six great innings before leaving the game with some cramps as the Cubs won 10 of their last 12 games.  With Sundays win, the Cubs are now ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers 3.5 games and the magic number is 4!

Zambrano won his 17th game of the year as he only allowed three hits during his six inning outing.  Zambrano has now won his last three of four starts and is pitching like the “ace”.

Kerry Wood pitched two scoreless innings and Michael Wuertz struck out the side in the 9th inning.  Great performances by both relivers!

Derrek Lee and Ronny Cedeno both hit homeruns for the offense.  Lee connected in the 6th inning and Cedeno in the 7th inning.  Both players also had three RBI’s in the game.  Mark DeRosa and Geovany Soto both had a RBI as well.

The Cubbies will have a off day tomorrow as they travel to Florida to start a series with the Marlins.  With the magic number at 4, I would love to get this taken care of while we are in Florida!

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It was a crazy night at Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubsscored three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 and stay one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the Central Division.

Mark DeRosa had the game winning hit against a 5 man infield that scored Sam Fuldfrom third base.  Fuld was pitch running for Aramis Ramirez who had tripled to deep center field.  Ramirez’s tripled plated Derrek Leeand Ryan Theriotwho led off the inning with a walk and then a single.

DeRosa finished the game going 5-5 including a solo homerun in the 3rd inning.  Cliff Floyd connected for a homerun in the 2nd inning as well.  Jacque Jones had the other RBI for the Cubs when he singled in the 5th inning scoring Lee.

Rich Hill started the game for the Cubs and he struggled in his 4.2 innings.  Hill gave up four earned runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts.  He had a few balls that could have been strikes that would have really helped but his curve ball wasn’t always being called for a strike.

Michael Wuertzpitched one inning and allowed another two earned runs.  Once Wuertz was done sucking it up, Scott Eyre, Kevin Hart, and Will Ohman came in to hold the Reds to six runs.  Hart pitched two scoreless innings and that was awesome to see.  The young guy has to be full of confidence after how he threw the ball tonight.

With the 7-6 win, the Cubs remain one game ahead of the Brewers who defeated the Houston Astros 6-0.  It will be crucial for the Cubs to keep on winning as the Brewers will be facing rookie pitchers the next two games against the Astros.

Sean Marshall through six strong innings last night and then Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry, Michael Wuertz, and Ryan Dempster finished off the game as the Cubs extended their Central Division lead to 1.5 games over the Brewers.

Marshall really only had one bad pitch and that was a first pitch fastball that he through the the Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings who hit it into the left field seats for a homerun.  Other then that Marshall was pretty dominate as the Diamondback hitters were aggressive all night and popped a lot of balls up.

The Cubs offense got off to a really good start as they were able to push across two runs in the top of the first.  Derrek Lee singled that brough in Ryan Theriot and then Mark DeRosa singled which scored Lee.  The Cubs would not score again until the sixth inning when Aramis Ramirez hit a sac fly that plated Jacque Jones.  We should mention that Jones also went 4-5 on the night to continue his hot streak.

It was a big ninth inning that sealed the deal for the Cubs however.  They scored three insurance runs off a wild reliver who couldn’t find the strikezone, and when it was a strike, the ball got it hard.  DeRosa, Felix Pie, and Jason Kendall all scored in the ninth inning to make it a 6-1 game.  The D-backs did score once in the bottom of the inning but it was nearly enough.

The same two teams will face off Saturday night.  It will be Ted Lilly starting for the Cubs and Doug Davis starting for the Diamondbacks.  Lets win another one Cubbies!

Another poor game by the Chicago Cubs have they have now lost 4 games in a row after dropping the game last night to the Cincinnatti Reds 9-11.  It was two runs by the Reds in the top of the 8th inning that pushed them over the top.  The Cubs were unable to come back in their final six outs continued their losing streak.

It was a two run homer by Josh Hamilton off by Bob Howry that gave the Reds the lead for good.  It was and up and down for the Cubs.  The offense was there today, but the pitching just sucked.

Ted Lilly threw the first six innings of the game and stuggled as he allowed six earned runs on six hits with two of them being homeruns.  It’s good that Lilly lasted six innings, but cut down on those homeruns!

After Lilly, it really didn’t get much better.  Michael Wuertz and Howry both allowed two earned runs.  Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were the only relievers that didn’t not allow a run to score while they pitched.

Aramis Ramirez hit a solo homer, his second in as many games, Jason Kendall hit a two-run shot, his first homer for the Cubs, and Jacque Jones and Ryan Theriot each drove in two runs in the loss.  But it wasn’t enough since the Cubs pitching staff sucked…

The Cubs better get playing better baseball or they are going to find themeselves in third place in the Central Division as the St. Louis Cardinals are red hot and only 3.5 games back of the division leading Brewers.  The Cubs and Cardinals begin a four game series this Friday in Chicago.  They better win, as we have came half way across the country to watch the games on Friday and Saturday!

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?

The Cubs were playing come from behind all day long and quite couldn’t take the lead for the Phillies in the 8th inning, and then the Phillies pushed across three insurance runs in the top half of the ninth to defeat the Chicago Cubs 10-6.  The teams split the series at Wrigley Field, and the Cubs remain in first place of the Central Division by .01% over the Brewers who lost to the New York Mets.

We blogged earlier today that the starting pitchers needed to go farther into games, and today Sean Marshall only lasted 2.2 innings while giving up seven runs on nine hits.  He got hit, and got hit hard all day long.  With the short outing by Marshall, the Cubs once again had to go deep into their bullpen as they used four other pitchers the rest of the game.

Rocky Cherry, Scott Eyre, Michael Wuertz, and Will Ohman all threw out of the bullpen.  Everone threw very well except for Ohman who allowed three runs in the top of the 8th inning that gave the Phillies some insurance runs.

Alfonso Soriano went 3-5 on the day but did not have an RBI.  Those picking up RBI’s for the Cubs were Mike Fontenot with two, and Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Jacque Jones, and Matt Murton all chipping in with one RBI apeace.

The Cubs start a big series with the New York Mets tomorrow afternoon at Wrigley Field.  It will be Carlos Zambrano facing off against Orlando Hernandez.  I think the Cubs should do good off Hernandez who can get wild at times.  Lets start of the series the right way Cubbies!

The Cubs are playing some exciting baseball right now.  Do you have tickets for home or away games? If not you have got to order them through StubHub!  Where fans buy and sell tickets!