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 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 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 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.

Wow, the Cubs were never even in the game hardly today against the Cincinnti Reds as the Reds came out of the gates with some big whoopin sticks.  The Reds hit four home runs off Jon Lieber in the second inning, and then two more home runs off of Sean Marshall in the fifth inning, and one more off of Sean Gallager in the sixth inning.

The pitchers didn’t even give the hitters a chance today as they put them into such a big hole to start off.  Yeah, the offense sucked as well in the game as they only recorded six total hits and didn’t even score one run.  Leaving twenty runners on base and striking out eleven time sure didn’t help the offense.

The Cubs will now off Thursday off which is a much needed off day if you ask me.  Let the bullepen get some more rest as they are probably going to have to be used quite a bit this weekend when the Arizona Dimaondbacks come into town for a weekend series.  The Cubs have a long homestand coming up, they really need to win 75% of these games to stay within striking distance of the St. Louis Cardinals who just keep on winning and winning.  Right now the Cubs are thre games behind the Cardinals in the standings.

So how will the Cubs do against the Diamondbacks?  I’m predicting that they will win one game out of the three game series.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

The Chicago Cubs were on the wrong side of a slugfest at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night as they lost to the rivals from the north 10-7.  The loss was the fourth in the five games for the Cubs who have hit a slump after coming out of the gates strong.

The Cubs could never get going as the Brewers scored in six of nine innings against the Cubs pitching staff.  Jason Marquis got the start on the mound and lasted five innings as he gave up ten hits and five runs.  Kevin Hart gave up three runs, Sean Marshall and Jon Leiber also gave up a earned run out of the bullpen.

The Cubs batters faced a wild Ben Sheets who walked seven batters but the Cubs couldn’t string together three or four hits in a row to take advantage of all those walks and put up a big number on the scoreboard.

Mike Fontenot did double with the bases loaded to pick up three RBI but that was about the Cubs only big hit that scored more then one run at a time.  Derrek Lee did connect for his eighth home run in the in the third inning and finished with that one RBI.  Reed Johnson, Felix Pie, and Marquis all had one RBI as well.

It is time the Cubs get back to winning some games, and they really need to pick up the win tomorrow when they face the Brewers once again.  You can’t keep dropping these divisional games and expect to win the division.

So will the Cubs get the win tomorrow?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

Talks are getting very serious again between the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles as the two teams try to work out a deal for Brian Roberts and possibly Jay Payton.

Roberts and Payton would be sent to Chicago for a package deal of Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher, Ronny Cedeno and Matt Murton possibly.  I’d rather keep Marshall or Gallagher and throw in Jason Marquis into the deal but I don’t know if they Orioles would want to take on his contract.

Payton would be that right handed hitting outfielder that can play multiple positions that Cubs have been looking for, and they could finally land Roberts as well.  What do you think Cubs fans? Do you think this deal will get done?

Sorry I haven’t been able to get an update on the blog lately regarding spring training. I have been pretty busy the past week, but I’m here now, and ready to talk Cubs Baseball!

It was interesting to hear Lou Piniella say it would be a three person battle for the closers role as pitchers and catches reported.  Piniella mentioned Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Ryan Dempster would battle it out.  Make you think what is going on as Dempster is supposed to get a look as a starter as well.  Then out of nowhere yesterday, Piniella said that Bob Howry would be the closer if the season started today.  Lol, does anyone know what is going on with the closers role?!

I thought it was pretty funny that Carlos Zambrano was wearing Fukudome’s jersey as the Japanese reported to spring training.  After playing with Fukudome for a little bit, Big Z then gave him his jersey as they all had a good laugh.  Gotta love a little joking around to keep the players lose.

As far as the starting rotation, it looks like the Cubs will be going with something like this:

1.  Carlos Zamrano
2.  Ted Lilly
3.  Open
4.  Rich Hill
5.  Open

Piniella really wants to split up the lefthanders Lilly and Hill.  I would probably pencil in Jon Leiber or Jason Marquis into that #3 spot and then the other in the #5 spot.  Leaving out Sean Marshall unless Piniella wants to have back to back lefties in the #4 and #5 spots.

How do you all feel with the pitchers?  What is the best rotation Lou can set up?  What is the best option for closer at this point?  Leave us a comment and let us know your opinion!

The Cubs continued their recent home success with their 3rd straight win, a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday. Despite 2 rain delays, they got 9 innings in. The Cubs scored all 5 of their runs in the 3rd to take a 5-0 lead. Derrek Lee, who went 3-4 started it with an RBI single and Daryle Ward hit his first HR has a Cub, a grandslam to the left center field bleachers. Solo homers for St. Louis by Juan Encarnacion, Brendan Ryan, and Albert Pujols weren’t enough to overcome Sean Marshall who got his 6th win. Anthony Reyes got the loss and Ryan Dempster converted his 2nd straight save. The Cubs and Cards play game 3 of the 4 game set on ESPN’s Sunday Night baseball at 7:05 CT.

The Chicago Cubs are going to need to start hitting the ball and scoring some runs if they plan on making the playoffs this year.  You cannot go into Houston and only score three runs in the first two ball games of the series and expect to come out with wins.

The Cubs were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Monday in a 2-1 loss to Houston. They were 0-for-10 in those situations again Tuesday.  Jim Hendry is said to have been on the phone the past two days trying to find a outfielder that can hit the ball and acquire them through the waver wire.  I don’t know if he will be successful, but the Cubs need another bat for the playoff run.

Sean Marshall took the loss last night, serving up five runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings.  He didn’t throw the ball to bad, just needs to get some quicker outs and not throw so many pitches.

The Cubs did make a roster move before yesterdays game as Will Ohman was sent to the Triple A roster, and Sean Gallagher was recalled from Iowa.  Ohman says his shoulder has been bothering him lately and he will be getting it looked at by a doctor in Chicago.  I have to ask why this wasn’t done before?  Why keep putting him out there to pitch if his shoulder is acting up?

Atleast the Brewers lost last night as well so the Cubs still remain 1 game back in the division.  Carlos Zambrano will pitch tonight against the Astros and Roy Oswalt.  The Cubs are going to have to get to Oswalt early in the game or it is going to be another bad game I think.