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.

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!

This weekend wasn’t the way the Cubs wanted to close out their homestand as they dropped the final two games of the three game series to the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Poor hitting this weekend was the main cause for losses but I will take the 7-3 homestand.  We should all be happy with that as Derrek Lee missed the last 5 games and will be back on Tuesday night as they Cubs and Cardinals begin a series in St. Louis.

Sean Marshall was the tough luck loser today as he threw six innings allowing one earned run while he took the loss.  In Marshall’s 12 career losses, he has only got 12 runs in support.  Talk about tough pitching luck.

Lets hope that the Cubs offense will heat up on Tuesday night against the Cardinals and we can keep in pace with the Brewers and the wild card.  Carlos Zambrano will start Tuesday night against Kip Wells.  Go get em Big Z! 

It wasn’t the night that the Chicago Cubs bullpen was hoping for as they walked in a run, and then allowed another run in the eigth inning in a infield single to give the Giants the the lead for good.  The Cubs were not able to come back in the bottom of the eigth or the ninth and the Giants tied the series at 1-1.

Sean Marshall pitched a good game as he went six innings allowing five hits, two earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts.  It’s too bad that the offense couldn’t score more runs and get him the win tonight.

Carlos Marmol, Will Ohman, and Michael Wuertz all faltered in the eigth inning.  Marmol pitched 1.1 innings and allowed two earned runs while picking up the lose.  After Ohman replaced Marmol, he got Barry Bonds to fly out to Alfonso Soriano in left, and then preceded too walk the next to batters.   Wuertz then came in and allowed an infield single to Omar Vizquel that gave the Giants a 4-2 lead.

On the offensive side of the ball, or lack there of,  the Cubs got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Ryan Theriot doubled down the leftfield line and then scored on a sacrafice bunt by Mike Fontenot.  Fontenot reached base as Rich Aurilia was not able to control the throw from Benji Molina and Theriot came around give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.  Derrek Lee hit his eigth homerun of the year in the sixth inning that tied the game at 2-2.

Lets hope that the Cubs offense can turn it around tomorrow as they take on the Giants again at 1:20.

The Cubs continue to play good baseball for the most part and once again won another series as they beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 tonight.  With the win, the Cubs won three of four games in the nations capital and moved within 5 games of the Milwaukee Brewers for the lead in the Central Division.

Sean Marshall started for the Cubs and was able to go 5.1 innings while allowing two earned runs.  He was a bit wild with the walks as he gave out four free passes and five hits.  Luckily for Marshall and the Cubs, the Nationals were able to do much except for a triple by Dimitri Young and a sac fly by Austin Kearns in the sixth inning.

Will Ohman, Michael Wuertz, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry shut down the Nationals the rest of the game.  The Nationals were only able to get two hits off Marmol while they were shut out by the other three pitchers.

Daryle Ward who filled in for Derrek Lee at first base went 2-4 with two RBI’s.  Once Lee starts to serve his suspension, hopefully Ward will be able to do the same thing every night and play good defenese as well.

Mike Fontenot and Jacque Jones also had a pretty good night at the plate. Fontenot went 3-5 and an RBI while Jones went 2-4.  It was really nice to see Jacque get a couple basehits early in the ballgame.  We can only hope that it gives him a little confidence at the plate with Piniella decides to play him.

The Cubs will now travel to Pittsburgh to begin a three game series with the Pirates.  These three games are huge as the Brewers will now be taking on the Nationals.  The Brewers didn’t play good in Pittsburgh so I expect them to do pretty good against the Nationals.  Cubs need to atleast take 2 of 3 against the Pirates if not sweep them!

The Cubs are playing some hot baseball right now and Cubs Tickets are on fire!  Home and away games, Cubs fans are packing the stadiums and raising the prices for tickets.  Make sure to get the Cubs Tickets you want at a great price at StubHub!

The Cubs seven game winning streak was snapped today against the Milwaukee Brewers and it was a big old woodshack beating.  Sean Marshall only lasted two innings giving up seven runs on seven hits.  The Brewers just hit the ball all over the ballpark and they were hard hit balls as well.

Lou Piniella pretty much pulled the main starters after the fifth inning to get them a little bit of a rest before tomorrows game.  It was 9-2 at that point so I have no problem with Lee, Ramirez, and Soriano being pulled out of the lineup.

Tomorrow is another day for the Cubs and Brewers.  It will be Dave Bush against Jason Marquis at 1:20 central time.  Lets go win this game and take the series against the Brew Crew!

Also today, the Cubs sent Billy Petrick to Triple A and called up Rocky Cherry so they could have a fresh arm in the bullpen.

What a great series for the Chicago Cubs this weekend as they swept the South Side Rivals in a three game series.  Great starting pitching and great bullpen pitching equals wins and that is what this series was all about.

Sean Marshall threw 6 scoreless innings for the Cubs and only gave up five hits.  He had three strikeouts and only one walk so that was good as well.  Carlos Marmol, Will Ohman, and Bob Howry completed the last 3 innings of the ballgame.  Howry picked up another save as he is filling in for Ryan Dempster who is still taking a few games off to hear a injury.

Alfonso Soriano stayed hot as he hit his 15th homerun of the season in the seventh inning.  We need Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez to start hitting some bombs and this team can really start putting up the runs.  It is nice to see them getting basehits no doubt, but we are going to need more homeruns for Lee to really help out the team.

The Cubs will now start a series with the Colorado Rockies Monday night at Wrigley Field.  The Rockies were just one-hit in Toronto and were also swept in the three game series.  Lets get another series win and hopefully a sweep as we make a push towards the Milwaukee Brewers!

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