The Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves have made a trade!  The Cubs will be sending Omar Infante and Will Ohman to the Braves for reliver Jose Ascanio.  The 22-year-old Ascanio appeared in just 13 games for the Braves last season, going 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA.

I see this more as a move for clearing 40-man roster spots and getting rid of Ohman’s contract.  Anyone else have any opinions on this trade?  Leave a comment and let us know!

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.

Tom Glavine picked up his 300th career win tonight against the Chicago Cubs as the Mets won 8-3 and took two out of three games against the Cubs.  The Cubs got behind early and were never able to battle their way back into the lead.

The Cubs did make it a 5-3 game in the seventh inning but Will Ohman then allowed two earned runs in the top half of the 8th inning to give the Mets a 7-3 lead.  Ryan Dempster wasn’t much better then Ohman as he allowed an earned run in the 9th inning that pushed the Mets lead to five.

Kerry Wood did make his return to the Cubs as he pitched a scoreless inning while giving up one hit and recording one strikeout.  Wood got a standing ovation from the crowd, and anytime he had a batter with two strikes. It was really nice seeing Woody make his return tonight.  I just hope he stays healthy the rest of the season.

There isn’t much to write about for the offense tonight as they pretty much stunk it up.  It hurts even more that Alfonso Soriano injured his right quad and is listed as day-to-day right now.  I would be suprised if he doesn’t end up on the disabled list however.

The Cubs will be traveling tonight as they head to Houston to face the Astros in a three game series.  All the games will be at night this week so get your dinner early and sit down and watch the Cubbies!

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!

The Chicago Cubs came back to tie the series with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight as they won 7-3.  The Cubs weren’t always leading the game as they were down 2-3 until the bottom of the sixth inning when they pushed across three runs to take a 5-3 lead and went on to win 7-3.

Jason Marquis pitched a decent game as he lasted six innings allowing three earned runs on three walks, eight hits, and four strikeouts.  He did serve up a homerun to Pat Burrel in the sixth inning but other then that he worked himself out of jams when he needed too.

The Cubs bullpen pitched really well tonight.  Will Ohman, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry all seen action and they were all pretty good. Marmol struck out the side in the eigth inning with his deadly slider as he continues to be one of Lou’s best bullpen guys.

Everyone in the Cubs starting lineup had a hit in the game except Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot.  It was a suprise to see that Jason Kendall had two RBI’s in the game to lead the team.  Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Jacque Jones, and Mike Fontenot all had 1 RBI’s each as well.

The two teams will battle it out again tomorrow evening as it will be Jamie Moyer facing off against Rich Hill.  Game time is set for 7:05 central so make sure to tune in and watch the Cubbies go for their second straight win over the Phillies.

Cubs Blog

The Cubs 6-0 win combined with Milwaukee’s 9-5 loss Sunday puts the Cubs only a half game behind the Brewers and ahead of the Crew in the loss column. Carlos Zambrano, who went 7 and 1/3 innings of shutout baseball became the first pitcher in the majors to 14 wins. Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa had first inning RBIs while Derrek Lee added a 2 run homer in the 7th to make it 4-0. Angel Pagan’s 2 run single in the 9th sealed the deal. Will Ohman and Bob Howry completed the shutout. The Cubs welcome the Phillies into Wrigley for a 4 game set, starting Monday night.

Great start to the series with the St. Louis Cardinals as Carlos Zambrano led the Cubs to a 4-3 victory.  In a low scoring game, Zambrano and Kip Wells had a great pitchers duel but it was an error that extended the seventh inning gave Zambrano and the Cubs the win.

Zamrano threw 6.2 innings while he gave up five hits and two earned runs.  He kept the Cubs in the ballgame and that is what you ask for your starter.  He did have three walks, but for the most part, they didn’t hurt him to bad.

Will Ohman, Carlos Marmol, and Ryan Dempster came in out of the bullpen and held the Cardinals down to scure the win.  The Cardinals did score one in the ninth inning to come within one but that was all they could get as Albert Pujols grounded out to second base to end the game.

Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones both had great days at the plate for the offense.  Ramirez went 3-4 with an RBI and Jones went 1-2 with an RBI as well.  Ronny Cedeno who was called up before the game chipped in with an RBI in the sixth inning as well.  Cedeno came into the game during the 4th inning when Mark DeRosa left with some sort of nagging hamstring injury.  At this point, we are not sure how bad the hamstring injury to Derosa.  Derrek Lee delivered an insurance run in the 9th inning when he singled in Ryan Theriot.

The two teams will play again tomorrow night at 7:10.  The Cubs will be going for another win to keep pace with the Brewers so hopefuly they can get it.  It will be Ted Lilly against Adam Wainwright.

The wind was blowing in today but that didn’t matter as the Cubs and Giants combined for 17 runs in todays game.  The Cubs went on to win 9-8 but Barry Bonds sure made it close!  Bonds hit two homeruns in the game to inch closer to Hank Aaron on the alltime list.

Aramis Ramirez led the Cubs at the plate going 3-5 with 3 RBI’s and two runs scored.  Ramirez came up very big for the Cubbies today.  No way they would have won if he wasn’t in the lineup.

Jacque Jones had another good day at the plate as he went 3-4 with an RBI.  Jones has really played well the last few games.  Lou needs to keep running him out there in centerfield as he has really been playing well.

Others chipping in with RBI’s on the game were Alfonso Soriano, Cliff Floyd, Angel Pagan, and Mike Fontenot.  Gotta love that many players getting RBI’s in the game.

Ted Lilly started the game for the Cubs and lasted five innings giving up six hits and three earned runs.  He did give up Barry Bond’s first homerun of the game as well in the second inning.  Lilly did work out of some jams that helped him out but he wasn’t that sharp today.

The Cubs really used their bullpen once again as five relievers got into the game.  Billy Petrick pitched one inning allowing one hit, two walks, and two earned runs.  Michael Wuertz then came into the game and didn’t have much luck as he also allowed two earned runs.  Will Ohman served up Barry Bond’s second homerun of the game in the seventh inning that brough the score to 9-8.  Carlos Marmol did have a good outing over 1.1 innings allowing 0 runs on 0 hits.  Bob Howry picked up his eigth save of the year as he closed out the game in the ninth inning.

The Cubs took 3-4 from the Giants so that is always good when you win a series.  It wasn’t all good for the Cubs as Cliff Floyd and Daryle Ward both left the game with injuries.  As of right now we aren’t sure how server they are, but from early reports it sounds like they both could be day-to-day. 

The Cubs will start a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow afternoon.   Lets hope this winning keeps on happening!

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.

After snapping a 10 game homer-less drought on Saturday, the Cubs hit 3 long balls on Sunday afternoon to complete the sweep of the Astros at Wrigley Field. After trailing 5-0, the Cubs scored 6 in a big 2nd as Angel Pagan hit a 2 run homer and Derrek Lee hit a three run shot, his first since early June. Ryan Theriot added a solo homer in the 3rd to put the Cubs back up 7-6.

The rest was up to the bullpens for each team. Scott Eyre, Carlos Marmol, Will Ohman, Michael Wuertz, and Bob Howry combined for 5 scoreless innings of relief to secure the win. Wuertz got the win and Howry, his 5th save.

The Cubs will continue their 10 game homestand as Barry Bonds and the Giants come in for 4 games starting Monday night at 6:05 CT.