The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday and won the three game series by two games to one. It was another hard fought battle between the two teams as the Cubs pulled out a 3-2 victory.

Big Carlos Zambrano helped out his own cause as he hit the game winning home run in the fourt inning when he took Josh Fogg deep to the right-center bleachers. Zambrano went onto win the game on the mound as well as he pitched seven innings and improved to 13-5 on the year. Big Z had to work out of a couple jams as he gave up six hits and walked four batters but his defense helped him out when needed.

Carlos Marmol’s scoreless inning streak ended as Joey Votto hit a solo home run off of him in the eighth inning. That home run brough the Reds within one run but Marmol finished the inning off and then Kerry Wood finished the Reds off in the ninth to record his 26th save of the year.

Mark DeRosa hit a solo home run to go along with Zambrano’s. DeRosa has been on fire lately and has really been playing some great defense at second base. The Cubs first run came in the first inning when Derrek Lee grounded into anther double play and Alfonso Soriano scored.

The Cubs will now play the Washington Nationals through the weekend. This is a series that the Cubs should sweep and keep their five plus game lead on the Brewers and Cardinals.

GO CUBBIES!

Well that sure wasn’t the outcome that I was hoping for as the Cubs lost to the Reds 2-1 on Wednesday night. Ted Lilly pitched a good game but gave up single runs in the sixth and seventh runs and took the loss to fall to 12-7 on the season.

Lilly pitched well enough to get the win, the offense just didn’t show up tonight. The batters only came up with three hits the entire game and could only score one run. Mark DeRosa had two of those hits while Aramis Ramirez had the other hit. It really seemed that the offense was free swinging at the plate when they really didn’t need to the way the home plate ump was calling the game. There was a tight zone the entire game and the Cubs should have been more selective at the plate in my opinion.

The Cubs will now be looking to win the series on Thursday afternoon when they send Carlos Zambrano to the mound. I think Big Z will come out strong and the Cubs will get back on the winning track. With the Brewers and Cardinals winning, the Cubs are now up 5 games in the division.

Tuesday’s night game against the Cincinnati Reds could be the one game that really seperated the Chicago Cubs from the rest of the division. Behind seven strong innings from Rich Harden, the Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 and went up six games on the Milwaukee Brewers and eight in a half games up on the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m not saying the Cubs have things locked up, but if they can extend this six game lead into a an eight or nine game lead this week, things will be looking very good for the Cubs.

Harden through his best game in a Cubs uniform as he limited the visiting Reds to only two hits in seven innings of action. Harden once again struckout atleast ten batters which was his fourth time in seven starts for the Cubs. Harden also bunted in the first Cubs run when Geovany Soto scored from third in the fifth inning.

Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood had no problems shutting down the Reds in the eighth and ninth innings as the combination kept the Reds hitters guessing at the plate over the final few innings.

The Cubbies added four runs in the eighth off relievers Reds relievers Mike Lincoln and Bill Bray. Derrek Lee started things off with an RBI single, Aramis Ramirez then hit a double down the left field line that scored a run. Kosuke Fukudome then had a two run single to center field with the bases loaded to score two more runs.

The Cubs improved to a season-high 29 games over .500 at 77-48. Chicago has won seven of eight and 17 of its last 21.

Ted Lilly will be going to the mound on Wednesday evening against Bronson Arroyo. It seems that the Cubs either hit Arroyo very hard and score a lot of runs, or they have problems with his junk pitches and struggle at the plate. It will be interesting to see how the game turns out.

Trailing 2-0 in the 7th yesterday afternoon, the Cubs scored 8 in the 7th to take 2 of 3 from the Marlins. Alfonso Soriano tied the game when he doubled to left with the bases loaded. 3 batters later, once again with the bases loaded, Aramis Ramirez doubled in 2 more Cubs with a liner down the 3rd base line. After a Fukudome sac fly, Reed Johnson gave the Cubs their 3rd bases loaded double of the inning, clearing the bases. Johnson finished 4 for 5 with 3 doubles.

Ryan Dempster went 6 strong to pick up his 14th win of the season. Neal Cotts, Jeff Samardjiza, and Carlos Marmol finished off the victory. The Cardinals and Brewers also lost yesterday, extending the Cubs division lead back to 5.5 games with an off day coming Monday and a home series with Cincy starting Tuesday night.

Mike

What an ending for the Cubs on Friday night as they came back and defeated the Florida Marlins 6-5. Daryle Ward hit a three run home run with one out in the ninth inning to give the Cubs the one run victory. It was about time that Ward came up big as I have been telling my wife that he has been sucking for so long every time he comes up to bat.

Carlos Zambrano was happy for the Ward homerun as he was in line to get the loss after struggling once again. The right-hander was in line to take the loss after walking five, making a throwing error, hitting a batter and serving up a three-run homer to Jorge Cantu. Big Z gave up five runs on four hits and five walks over five innings, striking out six

The Cubs have now won nine straight road games and will look for ten in a row on Saturday night!

The Chicago Cubs won their eighth straight road game as they completed a three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 11-7 victory on Thursday night. That is exactly what the team was hoping to do as far as the offense goes. They rocked Braves starting pitcher Tom Glavine right when they game started and never let up.

It seemed like anytime the Cubs scored the Braves would come right back with a couple of runs of their own. Good thing that the Cubs offense was four runs better then the Braves and they were still able to get the victory.

Ted Lilly didn’t have his best stuff but the offense picked him up. Lilly improved to 12-6 as hey got the win after pitching six innings. Lilly gave up eight hits and four runs in the game. Bob Howry gave up the other three runs as Jeff Francoeur took him deep in the seventh inning for a three run home run.

Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood also pitched in the game. Marmol threw 1 1/3 innings without giving up a hit while Wood allowed two hits in the ninth but did not allow the Braves to score.

Aramis Ramirez went 2-2 in the game with three rbi. Ramirez went deep in the third inning for all three of his rbi’s. He later scored in the fifth inning and left the game with a contusion on his hip. Hopefully he will stop sliding into home plate head first because he is just asking for trouble when he does that.

Geovany Soto also had a good game at the plate as he went 1-2 with two rbi and two walks. Geo is swinging the bat pretty good the past week or so. Alfonso Soriano absolutely crushed a home run and finished with two rbi. Reed Johnson, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Theriot, and Daryle Ward all added single rbi’s in the game as well.

With the Brewers loss to the Padres, the Cubs are now up 4.5 games in the division. They will now fly down to Florida to take on the Marlins over the weekend. Hopefully they can play well against the Marlins as they always seem to give the Cubs problems.

Go Cubbies!

The Chicago Cubs finished up a day - night double header against the Atlanta Braves with a 8-0 win in the night cap.  Earlier in the day the Cubs crushed the Braves 10-2.  It was the first time since 1992 where the Cubs swept both games of a double header.  Chicago now has won seven straight road games for the first time since June 12-22, 2004, and is 26 games over .500 at 73-47 for the first time since the team finished the 1984 season 31 games up at 96-65.  The Cubs are also up 3.5 games on the Brewers in the division.

Rich Harden picked up his second win with the Cubs and is now 2-1 as he tossed five innings and only allowed two hits.  Harden did work out of a couple of jams and his pitch count was getting up around 90 so he was taken out after five innings.  The Cubs are being very cautious with Harden and if he can give them five or six innings everytime out there they will be happy with that.  Chad Gaudin, Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood, and Neal Cotts all threw one inning of relief out of the bullpen.  Cotts was the only reliever to give up a hit as the entire pitching staff limited the Braves to only three hits.

Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome led the team with two rbi’s each.  Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Jim Edmonds, and Mike Fontenot all chipped in with one rbi as well.  It was a big combined effort at the plate as the Cubs plated eight runs in the game.  The bats jumped all over the Braves pitchings from the get go and put a lot of pressure on the Braves bullpen.  I look for the bats to continue scoring runs and the Cubs to win again on Thursday night.

Now can we just start seeing the Brewers lose some games!?

The Cubs got things started off nicely with a 10-2 victory in the first game of two against the Atlanta Braves.  After last nights game was rained out, the Cubs came out of the gates and swung the bats very good while knocking out the Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton out of the game after only 2 1/3 innings.  The Braves bullpen had to throw a lot of pitches so I really like the teams chances of sweeping the double header.

Geovany Soto and Jim Edmonds had a great game at the plate.  Soto had a two run double and a two run home run to finish the game 3-4 with four rbi.  Edmonds had a two run home run and a rbi double to finish with three rbi.  Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot, and Mark Derosa all added one rbi each as well.

Jason Marquis threw a lot of pitches as he worked out of multiple jams but lasted 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win.  Marquis is now 8-7 on the year with a 4.67 era.  Neal Cotts finished up the sixth inning after Marquis exited the game and then Jeff Samardzija pitched the seventh and eighth innings.  Bob Howry finished things up with a scoreless inning in the ninth.

The Cubs should be setup nicely for the second game of the double header as Rich Harden will start the game.  The Cubs still have Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol in the bullpen as well.  Hopefully we see a double header sweep of the Braves and then a Padres win over the Brewers!

GO CUBS!!

The Cubs gained another game on the arch rival Cardinals Sunday night with a comfortable 6-2 win. Ryan Dempster picked up his 13th win (11th at Wrigley) going 6+ strong innings of work. Aramis Ramirez went 2-3 with 2 runs scored for the Cubs. Ronny Cedeno and Mark DeRosa had a pair of RBIs while Derrek Lee added an RBI single.

Jim Edmonds made a key diving catch in the 4th with 2 outs and Cardinals on 2nd and 3rd. Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol pitched scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th to preserve the win and push the Cards to 7.0 GB. After an off day, the Cubs are in Atlanta for a 3 game set starting Tuesday.

Mike

What a way to kick off an exciting weekend of baseball between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals!  The Cubs and Cards played extra innings and it was the Cubs coming out on top with a 3-2 victory in 11 innings on Friday afternoon.  Great pitching and timely hitting for the Cubs was what pushed them over the top.

Jim Edmonds, playing against his former team had two solo home runs to lead the Cubs with two rbi.  Edmonds went deep in the second and seventh innings of the game.  Without Jimmy, the Cubs would have been shutout and lost the game.  Great game for Edmonds!

The game winning run in the 11th inning came off the bat of Henry Blanco who was hitting with zero outs and the bases loaded.  Blanco signled to left field and Derrek Lee scored the winning run.  Lee started the inning off with a walk and then moved to third base on a single by Aramis Ramirez.  Cardinals pitcher Ryan Franklin then walked Kosuke Fukudome to load the bases before Blanco’s game winning hit.

On the mound it was Bob Howry picking up the win to improve his record to  5-4.  Howry looked pretty good in his one inning of action as he threw a lot more breaking balls early in the count then he has been.  Great to see Howry out there throwing the ball like he is capable of.

Jeff Samardzija allowed one hit in two innings as he did a great job as well.  Jeff has really been throwing the ball well and Lou has a lot of confidence in him right now.  Ted Lilly pitched 7 1/3 innings before being taken out in the eighth inning for Carlos Marmol.  Marmol finished up the eighth inning by recording the final two outs.

The Cubs and Cards will battle it out Saturday afternoon in the second game of the series.  The game will be shown on FOX so make sure you tune if you can’t make it to the game. I’ll be sitting out in the bleachers with my wife and I can’t wait!