The Cubs as a team sure had their problems with the New York Mets on Tuesday night as they lost by the score of 6-2. Sure the cubs werent’ using their normal roster, but I till expected a little better outcome against Santana and the Mets.

The game was tied at 2-2 heading in the bottom of the sixth inning but that is when the wheels came off the bus for the Cubs. Chad Gaudin only got one batter out and gave up four hits and four runs. Gaudin was terrible on the mound and took the loss to fallto 4-2 on the year

Cubs starter Sean Marshall lasted just five innings even though he only gave up two runs on four hits. He did strike out seven batters and only walked two so it wasn’t that bad of a start overall for Marshall.

Kosuke Fukudome had a rbi double and Reed Johnson a rbi single against Santana. Johnson once again hit Santana good just like he has his entire career however the rest of the team struggled at the plate. As a team they only walked twice and struck out ten times. That was not what we are used to seeing out of this year cubs offense.

The cubs will now send Carlos Zambrano to the mound on Wednesday night against the Mets. I hope Big Z only throws five or six innings to keep fresh. Just get out there and stay competitive but do not jack up the pitch count etc.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs once again played a close ballgame but for the second straight game the Cubs came out on the losing end. They fell behind 3-0 in the first inning and were never able to battle all the way back and lost the game 5-3.

Sean Marshall was a spot starter in the game as he filled in for Carlos Zambrano who’s arm felt “heavy” and needs a couple more days of rest before he takes the mound. Marshall gave up three quick runs in the first inning as Ryan Howard had a rbi single and new cub killer Jayson Werth had a two run double. Werth also added a solo home run off Marshall in the fifth inning.

As for the Cubs offense, they scored two runs in the second inning on rbi single by Ronny Cedeno and Marshall. The Cubs attempted to rally late in the game as Henry Blanco had a rbi single to make the score 5-3, however with two runners on base, Alfonso Soriano struck out on a pitch that he shouldn’t have even swung at.

So at the end of the series, it ended about how I thought it would. The Cubs and Phillies split and now the Cubs are are up 4.5 games on the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs will now play a three game series with the Houston Astros while the Brewers will have a three game series with the New York Mets.

So how do you think the Cubs will do against the Astros? I say they take two out of three and pick up one game in the division.

It was a back and forth slug fest between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. The Cubs used a big seven run eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Pirates by the score of 14-9 and will now be going for the three game sweep Wednesday afternoon.

Geovany Soto had the best night of his career at the plate as he finished the game with seven rbi’s. Soto was the man as he came to the plate twice with the bases loaded and both time hit doubles that scored three runs. His last double that scored three runs was about 5 ft from being a home-run as he hit the scoreboard about half way  up in right-center field. Hit other rbi on the night did come on a solo home run in the sixth inning.

Derrek Lee picked up a couple of rbi in the game even though he continues to struggle at the plate. Lee had a rbi groundout and then walked with the bases loaded. When was the last time Lee hit the ball hard into the gap instead of rolling over and grounding out to shortstop or striking out?

Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, and Carlos Zambrano all had rbi in the game as well. Zambrano extended his hitting streak and rbi streak in the game. It was Zambrano’s 13th straight game with a hit and his eighth straight game with an rbi.

Big Z wasn’t his usual self on the mound however. He gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and got a no decision in the game. Once again Zambrano had problems with the free passes as he gave up four walks. You could tell it was going to be a long night for Z after the first inning and his pitch count was already high.

Sean Marshall who pitched the seventh inning ended up getting the victory in relief and is now 3-3 on the season. Kerry Wood pitched the ninth inning and gave up three hits and a run. Wood was clearly going in there with a big lead and just making the Pirates put the ball in play and that is exactly what they did.

It will be a short turnaround for the teams as they play an early game in Pittsbugh on Wednesday. Jason Marquis will go to the mound for the Cubs as they look for the three game sweep.

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 Chicago Cubs used a eight run second inning as they finished off the Houston Astros with a 11-4 victory on Wednesday afternoon.  Alfonso Soriano had a three run shot in the inning and Mark DeRosa smashed a grand slam in the second inning as well.  Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, and Jason Marquis also added rbi’s in the game as the Cubs offense was on fire.

Marquis finally earned another victory and is now 7-7 on the season.  Marquis gave up six hits and four runs over 6 1/3 innings.  Wasn’t that great of a start but it was good enough to get the job done thanks to the offense.  Sean Marshall tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings while Jeff Samardzija tossed the final inning without any problems.

Now the team will be on Thursday before they start off a huge weekend series with the St. Louis Cardinals.  I’ll be at games on Saturday and Sunday and cannot wait!

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.