9/20/08 vs. Cardinals; W 5-4; (93-60)

Ted Lilly is the most appropriate pitcher to win the NL Central clinching game. His recent success and win at all cost attitude has been vital. Not bad for the #4 guy in the rotation.


The St. Louis Cardinals are the most appropriate opponent. These guys have been our rival for as long as anyone can remember.

Kerry Wood is the most appropriate closer. Think back to 2003, when he was a starter. One of only three rostered players who was on the 2003 team.

Jim Edmonds is the most appropriate person to record the final out of the clinching game. At the beginning of the year we didn't know about center field. Edmonds was just the former Cardinal we all hated. Nice for him to be the guy who does it against the Cardinals.


Chicago...for the second time in 100 years...we have repeated.


In a game that started out all Chicago...and became a toss up...the Cubs prevailed. A 5-0 lead evaporated as St. Louis pulled within one. Troy Glaus only has four hits against Chicago this year, but they are all big ones. His three run homer today gave St. Louis hope.


Hope is all they had. Ted Lilly was terrific through seven innings. Yes he gave up the three run bomb, but he does that. The rest was great. Then we had Marmol and Woody for an inning each. Just the way it is supposed to work. Seven strong from your starter, and one excellent inning each from the bullpen studs.

Offensively, Chicago made it easy on Lilly. Actually, the Cardinals defense made it easy. In the bottom of the second, after a leadoff double by Edmonds and a walk to Soto, DeRosa hit a double play ball. It was fielded well, but indecision allowed DeRosa to beat the relay. After a walk to Kosuke and a strikeout for Lilly, Soriano singled to left. Brian Barton misplayed it and three runs scored as the ball rolled to the wall.

In the fourth, Soto reached on an error and then scored on DeRosa's double. DeRosa then came around to score on a squeeze bunt by Lilly.

When Edmonds squeezed the fly ball for the final out, the Cubs celebrated on the mound. They celebrated not with a dog pile, but just as if they had won one more game. That tells me they think there is more work to do.

This win, this division title, is just a step along the way. The whole team knows that. The goal is the first World Series title. It is nice to know the whole team is prepared for that.

8/29/08 vs Phillies; W 3-2; (85-50)

There is no I in TEAM.

Mark DeRosa, in the midst of a hitting streak, was asked to sacrifice in his last at bat. He was still without a hit in one official at bat, having walked twice, and the Cubs already led 3-2. Like a good team mate he did his job, advancing runners to second and third with no one out. The hitting streak is over at ten games. Rubbing salt in the wound, neither runner scored.

However, I bet if you interview Mark DeRosa, the comment falls in the "I just want to do everything I can to help the team. Individual stats don't matter, the team won and that's what is important." category.

Rich Harden set the Phillies up for this one. Much like Dempster yesterday, he struggled early with control and let the Phillies feel in charge up 2-0 after 4.5 innings. He had allowed three hits and four walks while striking out only five. At that point, Chicago had Philadelphia right where they wanted them.

Mark DeRosa led off the fifth with a walk. He stole second, his sixth stolen base of the season, and advanced to third on Henry Blanco's infield single. He scored on Daryle Ward's ground out. Sound familiar? Another run scored with no balls leaving the infield.

In the sixth, Phillies Starter Joe Blanton ran into trouble. He walked Theriot to lead off the inning and followed that up with a walk to Derek Lee. The stage was set for Aramis again, but on a 3-1 pitch he hit a shallow fly ball for the first out. Mark DeRosa walked and that ended the game for Blanton. Former Cub Scott Eyre came on (thinking of his World Series share) and walked Kosuke to tie the game up. Good thing he did too, or Ryan Theriot's family may be making funeral arrangements. With Theriot on third, Blanton bounced one to the plate. It was blocked, but still kicked clear to the wall. Theriot's first move was back to third, and he wasn't able to score. I could read Lou's lips following the play. Let's just say he wasn't real happy. And I didn't know Jesus' middle name rhymed with clucking.

In the seventh, Jeff Samardizja pitched for Chicago. He ran into some trouble, but was aided by a questionable (come on I'm a Cub fan, I am not going to say bad call) at first on Ryan Howard's ground ball to end the inning with no damage. That put him in position for the win should Chicago score in their half of the seventh.

And why wouldn't they score with Sarge singing the seventh inning stretch....even with the Bernie Mac hat on. With one out, Alfonso Soriano hit a home run to center field to give the Cubs the lead.

Carlos Marmol relieved Shark with one out in the eighth. He struck out both batters he faced in the eighth. He pitched the ninth as well to earn his seventh save of the year, picking up one more K.

8/2/08 vs Pirates; W 5-1; (66-45)

The Cubs returned to their winning ways Saturday with a 5-1 win over the Pirates. Ronny Cedeno and Geovony Soto both were responsible for knocking in two runs and Reed Johnson went 3-4 and scored two runs.

Ted Lilly pitched an effective six plus innings, working his way out of a couple jams. He only allowed one run even though the Pirates managed six hits and three walks. He earned his eleventh win on the season. He is 10-2 since April, and the Cubs are 13-5 when he starts in that same time frame.

Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth in a non save situation. Since his horrible outing in San Francisco, he has pitched seven times without allowing a run. He also has fourteen strikeouts in eight innings during those games. Whatever was bothering him heading into the break sure appears to be fixed.

Chicago is now 21 games above .500 again, a high point they only reached Friday for the first time this season. Previously they had reached 20 games over .500 four times, but were never able to take the next step. The 1908 team didn't reach 21 games over until August 27th, with a record of 68-47. From that point the 1908 team went an extraordinary 31-8.

Should the 2008 team play at a .750 pace the rest of the way, then they would finish with 104 wins. It seems more likely that they will continue playing .600 ball and finish around 97 wins. Either way, the key will be winning a high percentage against the Brewers and Cardinals who seem to be the only teams in the entire National League who could challenge Chicago for both the division and the wild card.

7/12/08 vs Giants; W 8-7; (57-37)

Chicago....meet Rich Harden. Five and a third innings, TEN STRIKEOUTS, no runs allowed. Harden allowed five hits and walked only three Giants. Impressive outing for the former Oakland A.


His teammates welcomed him well, providing him seven runs in four innings. He left in position for a win, turning things over to another former A, Chad Gaudin. Gaudin simply finished the fifth and then turned it over to the rest of the bullpen.


Kevin Hart didn't do poorly, but allowed two runs in his inning. Cotts and Howry combined for a scoreless eighth, turning the game over to Carlos Marmol with a 7-2 Cub lead. Marmol was horrible, to say the least. He allowed five hits, one potentially could have been an error on him, walked one, and gave up five runs.


Carlos Marmol, you owe Rich Harden dinner and then some. His stat line was superb and he should have been rewarded with a win in his debut. Theriot, you get some blame too. Don't throw the ball from your back with the tying run on third base. Great job keeping it in the infield, stand up and throw the ball back to the pitcher. You're buying drinks.


Luckily for Chicago, the damage...for that inning....was over. The Cubs didn't score in the ninth...good, otherwise Marmol gets the win...so extra innings, here we come. The Cubs had been 6-4 on the season, the Giants 5-3.

In the bottom of the tenth, the Cubs mimicked yesterday's eighth inning. Theriot leads off with a single, advances to second on a bunt, forcing Bochy to decide does he pitch to Lee or Ramirez. He chose to pitch to Lee and got him, allowing him to walk Ramirez. Soto grounded out and we go to the eleventh.

Sean Marshall led off for the Cubs with a single past shortstop. Not too bad a performance for Mr. Marshall. Two perfect innings pitching, one for one at the plate. DeRosa walked to give the Cubs first and second with no one out. Fontenot bunted to the third base side which allowed the Giants to get Marshall at third.

That brought up Reed Johnson. Johnson singled through the right side. Giants rightfielder, Emmanuel Burriss, came up throwing. His throw was on time, but on the first base side. By the time Bengie Molina dove back to the sliding DeRosa, he had touched the plate. The Cubs celebrated at the pitchers mound mobbing Reed Johnson, hero for the day.

Piniella, in the post game comments, didn't express any concern over Marmol. Cub fans have some reason to be concerned and hope that following the All Star break he finds his form again. Rich Harden was brought here to help the Cubs win a World Series. He definitely helped them win today. Along the way I suppose individual players like to have decent statistics. He deserved a win today, but the box score won't show that. A minor disappointment among an otherwise exciting win.

7/3/08 @ San Francisco; L 3-8; (51-35)

The Cubs scored three runs off Tim Lincecum in six innings, getting to the San Francisco bullpen in the seventh. The only problem was they didn’t score against the bullpen, and their own bullpen gave up four runs of their own.

Going into the seventh inning the Cubs trailed 3-4. Thanks to a two out two run double from Mark DeRosa in the sixth, the Cubs seemed in position to win a come from behind close ball game.

Instead, in the seventh Jose Ascaino allowed a single to lead off the inning. Then he royally screwed up his attempt to field a sacrifice bunt, allowing all runners to be safe at first and third with no out. Lou went to Marmol to face Rich Aurilia. Carlos repeated his performance from yesterday giving up a three run homer.

Carlos has struggled as of late. In his last seven games, he has given up ten earned runs, been charged with two losses, and blew the lead once. Needless to say, the Cubs need him to get out of this funk in a hurry.

The Cubs never recovered, failing to score in their last two innings. Again they fail to win back to back games.

Chicago welcomed back two of their offensive players today. Reed Johnson returned from the DL and Aramis Ramirez returned from a three game absence.

Reed Johnson made his return known early as he doubled to lead off the game. Lou put Reed back in the lead off spot and hit Kosuke second. All the talk was how Lou had settled on Kosuke, but Johnson was always in the lead off spot leading up to his DL stint. He scored on a Derek Lee single to give the Cubs the early lead.

Ramirez, on the other hand, continued the drought he had been in before leaving. He went hitless in four at bats, extending to eighteen the number of at bats without a hit. Just like Marmol, he needs to get the ship righted soon.

Luckily for the Cubs, this current lack of consistent success hasn’t caused them to surrender the lead in the NL Central. Both Milwaukee and St. Louis lost yesterday, and the Cubs maintain a 2.5 game lead. Their destiny is in their own hands this weekend as they start a series with the Cardinals tonight.

6/19/08 @ Tampa Bay; L 3-8; (45-28)

It had to happen. The Cubs have joined the rest of the major league baseball teams by losing three in a row. This is also the first series they have been swept in.

As if that isn't bad news enough...Big Z will miss his next start. The Cubs opted for a more intense MRI, and pushed that back to next week.

I am glad the team heads home for a while. The only problem there is the White Sox will be chomping at the bit to prove THEY are the best team in Chicago.

Sean Gallagher got into trouble in the second inning, loading the bases with no one out. He managed to get out of the mess allowing only one run. That was all the scoring until the seventh inning. Gallagher ended up allowing only four hits and two walks in his six innings. He kept the Cubs in position to win.

In the seventh, it looked like they would. Hoffpauir and DeRosa started the inning by reaching base. Fontenot, Fukudome, and Theriot all drove in a run to put the Cubs up 3-1. Fukudome was on third and Theriot on second with only one out, Lee and Ramirez coming to the plate. Neither of them produced, and 3-1 was the way it would stand.

As we have seen all year, give the Cubs a lead in the seventh and it will be lights out. Marmol and Woody take over, no problem. Not today. Carlos Marmol faced four batters in the seventh. He walked the first two. Then it got bad. He hit the next two. All four ended up scoring. That gives Carlos an infinity for his ERA this game. No outs, four earned runs. The math doesn't work!

Again I'll thank the Kansas City Royals who defeated the Cardinals to day to preserve our lead in the Central Division. We left home on the 12th of June with a 3.5 game lead. Despite our 2-4 road trip, we return home tomorrow with a 3.5 game lead.

Hitting stars for the day: Derek Lee with three hits and Micah Hoffpauir with two hits. The offense wasn't up to the high standards it has set during this road trip. The Cubs have averaged almost 5.5 runs per game in 2008. This road trip they averaged 4. Let's get back to the friendly confines and get back to hitting.

The Cubs will have a six game home stand. Then they start their road trip on the South Side of Chicago, which almost makes it a nine game home stand. By the time they head to San Francisco on the last day of June we'll know more about both Zambrano and Soriano. Hopefully we'll have recharged the offense as well.

6/14/08 @ Blue Jays; W 6-2; (44-25)

Let’s lead off…pun intended….with a discussion of the lead off hitter for the Cubs. Today, Reed Johnson got the opportunity to lead off against his former team. He didn’t exactly make the most of it, going for 1 for 5. However, the one hit was a three run homer in the second inning. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings in the lead off spot as the lineup is expected to include more regulars.

The lineup was quite different today with Soto and Theriot getting some rest, and Aramis was used as the DH. That meant Johnson was playing left field, DeRosa third base, with Fontenot covering second defensively. Ronny Cedeno and Henry Blanco got starts in place of Soto and Theriot. Fukudome was used in the two hole, and went hitless, reaching base only on a walk.

Derek Lee had a nice day in the third spot going 3 for 4 and scoring two runs. One of those was a triple to lead off the fifth inning. Aramis had one base hit batting fourth and Edmonds followed in the five spot since Fukudome was moved up. Edmonds had two more hits today continuing his recent surge. He is hitting .355 in June raising his average 41 points. DeRosa, Fontenot, Blanco, and Cedeno rounded out the lineup each getting a base knock today.

Pitching performances today were solid for the Cubs as well. Jason Marquis pitched a nice game going seven plus innings and not allowing a run until the eighth. He picked up his fifth win of the season and fourth in a row. He hasn’t lost a decision since May 13th. Carlos Marmol inherited bases loaded in the eighth and only gave up one run while garnering two strikeouts. Bob Howry took over for the ninth inning and finished things up.

The end result is a 6-2 win on the road. So today I am flying my W Flag proudly as the Cubs win on the road.

6/2/08 @ Padres; W 7-6; (37-21)

Carlos Zambrano got off to a rough start giving up three runs in the first inning. But in the fourth he tripled to drive in Jim Edmonds and tie the game. The Cubs scored again in the fifth to take the lead. Carlos finished off the fifth inning, putting himself in position for the win.

The Cub half of the sixth inning was big. DeRosa and Blanco singled. Zambrano was called upon to bunt, but hustled to first turning it into a base hit. Soriano hit a sac fly to right, and then Theriot reached on an infield single, scoring another Cub run making it 6-3.

Jim Edmonds...love him or hate him...drove in the Cubs seventh run in the seventh inning. Kosuke walked and stole second before Edmonds double to right scored him. Earlier Edmonds had hit a sharp ball past Gonzalez at first. Bob Brenly commented that seeing Edmonds pull the ball indicates him getting more comfortable and getting better as a hitter.

Regardless, it proved to be an important run, as the bullpen didn't exactly shut them down. Zambrano left in the fifth and ended up being the winning pitcher. Lieber, Wuertz, Cotts, and Marmol worked the 6th, 7th, and 8th without allowing a run. The ninth was a different story.

Marmol walked the leadoff batter. After inducing a pop up from Iguchi, Giles singled. That brought up Adrian Gonzalez who homered to make it a one run game. Kerry Wood came in and picked up the last two outs to earn his fifteenth save.

Theriot and Zambrano led the way for the offense with three hits apiece. Jim Edmonds added two hits, two rbis, and a run scored. Kosuke Fukudome reached base three times, scored two runs, and drove in a run with a sac fly.

That makes eight in a row now for the Chicago Cubs. They have opened up a 3.5 game lead on the Cardinals. The next five games are against teams with a below .500 record. Let’s stretch both the winning streak and the NL Central lead.

5/31/08 vs Rockies; W 5-4; (35-21)

For the last four games, the Cubs have trailed following the seventh inning stretch. All four times they rallied to win. Today they trailed, but only for one half inning. And that was the second inning.

The Rockies scored two in the top of the second, but Alfonso Soriano erased that lead with a two run homer in the bottom half. Ryan Dempster was on base after doubling in a run to help his own cause. He only made it through five innings today, but still did enough to pick up the win.

The Cubs added a run in the third and another in the fourth to extend the lead. The Rockies chipped away at it, but the Cubs pitchers had just enough to hold them off. Carlos Marmol struck out two and picked up the save, despite giving up a home run to Scott Podsednik.

SHOW was at the game today, and I am expecting a report on the atmosphere from him.

The six game winning streak matches the longest of the season for the Cubs. Ironically, it was the Rockies who ended the first streak. Tomorrow the Cubs will try to extend the current streak to seven games, and I will finally be there live to see it! Look for live posts from Wrigley tomorrow.

5/30/08 vs Rockies; W 10-9; (34-21)

Driving home early this afternoon I turned on the radio to listen to the Cubs. I was a bit dismayed to learn they were down by seven runs after only three innings.

Turning on the TV at during the top of the seventh, things weren't much better. At that point, the Cubs had managed to close the margin and trailed 9-4. They had scored three in the sixth on home runs by Fukudome and Edmonds.

Things didn't seem like they were going to get any better when the Chicago Blackhawks legends (Tony Esposito, Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull) butchered the seventh inning stretch. They started late, sang fast, and had to repeat the end to stay in time with the crowd.

That actually was the low point of the game as the Cubs exploded for six runs in the seventh inning to take the lead. A lead they would hold onto for the win, 10-9.

Mike Fontenot reached on a one out single to get things started. Henry Blanco followed that with a home run. Micah Hoffpaiur and Kosuke Fukudome singled to bring up Jim Edmonds. Jim had homered earlier in the game and was in position to endear himself to Cub fans. He didn't disappoint. He drove the ball to right center to score both runners. DeRosa came to the plate, still with one out, as the lead run. He drove a ball to left center that gave the Cubs the lead and the eventual win.

Carlos Marmol came in and struck out the side..on ten pitches total. Wood pitched the ninth. He walked the lead off batter....at least he didn't hit him...but was picked up my his middle infielders who turned a double play. A fly ball to Fukudome by Helton and the Cubs move to thirteen games above .500.

Wood vs Marmol

Editors Note: The majority of this was written prior to the appearance of both in the May 27th gave vs. Dodgers.

The debate started even before Sunday’s game. Should Kerry Wood really be the closer for the Chicago Cubs? Carlos Marmol who has been electric this year and many of the Cub faithful are clamoring for him to be given the chance to close. Well, he was given the chance Sunday, and he didn’t come through. His blown save appeared to rest more on the shoulders of Soriano than himself. I disagree. Marmol allowed a walk to Freddy Sanchez that put his fate into Soriano’s defense. He has no one to blame but himself. Then on Monday Kerry came back in and picked up a save in which, while not dominant, was impressive.

Woody has blown saves most often by hitting the lead off man. He has set the table for his own defeat, much like Marmol did Sunday. Marmol almost saved himself by inducing a Nate McLouth pop up. Kerry tends to give up true shots…mostly to Ryan Braun…once he allows a runner. Regardless, the key is that our closers cannot allow base runners with walks and hit batsmen.

So let’s take a closer look at the bullpen situation for the north side team, specifically Kerry and Carlos.

Durability
Woody has been used 24 times, Marmol 25 times. Carlos typically gets a little more work per game, totaling 32 innings this year to Kerry’s 26 2/3. That may be the key to the argument right there. While Kerry has gone longer than one inning twice, Carlos has done that nine times. He is physically more geared to get the Cubs through middle relief stretch than Kerry. If we save Marmol as our closer, are we going to bring him in to pitch in the eighth? If not, then we need another pitcher for the seventh, Woody for the eighth, then Marmol.
Advantage: Marmol

Strikeouts
Carlos has a higher strikeout rate, getting K’s on 39% of the batters he faced while Kerry is at 26%. That would be an argument for Carlos to be the shut down ninth inning pitcher. The margin narrows when we look at the ratio of strikeouts to innings pitched, but still favors Marmol who is over 1.4:1, while Wood is just slightly over 1:1
Advantage: Marmol

Free Passes
Kerry has beaned five hitters this year and walked five more. Carlos has hit only two batters, but walked ten. Broken down to innings pitched and this stat is a dead heat with each allowing .375 free passes per inning pitched. Kerry gets the bad wrap because of the hit batters leading off the ninth that resulted in blown saves. Carlos had the same misfortune in Pittsburgh, but all the media attention was on Soriano’s drop, not the one out walk.
Advantage: Neutral

Opponents Batting
Both are doing well in this stat, keeping opponents under the Mendoza line. Marmol has the better numbers with opposing hitters batting only .123 against him. Woody isn’t bad at .185.

From a power standpoint, each has allowed a meaningless home run. Marmol has also allowed a game winner. (Side note, against Pittsburgh the decision is easier. Pitch Marmol in any inning Nate McLouth doesn’t bat. He has the only two dingers off Marmol this year, including the game winner.) But Kerry has given up more extra base hits, 6 to 5, than Carlos. That results in a higher slugging percentage against Wood.

However, Kerry elicits more ground ball outs than Marmol. Ignoring strikeouts, because we have them in a separate category, Kerry is getting more effective outs when the ball is put in play. 40% of the balls in play against Woody are ground ball outs. Only 30% of the balls in play against Carlos are ground ball outs.
Advantage: Marmol

So if I have to decide, as Jim Hendry, whether I want Marmol or Wood as my closer, I take Marmol. He is putting up better numbers and is more dominant. But, the decision isn’t between them in a draft. With both on the team, making the decision as Lou Piniella, I continue to use them in this fashion. Marmol goes first due to his durability. He can get us out of the seventh and eighth, with Wood pitching the ninth.

5/27/08 vs Dodgers; W 3-1; (31-21)

It wasn't a nice evening, weather wise. Temperature at game time was a brisk 42 degrees with a 19 mph wind. That didn't stop 39,894 of the Cub faithful from showing up to see the Cubs take a two game to none lead on the Dodgers. The Cubs clinched their first series win in over a week with a 3-1 win for the second night in a row.

The pitchers, with some help from the elements, kept the hitters at bay most of the game. The Cubs broke out in the seventh inning. Maybe they should have Tommy Lasorda sing the seventh inning stretch more often. Ronny Cedeno led off with a walk, but was out at second when Ryan Theriot (pinch hitting for Gallagher) tried to sacrifice. Soriano singled and Theriot made it to third. Mike Fontenot squibbed one between third and short to score Theriot. When the ball was misplayed, the Cubs ended up with two runners and still just one out. DLee flew out to bring up Ramirez. After getting down 0-2 in the count, Ramirez worked Jonathon Broxton for eight pitches and singled in an insurance run. That was a very solid at bat, some think his best of the season.

Kosuke Fukudome made a couple great defensive plays. In the sixth inning he robbed Andre Ethier on a diving catch coming in a low liner. Then in the eighth, he made it look easy as he sprinted a long way into right center to rob Juan Pierre of extra bases. Jim Edmonds made a nice running catch in deep center, no theatrics on his part this time, on James Loney in the sixth right after Kosuke's diving play.

Marmol and Wood finished up for Gallagher, who himself went seven strong innings to earn the win. Marmol didn't make it easy walking the lead off batter and loading the bases with only one out. To his credit, he settled in and worked out of it with no runs allowed. Woody pitched the ninth without hitting a single Dodger. He picked up two strikeouts along with his twelfth save.

5/25/08 @ Pirates; L 5-6; (29-21)

The Cubs appeared to be on their way to a win to wrap up this road trip. It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and one on base. Nate McLouth was facing Carlos Marmol, again. This time he didn’t hit a home run. He hit a fly ball that pushed Alfonso Soriano to near the warning track. Game over right…..wrong! Soriano lost it in the sun and it hit off his glove for a game tying double.

So for the fourth time this year, the Cubs and Pirates played extra innings. Today it only took two extra frames for Pittsburgh to get the best of Chicago. Soriano will be blamed for today’s loss, and in reality we do win the game if he makes the catch. There was a way to prevent that error, and it has nothing to do with Soriano. Marmol could have not walked Freddy Sanchez. Then McLouth never comes to bat.

Soriano’s dropped ball is inexcusable…unless you allow for the sun…but this is a 27 out game. The walk could have been an out if Marmol forces Sanchez to put the ball in play. There are certainly other opportunities to get an out during games that aren’t capitalized on, but the 27th out is most memorable. Offensively, the Cubs had chances to score more runs and make that dropped ball meaningless as well. It is a team game, and the Cubs lost today….not Soriano.

Early in this game the Cubs appeared to rolling towards another high scoring game. In the third inning they scored four runs. Soriano did his part in that inning with a two run homer to give the Cubs an early 3-2 lead. Paul Maholm had something to say about this being a high scoring day for the Cubs. He faced the minimum batters if five of the eight innings he pitched. The Cubs really only had scoring chances in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings. They didn’t capitalize in the sixth when they had two on and only one out with Fukudome and DeRosa hitting.

The Cubs head home still tied for first place in the central. The 2-4 road trip didn’t knock them out of first place, but tightened the race. Two blown saves, resulting in extra inning losses, to end the trip hurt so much worse. Especially when you consider that winning those would have given you a two game lead in the division and the best overall record in the major leagues.

There were positives individually on this road trip. Lee and Ramirez had struggled at the plate in the last home series with Pittsburgh. They broke out in a big way with DLee going 11 for 29 (.379) and Aramis going 11 for 27 (.407) on this six game road trip. In addition, DeRosa kept up his hot hitting, going 9 for 23 (.391) despite going hitless in a game at Houston to break up his hitting streak. He ended at eleven, and has already started a new three game streak.

Soriano went cold for about four games, but has his stroke back it appears. Micah Hoffpauir appears to be able to hit major league pitching and gives us another left handed bat when needed.

Starting pitching was decent. They allowed 20 earned runs over six games, and handed the bullpen the opportunity to win four of the six. The bullpen wasn’t horrid either, until the last two games with blown saves in the ninth.

Home sweet home. The Cubs are headed back to the friendly confines for seven games to try and get themselves right. They need to as they will be tested with four of their first five series in June being on the road.

5/17/08 vs. Pirates; L 6-7; (26-17)

Alfonso Soriano....seems like we're starting with that a lot lately...went five for five today. He has five straight games with a leadoff hit. He gave the Cubs the lead in the second, homered in the fourth to extend the lead, and homered again in the seventh to tie the game. But it wasn't enough. Nate McLouth homered off of Carlos Marmol in the ninth to give the Pirates a two run lead. Soriano scored again in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to one, but the Cubs still fell short.

Zambrano wasn't sharp today, getting pulled in the fifth inning. That was his shortest outing of the season by two full innings. He still didn't get saddled with the loss thanks to Soriano's seventh inning game tying home run. Carlos Marmol had his first real negative of the season. He hadn't recorded a loss, blown save, or even messed up a hold so far. Nate McLouth put an end to that. The bullpen had done a fine job shutting down the Pirates since taking over for Zambrano in the fifth. The shot by McLouth was the only mistake, but proved to be most costly to the Cubs today.

Offensively, (besides Soriano) Ryan Theriot had two hits for the Cubs. The second allowed him to pass Derek Lee for the season lead in total hits on the team. He now holds the highest batting average of any position player on the team. DeRosa was the third Cub with a multi hit day. The hole in the lineup was in the three, four, five hitters. Lee, Ramirez and Fukudome went a combined zero for twelve. That isn't going to happen every day.

This game is one of those 60 losses you know you'll end up with. The key for a championship caliber team will be to bounce back tomorrow. With the series tied at a game apiece, the Cubs will look for a win on Sunday to take their third series in a row on this homestand.

4/23/08 @ Rockies; W 7-6; (15-6)

What are the chances the Cubs will start every road trip with an extra inning win? I would place a bet that they win the World Series this year before I take the former bet.



The extra inning win last night in Colorado moves the Cubs to 4-0 in extra inning games on the road this year. There seems to be a never say die attitude in this team that has been missing in past years. Remember Bartman? Who could forget! The problem was the attitude following that event. Everyone on the team took that as a sign of the apocalypse, and we were done. I don't think we have that problem this year.



With a 15-6 record...and a little help from the Dodgers beating the D-Backs, the Cubs are now tied for the best record in both leagues!

Woody blew his second save, but ended up with the win. Marmol then relieved in the tenth to pick up his second save.

Theriot was back in the lineup and came through with the big two out hit in the tenth. Speaking of hitting, any idea when the last time the Cubs had two double, two triples, and two home runs in the same game?

This win makes the Cubs the second team to reach 10,000 wins, second only to the Giants in total wins. It was also Piniella's 100th win and tied him for 14th winningest manager all time. I guess there is something to playing all your position players every game! He emptied the bench again today, but did take until the tenth inning to complete it. At least no one can complain about getting their chances.

4/21/08 vs. Mets; W 7-1; (13-6)

I was able to watch the first few innings of this game Monday night. I was out for some drinks with friends of mine before we headed to the Asia concert. I saw Aramis give the Cubs a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth before we left. Turns out that was all the offense needed.

Carlos Zambrano pitched a solid seven innings shutting down the Mets. He wasn't exactly sharp tonight. As we watched the early portion of the game, it appeared he wasn't quite as sharp as you would like. Five of the seven innings he allowed base runners, but had some defensive help cleaning them up in all but the sixth inning.

Like I said in an earlier post, with Marmol and Wood, a lead in the seventh is pretty secure. Sure enough, both Carlos and Kerry faced the minimum number of batters and secured the win. Woody needed only six pitches for the second game in a row. He would have been in line for another save, except the Cubs piled on in their half of the eighth inning.

With the meat of the order coming to the plate, the Cubs capitalized on some mistakes. Derek Lee was safe on an error and Aramis was hit by a pitch. Kosuke singled to load the bases with no one out. DeRosa then struck out and Soto popped up to turn our rally into potential disaster. However, two unlikely heroes came through with two outs. Ronny Cedeno singled, he is now 3-3 with bases loaded this year, followed by a three run blast by Felix Pie. Yes, the Felix Pie who came into the game hitting .172 with no extra base hits. I guess all his batting cage work is finally starting to pay off.

4/18/08 vs Reds; W 3-2; (10-6)

Let's review this Cubs win in reverse. I was only able to watch the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth on TV. Plus, I think a couple of the best performances were at the end of the game. The post game effect of this game, Cubs keep pace with the Brewers and Cardinals who both won on Friday. Still tied for second place in the NL Central.

The top of the ninth didn't take long. Kerry Wood threw six pitches, all of them strikes, to get three outs. Very impressive indeed. Since giving up three runs on opening day, Woody has settled comfortably into his role. In his eight appearances since opening day, he has thrown nine innings, given up only one run, and struck out eight. He has four saves in those eight games and picked up the win in another.

Carlos Marmol gets another quality appearance. We'll forgive the Nate McLouth home run in the eighth, that guy is sick this year with a 16 game hit streak to start the season. In two innings, regardless of the home run, another hit and a walk, he struck out five. In his nine appearances this year, he is averaging just over four outs a game. Seventeen of those have come on strikeouts. Nearly half of his outs are coming on strikeouts and has only given up three runs.

With the starting pitchers struggling to get past the sixth inning successfully, I am sure more comfortable knowing I am going to get three solid innings out of these two guys. When the rotation settles in, and with the offense we have this year, the last three innings of most games should be an elongated victory party.

All the Chicago offense was in the fourth inning. Kosuke lead off the inning with a triple. DeRosa singled to plate the first Cubs run, followed by a double by Geovany Soto. With runners on second and third, no outs, and the game tied, Reed Johnson reached on an infield single to give the Cubs the lead. Two consecutive ground balls advanced and scored Soto to give the Cubs all the runs they would need.

Rich Hill had a decent start going five innings giving up only one run. He picked up his first win of the season for the effort. As Carrie Muskat points out in her cubs.com article, it is the first win for a Cub left hander this year. Hopefully, Ted Lilly will make it a trend in his next start.

Reed Johnson made a fantastic catch in center field. A couple days ago The Bullpen stated that Johnson was a liability, at least compared to Pie, in centerfield. Hopefully this changes his mind. Johnson was two for four and after the game Lou confirmed that Johnson will start Saturday in the lead off spot.