Dubya

Nationals 2
Cubs 4
One day after coming off a disappointing loss to the Nationals, the Cubs continued onward with their winning attitude with a 4-2 win over the Washington Nationals Thursday.

With Derrek Lee taking the day off and President George W. Bush in attendance in front of a small crowd of 22,594 at RFK Stadium, Cubs skipper Lou Piniella inserted a new lineup mixed in with Mike Fontenot back in his more comfortable two-spot in the order, and Daryle Ward taking Lee's spot at 1st and batting third in the order. Cesar Izturis played shortstop for Ryan Theriot and Jacque Jones took over centerfield.

A seemingly power-less Cubs team over the past week displayed their ever strong run producing ability by having a big night by Daryle Ward. He was singled in by Aramis Ramirez in the 4th inning, and doubled to deep center in the 6th inning to score Mike Fontenot.

Sean Marshall pitched a decent outing until the 6th where the Nationals picked up two runs via Dmitri Young's RBI triple to score Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearn's sacrifice fly to score Young to nod up the score at 2-2.

The Cubs would pick up after Marshall by scoring 2 in the 7th inning. Mike Fontenot singled to center to score Angel Pagan and also sending Alfonso Soriano to third. Daryle Ward came through again hitting a sacrifice fly to score Soriano. The Cubs would keep this 4-2 lead to win the game.

Clutch pitching and defense that came through late in the game as Carlos Marmol got out of a bases loaded jam with a nice catch by Daryle Ward from a hard hit liner from Brian Schneider.

The Milwaukee Brewers fell to the Pirates 6-3 Thursday and the Cubs moved to only 4.5 games behind them in the NL Central. The Cubs are now looking to take their winning ways to Pittsburgh before the All-Star break.

Stud of the day-
Daryle Ward

2-4, 2 rbi, 1 run scored

Youtube video of the day-