Cubs 6, Indians 2: Randy Wells gets 1st career Major League win, Cubs sweep Tribe

The Cubs didn't win on a walkoff today but they got the win and completed the sweep of the Indians with a 6-2 win today at Wrigley Field.

Randy Wells finally got his first major league win after he got snubbed by the bullpen and the offense in his first several starts. Wells has to be in the discussion for NL Rookie of the Year if he keeps this up. The only real competition in the NL looks like Colby Rasmus of the St. Louis Cardinals and Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Aside from Wells, the Cubs Iowa call-ups are all stepping up. Jake Fox went 1-3 today with 3 RBI's and Andres Blanco went 1-3 and continued to play great defense over at 2B. Jake Fox is sure to get a few starts as a DH in the upcoming series in Detroit starting on Tuesday.

Earlier today, the Cubs put Angel Guzman (who has been pitching very well this season) on the 15-day DL with a right tricep strain. The Cubs called up Kevin Hart who will pitch in long relief in the bullpen. Kevin did very well in minimal appearances in 2007 but struggled in the big leagues in 2008. Hart was doing very well as a starting pitcher at Iowa.

Geovany Soto is beginning to heat up. Soto hit a line-drive home run of Jeremy Sowers in the 2nd inning to give the Cubs an early 1-0 and they didn't look back after that. Derrek Lee extended his hitting streak to 18 which is tied for his career high for longest hitting streak. He had 18 straight games with a hit back in his amazing 2005 campaign. Lee went 1-4 today with an RBI. Milton Bradley also extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-3 day today.

The Cubs are back in Atlanta for one game tomorrow to make-up a rainout from June 4th. Former White Sox starter Javier Vasquez will go head-to-head against Ryan Dempster. The Cubs will then get on a plane and travel to Detroit for a 3 game series starting Tuesday at Comerica Park. Let's make it 5 in a row with a win in Atlanta and take at least 2 of 3 in Detroit.

I'll give the Cubs player of the game award to Jake Fox for his 1-3, 3 RBI day. Other options could have been Soto and Lee.

And in other news, the Cubs have gone 4-0 since I got this blog going again. Obviously I need to continue. Go Cubs!

Cubs 6, Indians 5: Cardiac Cubs pull through again

I've been to plenty of great games over the years but this may have been the best I've ever been to. The Cubs beat the Indians 6-5 today with their 3rd straight walkoff win. Some other great games I attended in the past few years include last year's Cubs/Pirates game on August 3rd, 2008 where the Pirates came back from a 3 run hole in the 8th inning only to have Reed Johnson crush a 2 run shot in the left field bleachers in the bottom of that inning. Alfonso Soriano followed up with a home run in the next at-bat. Another great game I attended was a White Sox/Red Sox game on July 9th, 2006 which lasted 19 innings. This game almost felt like it would last that long but luckily it didn't with the Cubs bullpen being used a ton early in the game.

The Cubs got down early in the 1st as the first two Indians batters doubled off the wall giving them a 1-0 lead. Luis Valabuena hit his 2nd home run in two games in the 2nd inning to give the Indians a 2-0 lead and Lilly would hold them there for the next few innings. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Derrek Lee hit a 2 run shot in the right field bleachers to tie the game up at 2. Derrek Lee has now gotten a hit in 17 consecutive games. In the top of the 6th inning, Jhonny Peralta belted his 3rd home run of the year deep in the left-center field bleachers to put the Indians back on top. In the bottom of the 6th, Micah Hoffpauir hit a 2 run homer in the right field bleachers (correctly predicted by Bob Brenly) to give the Cubs a 1 run lead. In the top of the 7th inning, Jose Ascanio came in and got the first batter out but then proceeded to walk the next batter and gave up a single to the batter after that. Lou then put in Sean Marshall to face the lefty Travis Hafner who got a bloop single. Then Lou came out and put in Carlos Marmol who struck out the first batter he faced on a 3-2 count but then walked in a run after going 1-2 on Jhonny Peralta tying the game at 4.

The game would stay tied at four all the way until the 13th inning when Luis Valabuena belted his 3rd home run of the series and 4th home run of the season in the left field bleachers off reliever David Patton breaking the tie. In fact, all of Valabuena's home runs this season have come in Chicago (1 at US Cellular Field, 3 at Wrigley). Patton preceded to get the final out sending the game to the bottom of the 13th. The first batter for the Cubs was Kosuke Fukudome who ripped a single to right center for a leadoff single. The next batter Koyie Hill struck out but Kosuke stole 2nd and went to 3rd on an overthrow by catcher Kelly Shoppach. The next batter Andres Blanco singled right up the middle just past a diving Luis Valabuena scoring Fukudome and tying the game back up at 5. Why the Indians had the infield in on that I don't know. They could have easily gotten the out at first (still would have scored the runner but prevented Blanco from reaching) if they did not have the infield in. Aaron Miles then stepped up and hit a bloop single down the 1st base line sending Blanco to 3rd. Indians closer Kerry Wood then threw a wild pitch way outside scoring Blanco and giving the Cubs their 3rd straight walkoff win.

The Cubs go for the sweep and their 4th straight victory tomorrow at 1:20 PM on Comcast SportsNet. Randy Wells will go head-to-head against Jeremy Sowers. Wells needs to pitch like he did in his first few starts and go deep into the ballgame with the bullpen as tired as it is. There is a slight chance of rain tomorrow but it looks like it will be another nice day.

The Player of the Game today has to go to Kosuke Fukudome who went 4-5 in this game and had that big leadoff single in the bottom of the 13th inning as well as the stolen base/passed ball.

The St. Louis Cardinals moved into first place today with their 7-1 win over the Kansas City Royals and the Milwaukee Brewers 9-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs moved into 3rd place alone with the Chicago White Sox beating the Cincinnati Reds 10-8 today. So the Cubs are now tied in the loss column with the Milwaukee Brewers and only 2.5 games out of first place now. So a pretty successful day again for us.

Indians @ Cubs 6/20/09 Preview

TV: WGN

Radio: WGN AM 720

Time: 12:05 PM

Pitching Matchup:

Ted Lilly (7-4, 2.94 ERA)

Indians vs Ted Lilly

vs.

Tomo Ohka (0-1, 4.24 ERA)

Cubs vs Tomo Ohka

The Cubs are coming off two dramatic comeback wins and are looking for a 3 game win streak. Ted Lilly has been fantastic this season posting a 2.94 ERA in 13 starts thus far. In Ted's last start, he went 7.2 innings giving up 2 runs on 9 hits in a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. Ted has easily been the most consistent Cubs starter in the rotation. His shortest outing was 6 innings in his first start of the year against Houston. No Indian has really had success against Ted Lilly in the past. Jamey Carroll is 3-10 with a home run and 3 RBI's. Mark DeRosa is 2-10 against Lilly with a home run.

Tomo Ohka is coming off a good outing on June 13th against the St. Louis Cardinals in just his 1st start of the season. Ohka went 7 innings allowing 7 hits and 2 runs in a 3-1 loss to the Cardinals dropping him to 0-1 on the year. Ohka threw 96 pitches in the outing, 69 of those for strikes. The Cubs hottest hitter, Derrek Lee, has had a ton of success against Ohka in his career. Lee is a career 7-20 against Ohka with 3 home runs and 7 RBI's. Alfonso Soriano is the only other Cub with success against Ohka. Soriano is a career 2-2 against him with a walk. The other Cubs with career at-bats against Ohka include Reed Johnson, Koyie Hill, Carlos Marmol, Aaron Miles, and Aaron Heilman. Those 5 guys are a combined 0-14 vs Ohka.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I will be attending this game. My 2nd game of the season, the first being that Sunday Night disaster against the Los Angeles Dodgers which was one of the worst baseball games I have ever attended.

The weather is finally going to cooperate for once as it is supposed to be sunny with a high of around 84 degrees. Let's take advantage of the nice weather and make it 3 in a row and get on a long win streak. Go Cubs!

Cubs 8, Indians 7: And that happened

The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in one of the wildest Cubs games in years and there have been plenty. The Rockies/Cubs game 2 years ago when the Rockies came all the way back (much like the Cubs today) to take the lead in the top of the 9th only to have the Cubs steal it away with 2 in the bottom of that inning thanks to a 2 run single by Alfonso Soriano. That was one of the games that sparked that 2007 Chicago Cubs team to a division title. This also gives memories of that Cubs/Rockies game last year where the Cubs came back from an 8-0 hole to win the game. Mark DeRosa was the hero in the game hitting a huge 3 run home run in the bottom of the 7th to give the Cubs their first lead of the day. Today's game was delayed until 2:45 PM thanks to rain and the threat of rain. During the rain delay, Comcast SportsNet oddly enough showed the finish of last year's Cubs/Brewers game on September 18th, 2008 where the Cubs scored 4 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th capped off by Geovany Soto's 3 run homer that tied the game. The Cubs ended up winning that game in the 12th inning thanks to a Derrek Lee single that scored Jason Marquis. That win would put the Cubs magic number to win the NL Central at 2 and of course the Cubs finished the deal 2 days later against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now onto today's game. I was preparing a losing recap where I was going to state how the momentum from yesterday's win was gone but throw that out. The Cubs won a thrilling game today. At one point, they trailed 7-0. Rich Harden probably had his worst start as a Cub today giving up two 3-run homers in two of the first three innings. One to Luis Valbuena and the other to Victor Martinez. Former Cub Mark DeRosa chipped in with an RBI single in the 4th to make it a 7-0 lead. At this point, I turned off the TV and did other business for a little bit as I thought the Cubs had absolutley no shot at winning this game against last year's AL Cy Young winner and with the way the Cubs have been hitting thus far this season. Reed Johnson and Derrek Lee hit solo shots in the 5th and 6th innings as the Cubs tried to fight their way back into the game. Cliff Lee finally was taken out of the game in the 8th inning as the Cubs fought their way back with a huge rally. Milton Bradley led off the inning with a single to center which got Lee out of the game after 109 pitches thrown. Joe Smith, a sidearm throwing reliever, came in and struck out Derrek Lee before giving up a double to Geovany Soto sending Milton Bradley to 3rd. The next batter Jake Fox (who got his first start at 3rd base today) struck out on an awful outside pitch. Reed Johnson then walked loading the bases for Andres Blanco who hit a broken bat single scoring two runs and pulling the Cubs within three runs. The Indians then went to reliever Rafael Perez who faced pinch-hitter Koyie Hill. Hill grounded a ball to Peralta who bobbled the ball allowing a run to score and allowing Hill to reach first base safely. The next batter Alfonso Soriano singled scoring yet another run to make the defcit 1. Matt Herges then came in to relive Perez and he got Ryan Theriot to fly out to end the threat.

In the top of the 9th inning, Carlos Marmol came in and walked two batters but managed to get out of the jam by striking out Victor Martinez with two outs. In the bottom of that inning, former Cub Kerry Wood came in to close the game with a standing ovation by the Wrigley faithful. The first batter of the inning Milton Bradley got the count to 3-2 but ended up popping out to swallow left. Derrek Lee then stepped up and ripped a homer into the left field bleachers tying the game. This home run by Lee almost reminded me of Jim Edmonds' home run in the left field bleachers in that 3-2 win on throwback day last year against the Atlanta Braves. Both home runs tied the game in the bottom of the 9th with the Cubs down to their last outs and both home runs were hit in basically the same spot of the bleachers.

The Cubs committed a few defensive miscues in the top of the 10th inning but luckily none of them came back to hurt us in the end. Kevin Gregg came into the game in that inning and allowed Shin-Soo Choo to reach on an infield single. Two batters later after a fielders choice, Kelly Shoppach hit what looked to be a foul ball into the lower level near the visiting dugout but the wind brought the ball back into play. But Derrek Lee could not make the catch giving Shoppach another chance and he took full advantage of it hitting a ball to Alfonso Soriano who looked to have a beat on the ball but he whiffed on it allowing Peralta to get to 2nd and Shoppach to reach on an error. Gregg hit the next batter but got out of the jam by getting Ryan Garko to lineout to Kosuke Fukudome.

In the bottom of the 10th, Luis Vizcaino came in replacing Wood. He got the first two batters out but walked Alfonso Soriano. Soriano then stole 2nd getting him into scoring position for Ryan Theriot. On a 3-2 count, Theriot hit the ball on the end of the bat that bounced away from Martinez just as he was about to make a play on the ball and Alfonso Soriano scored giving the Cubs a huge comeback win.

With Tomo Ohka pitching tomorrow and Jeremy Sowers going Sunday, this was a huge win for the Cubs especially off of last year's Cy Young winner (not that it was Lee's fault his bullpen is horrendous). Now the Cubs have two huge walkoff, comeback victories in a row. Let's win a 8-1 game tomorrow. Not sure if I can handle another close game like this. I'll be there tomorrow. Go Cubs! As for the player of the game today, it has to be Derrek Lee who hit 2 home runs today including the one in the 9th sending the game into extras.

Indians @ Cubs 6/19/09 Preview

Time: 1:20 PM
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: WGN AM 720
Pitching Matchup:
Rich Harden (4-3, 4.53 ERA)

Indians vs Rich Harden

vs.
Cliff Lee (4-6, 2.88 ERA)

Cubs vs Cliff Lee

This is one of those series I had circled on my Cubs schedule since March. Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa will both return to Wrigley Field this weekend and will both most likely get huge standing ovations. As I said earlier today, hopefully the only time we see Kerry in this series is in a non-save situation with us being up big.

Now on to the pitching matchup and it is a great one. Rich Harden and Cliff Lee. Rich Harden is a much better pitcher at night. This year he has a 5.28 ERA in 6 appearances during the daytime while he has a 3.32 ERA in 3 starts. Rich is coming off a 2-0 loss on June 13th where he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings against the Minnesota Twins in his first appearance since coming off the disabled list dropping him to 4-3 on the year. Harden did strike out nine Twins in the game. Some notables for the Indians against Rich Harden, Travis Hafner is 4-9 lifetime with a home run, 5 RBI's, and 4 walks. Victor Martinez is 1-5 against Harden good for a .200 batting average. The only other Indian that has gotten a hit off Rich Harden is Ryan Garko who is 1-1 career against him.

Cliff Lee is coming off one of the best starts of his season as he no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals through 7 innings on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Lee ended up going the distance in that game allowing only 3 hits and not allowing a run. He threw only 93 pitches in that game. The game only lasted 1 hour and 58 minutes. Lee was last year's AL Cy Young award winner after going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA. Lee's Indians only won 81 games last year so 22 wins was that more impressive. While Lee's record isn't that impressive thus far in the season (4-6), he's been just as impressive posting a 2.88 ERA in 14 starts. If the Cubs hit like they have these past two months (excluding the last 2 innings today), look for this to be another dominating effort by a pitcher against us.

Only 5 guys on the Cubs have faced Cliff Lee in their career. Alfonso Soriano is 3-8 against Lee with a home run and 3 RBI's. Milton Bradley is 2-9 with a home run and 3 RBI's. Reed Johnson is 2-5 against Lee.

Tomorrow's weather forecast for this game does not look good at all:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. West southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

But then again, today's weather forecast didn't look good as well and they got the game in with no problems so hopefully the same will go for this one.

Let's win this one and get on a little win streak. The NL Central is still very winnable and ours for the taking. Go Cubs!

Cubs 6, White Sox 5: The game that could turnaround the season

The Cubs won a dramatic 6-5 game against the Crosstown rival Chicago White Sox. The first 6 innings of the game looked like a typical Cubs (and White Sox) game this season as both teams put together just 1 run apiece. But in the 7th inning, Alexei Ramirez ripped a 2 run homer into the leftfield bleachers and at that point I figured the game was over. To make matters worse, the White Sox scraped out 2 more runs in the top of the 8th to give them a 5-1 lead. This was probably Carlos Marmol's worst outing of the season in what has been a sub-par season for him. The Cubs needed at least 4 runs in 2 innings to keep them (and probably their season) alive and they came through in a big way.

Micah Hoffpauir led off the 8th with a groundball to White Sox shortstop Chris Getz who committed an error on the play allowing Micah to reach first. The next batter Alfonso Soriano (still in that awful slump) took what looked to be strike 3 on a 1-2 pitch from Scott Linebrink but home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman called it ball 2. Soriano would go on to single in that at-bat moving Hoffpauir to 2nd. Ryan Theriot popped out to 2nd in the next at-bat and it sure looked like it was another typical 2009 Chicago Cubs inning. But Derrek Lee came up and ripped a home run into the basket in right field pulling the Cubs within one. I mentioned yesterday that the Cubs had not hit a home run with a man on base in over 30 games. Well there it was. The very next batter Geovany Soto homered to deep left center tying the game.

Kevin Gregg came in to try and hold the White Sox at five in the top of the 9th and while he allowed a leadoff hit to Alexei Ramirez, he didn't allow him to get much farther shutting the White Sox down in that inning.

In the top of the 9th, Reed Johnson (pinch-hitting for Kosuke Fukudome) led off with a single. The next batter Andres Blanco laid down a perfect sacrafice bunt to get Reed over to 2nd. The Cubs had two chances to win the game at that point. Aaron Miles came up and grounded out to Alexei Ramirez for the 2nd out. Once again, looked like the Cubs would fail to score here and we would go to extra innings. But Alfonso Soriano came up and blooped a single into right centerfield winning the game for the Cubs in dramatic fashion.

Lost in this game because of the offensive struggles early for both teams were two good starts by Carlos Zambrano and Gavin Floyd. Zambrano went 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 runs while striking out 3. Floyd went 7 innings allowing 3 hits while striking out 2. Kevin Gregg earned the win with a great performence after walking the leadoff man.

Now the Indians come into town for a 3 game series which means the return of Mark DeRosa and Kerry Wood. We'll probably see DeRosa in all 3 games and he'll probably hit .500 and hit 3 home runs in the series. Hopefully the only time we see Kerry in this series is with a 6 run lead. DeRosa and Wood are going to obviously get huge ovations from the Wrigley faithful.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the weather isn't looking good for tomorrow's game:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 88. West southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

If they are unable to get tommorrow's game in, they will probably try and play a doubleheader on either Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure if they are allowed to play night games on the weekend if they do have to play a doubleheader. Otherwise, the Cubs will have to waste another offday sometime later in the season to make this one up.

As for the Cubs player of the game, I was between Alfonso Soriano (for the game-winning hit as well as the hit in the 8th that continued the rally in that big inning) or Derrek Lee (for his big 3 run homer in the 8th that was followed up by the Geovany Soto solo shot). I went with Derrek Lee because without him, we don't win this game.

Rich Harden vs Cliff Lee tomorrow. Should be a good pitching matchup. Let's pull out the win.

White Sox @ Cubs 6/18/09 Preview

TV: WGN (Len and Bob) and Comcast SportsNet (Hawk and Stoney)
Radio: WGN AM 720 (Pat and Ron) and WSCR 670 AM (Farmer and DJ)

Pitching Matchup:
Carlos Zambrano (4-2, 3.39 ERA)

White Sox vs Carlos Zambrano

vs.
Gavin Floyd (4-5, 4.94 ERA)

Cubs vs Gavin Floyd

Gavin Floyd isn't having as good of a season as he had last year but he's still capable of shutting an offense down and judging by the fact that the Cubs offense has still not woken up this season, that's not a good thing. Floyd had his best outing of the year last start as he gave up 1 run and 5 hits to the Detroit Tigers in 8 innings. He did not get the win in that game as Bobby Jenks gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson in the top of the 9th but the White Sox did go on to win that game. In the start before that, Floyd gave up 2 runs and 5 hits to the Cleveland Indians in 6.2 innings striking out 7 in the process as he grabbed his 4th win of the year. The only Cub with an at-bat against Gavin is Alfonso Soriano who is 1-4 against him. Hopefully this is the game which gets Soriano on a hot streak and gets him out of this horrendous slump.

Carlos Zambrano is coming into this one after allowing 1 run and 3 hits to the Houston Astros in a losing effort way back on June 10th. Like Floyd, Zambrano's last start was probably his best start of the year. The White Sox have seen Carlos Zambrano plenty of times. Some notables, Paul Konerko has hit 4 home runs off Carlos in 22 plate apperances. Konerko is hitting 7-22 against Zambrano which is good for a .318 BA. Scott Podsednik is 6-26 against Zambrano good for a .231 BA and Zambrano has struck him out a total of 7 times. AJ Piersynski is hitting .333 against Zambrano with a home run.

Hopefully the Cubs can break through a grab a split in this quick 2 game series. Is this the game the Cubs hit a home run with a man on base? The Cubs haven't hit a home run with a man on base in more than 30 games.

Today's forecast:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Hopefully they can get this game in. Tommorrow's game against the Indians could be affected by weather as well. They may have to end up playing a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.

What's wrong with the 2009 Chicago Cubs?

It's June 18th, and the 2009 Chicago Cubs are currently 30-31 and 4 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and in 4th place behind the Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds. The Cubs are closer to last place (Astros 2 games behind Cubs) than they are closer to first place.

On Sunday, the Cubs fired their hitting coach Gerald Perry in favor of Von Joshua who spent 4 years as hitting coach with the Iowa Cubs and worked with Ryan Theriot, Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot, and others done there.

Alfonso Soriano's contract is looking worse and worse as the days go by as he is only in his 3rd year of an 8 year contract. Soriano is quickly approaching the Mendoza Line and he has just looked lost at the plate these past two months after his quick start.

Speaking of Mendoza Line, Aaron Miles is hovering around it and his OPS has dropped below 500. I think it's time to end this ill-faded Aaron Miles experiment and just let him go. Either play Jake Fox at 3rd base and move Fontenot to 2nd (he's been awful as well) or just put Blanco back at 2nd. While he can't hit (although he is on par with Aaron Miles in terms of offense and may be a little better) he's a much better fielder than Miles. The only two guys that have impressed me in this lineup over the past week or two is Derrek Lee and Milton Bradley. Lee has been fantastic the past month after his career looked like it was heading down the toilet in April. And Milton Bradley is finally starting to hit the ball with some consistency although his fielding has been shotty to say the least.

It's hard to believe Alfonso Soriano is the Cubs RBI leader with just 28 RBI's. In fact, Northsidebaseball.com poster UMFan83 has this fun (or not so fun) fact:

(The first number is how many hitters have more than 28 RBIs, the second number is how many RBIs the leader has)

ARI - 2, 45
ATL - 3, 35
BAL - 4, 44
BOS - 4, 63
CHW - 3, 41
CIN - 3, 43
CLE - 4, 49
COL - 4, 47
DET - 3, 42
FLA - 5, 43
HOU - 3, 40
KAN - 2, 30
LAA - 4, 51
LAD - 5, 44
MIL - 4, 63
MIN - 5, 55
NYY - 5, 55
NYM - 2, 39
OAK - 3, 38
PHI - 6, 59
PIT - 3, 34
SDG - 2, 43
SFO - 3, 39
SEA - 3, 40
STL - 3, 58
TAM - 5, 59
TEX - 4, 46
TOR - 6, 47
WAS - 4, 46

Some interesting things pulled from that
- Every team has at least 2 guys with more RBIs than the Cubs best RBI guy
- The Phillies and Blue Jays each have 6 GUYS with more RBIs than the Cubs leader. The Jays actually have a 7th hitter, who is tied with Soriano with 28 RBIs. 7/9 hitters have as many or more RBIs than the Cubs best guy
- Every team but 3 in the league has at least one guy with 10 more RBIs than Soriano
- All in all, 107 different players have more RBIs than Soriano's 28. Unbelievable

And remember that horrible 2006 Chicago Cubs team? While the 2009 Chicago Cubs have much better pitching than that horrid team, the 2009 Chicago Cubs are on pace to score less runs over the course of the season than that 2006 Chicago Cubs team did.

Is it time to fire Lou? Not sure if we're at that point yet but I think we're getting very close. Lou just doesn't seem like he has that passion he had in his first two years here. The Colorado Rockies recently went on an 11 game win streak after firing their manager Clint Hurdle replacing him with former Red Sox and Dodgers manager Jim Tracy. The 2003 Florida Marlins fired their manager, Jeff Torborg after 38 games and replaced him with Jack McKeon and they went on to win the World Series. I would not be surprised if Lou retired after this season especially if the Cubs miss the playoffs. Again, I'm not saying the Cubs should fire Lou right this minute but if this team continues to struggle like they are, it's an option worth looking at.

In other Cubs news, the Cubs are apparently scouting Pedro Martinez down in the Dominican Republic and may end up signing him in the next coming weeks. While I would like the Cubs to focus on getting a capable hitter in this lineup, this could mean the Cubs are looking to deal someone currently in the rotation for a position player. Say a Ted Lilly or a Rich Harden. There are a few good options out on the trade market such as Miguel Tejada, Matt Holliday, and Mark DeRosa that the Cubs could be looking at.

And yes, I'm back and blogging hopefully for the rest of the season. Although if this team continues to play like they have, I'll probably have less and less to say each day. This team is that frustrating. I'd argue that this Cubs team is more frustrating than the horrible 2006 Cubs team and more than half of Cubs fans would probably agree with me based on the expectations. Hopefully the Cubs can turn this season around for the better though.

Cubs take another bite out of the Big Apple

Who said the Cubs were only playing good since they were beating easy teams? Many experts (especially the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network) had the Mets representing the National League in this year's World Series.
The Cubs swept a two game series against the Mets with an 8-1 win at Wrigley.

The star of the game had to be Ted Lilly who has struggled out of the gate. His velocity has been down and he hasn't been able to throw strikes but today he was just flat out dominant. It took 4 innings for Lilly to surrender a hit. In that 4th inning, the Mets loaded the bases with 1 out for the struggling Carlos Delgado who popped up to swallow left. The next batter Damien Easily hit a pop fly that looked like it was going to drop down in the gap but Mark DeRosa made a great over the shoulder catch to get Ted Lilly out of trouble.

In the bottom of the 4th, Ronnie Cedeno hit a line drive down the right field line which was bobbled by ex-Cub Angel Pagan allowing Kosuke Fukudome to score all the way from first base. After Henry Blanco was stupidly intentionally walked, Ted Lilly hit a ground ball to the second baseman who picked it up cleanly but the dumbass pitcher did not get over to first base to cover and Ted Lilly beat it out. The next batter Reed Johnson hit a bloop single to left driving in two runs and giving the Cubbies a 3-0 lead in the 4th.

After a 6th inning Mets run, the Cubs got it back in the 7th inning on a Mark DeRosa single to right center. The real fireworks occurred in the 8th inning when Felix Pie and Derrek Lee led off the inning with back-to-back singles. After Aramis flew out to left field, Kosuke Fukudome took a walk loading up the bases for Mark DeRosa with 1 out. DeRosa grounded to Jose Reyes who went home with the ball instead of going for the routine double play and this would prove costly for the Mets. Ronnie Cedeno got the count to 0-1 when he hit a fly ball down the left field line just landing fair for a Grand Slam and busting the game wide open (See video below).

The Cubs go to 14-6 on the year which is their best start since 1975 and the Cubs go for their 6th win in a row tomorrow night at 7:30 PM on Comcast SportsNet Plus against the Colorado Rockies. Franklin Morales takes on Rich Hill

Now Ronnie Cedeno's Grand Slam:

Ronny-Cedeno-Grand-Slam-42208 - Get Video Code

Z!

The Chicago Cubs moved to 13-6 on the year with a 7-1 win over the New York Mets.

It may look like a blowout but the Cubs only led 2-1 going into the 8th inning before Felix Pie and company blew it wide open. Derrek Lee led off the inning hitting a little grounder to shortstop where Jose Reyes bobbled the ball allowing Lee to reach safely at 1st. The next batter, Aramis Ramirez, was hit by a pitch. Kosuke Fukudome had a great 10 pitch at-bat and on the 10th pitch he lined a single through the left side of the infield loading the bases for Mark DeRosa. DeRosa struck out and the next batter Geovany Soto flied out in the infield. Ronny Cedeño got it to a 2-2 count before lining a single up the middle score 2 runs and giving the Cubs a 4-1 lead. After Heilman was taken out for Jorge Sosa, Felix Pie lined a home run into the right field bleachers busting the game wide open and giving the Cubs a 7-1 lead. Good teams take advantage of other teams mistakes and the Cubs took advantage of a Jose Reyes error and scored 5 runs in the 8th inning busting the game wide open.

Kerry Wood came into the game in a non-save situation and sent the top 3 Mets hitters down in order giving the Cubs their 5th straight victory.

Carlos Zambrano had another great outing tonight as he went 7 innings striking out 4 and giving up 5 hits and 1 run. Zamrbano lowers his season ERA to an outstanding 2.67 and he continues to avoid walking hitters something he struggled with last year.

If the Diamondbacks lose tonight to the Giants (Down 2-1) the Cubs tie the Diamondbacks for the best record in baseball. I know it is early, but this is the latest I can remember with the Cubs having a share of the best record in baseball. Another rarity occurring is the fact that both baseball teams in Chicago are in first place in their respective division.

The Cubs play an afternoon game against the Mets tomorrow as the struggling Ted Lilly (0-3) takes on journeyman pitcher Nelson Figueroa (1-0). The game will begin at 1:20 Central and will be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Mets @ Cubs 4/21/08 6:05 PM ESPN

Mets
Reyes, SS
Castillo, 2B
Wright, 3B
Beltran, CF
Delgado, 1B
Church, RF
Casanova, C
Chavez, LF
Maine, P

Cubs
Johnson, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Fukudome, RF
DeRosa, LF
Soto, C
Fontenot, 2B
Zambrano, P

Cubs Sweep the Bucs;Cub Nation is back

After a long absence I am finally back to blogging and the Cubs are off to a terrific 12-6 start and are on top of the NL Central. The Cubs continued their winning ways with a 13-6 victory today over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Reed Johnson has fit in very nicely for the injured Alfonso Soriano and has proved to be a great pick-up early on this year. Reed led the game off with a double only to be driven in on a Ryan Theriot base hit.

Ryan Dempster started off the game giving a leadoff base hit to Nate McLouth and a base hit to Freddy Sanchez but after he got Jason Bay to ground into a 5-3 double play he did not let up a base hit until the 5th inning.

Dempster did struggle in the 5th inning though giving up a leadoff single to Xavier Nady. Jose Bautista then hit a double into the ivy sending Nady to 3rd. Dempster hit the next batter loading the bases for Doug Mientkiewicz who singled driving in Nady and trimming the Cubs lead to four. Ryan then walked the next batter Nate McLouth making it a 5-2 Cubs lead. Dempster then got Freddy Sanchez to ground into a force out making it a 5-3 Cubs lead. After a Jason Bay walk to load up the bases again, Lou let Dempster stay in the game to try and get the win. Dempster struck out Adam LaRoche to end the inning and the Cubs poured it on after that putting the game out of reach with a 5 run 5th.

Aramis Ramirez had another big day going 4-5 with a home run and 5 RBI's. Derrek Lee
went 2-4 with 2 RBI's. But the story of the day was Ryan Theriot who went 4-5 with 2 RBI's.

The Cubs go to 6-0 against the Pirates this year and 9-3 against the NL Central. The Cubs continue to dominate left handed pitching something that they had trouble with last year.

One note, Kosuke Fukudome was scratched from this game due to swelling from a cyst above his right eye. The article mentions that it was the first time this year Fukudome was not in the lineup but I think Lou gave him the day off a few days ago. Fukudome should be in the lineup Monday Night against the Mets.

The Mets game will be seen locally on WCIU and nationally on ESPN. Carlos Zambrano (2-1) will face John Maine (1-1) as the Cubs look to win 7 of their last 8 games.

The Cubs faced John Maine twice last year and hit him hard both times:
May 15th, 2007
August 4th, 2007

Cubs Push for the Playoffs

http://www.mediafire.com/?xz4oftwomxb

State of Cub Nation

We won't be around much this offseason but any trade rumors or breaking news will be posted here. Otherwise, we will see you March 31st, 2008 for another great year of Cubs baseball.
GO CUBS!

Comedy Central

It's a stumble to the finish. Nobody wants the NL Central crown. The Cubs lost for the 4th time in-a-row and the 5th time in 6 days. The Cubs are 0-4 since Alfonso Soriano got hurt on Sunday Night versus the Mets. The Brewers got crushed today by a score of 19-4. Rookie sensation Gallardo gave up 11 runs in 3 innings today. The Cubs lost by a score of 8-2 as the Astros completed the sweep. Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio, and Jason Lane all hit homers today for the Astros. The only Cub player to homer in this series was Matt Murton.
Good news today was Felix Pie was called up as Angel Pagan mysteriously went to the DL. The Cubs now have Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Felix Pie, and Matt Murton all called up and Giovanni Soto should be called up soon.
The Cubs are in Colorado tomorrow night trying to end the drought. Ted Lilly will take the hill and hopefully he will pick up another victory.

Cubs Stand Pat/Cubs Hang With Brewers

Jim Hendry decided to stand pat yesterday on the Trade Deadline day. Some thought he would go after Ken Griffey Jr or Adam Dunn but Jimbo didn't budge.

Meanwhile, the Cubs won last night by a score of 7-3 hanging with the Brewers yet again. Jacque Jones hit a key double that gave the Cubs a 5-3 lead and Jason Kendall put the game out of reach in the 7th. The Brewers won in 13 inning last night thanks to a Geoff Jenkins homer. The Cubs are still 1 game back of the Brewers.

MLB Trade Rumors

I will keep updated this blog with rumors and trades.

---The Cubs reportedly still have a shot at acquiring Eric Gagne, who could be used as a closer over Ryan Dempster.

The Journal News' Peter Abraham believes the Red Sox and the Cubs are the favorites, with the Red Sox offering David Murphy and Kason Gabbard. If Boston moves Gabbard, it means Jon Lester would get to stick around as the team's fifth starter.

7/30 Phillies (Hamels) @ Cubs (Lilly)

Time: 6:05 CST
Network: ESPN (HD), Comcast SportsNet (HD)

Pitchers:
Hamels 11-5, 3.63 ERA
VS
Lilly11-4, 3.46 ERA

Super Collapse!

The Brewers were up 5-0 when I left work. I will stop right there and finish that story later. The Cubs won again today by a score of 6-0. Carlos Zambrano once again was magnificent as he went 7.1 innings allowing just 2 hits and 0 runs. Zambrano struck out 6 in this game. I was listening to this game at work and I will say it was glad to here Pat Hughes again. Pat was out a few games with a stomach virus. The Cubs got out to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to a clutch double by Aramis Ramierz. In the 2nd inning Alfonso Soriano appeared to hit a home run but it was ruled fan interference by ground's crew chief Cowboy Joe West. The replay clearly showed the ball hit off a fan's chest over the railing. This may be another reason why MLB needs instant replay. That play wasn't costly as the Cubs scored another 2 runs in the 7th thanks to a 2 run homer by Derrek Lee who may be getting his power back. The Cubs finished off the Reds by scoring 2 more runs in the 9th and Bobby Howry shut down the Reds in the 9th giving the Cubs the series win.
Now it is time for the Brewers recap.
As I said before, the Brewers were leading 5-0 when I left work in the 5th inning. Gallardo was throwing a no-hitter at this time. I turned on AM 620 in my car and listened as the Cardinals scored 4 runs in the 5th. Then in the 8th the Cardinals score 5 more runs to ensure a victory. The Cubs are now just 1/2 game behind the Brewers for the division lead and they are just 1 game behind the Diamondbacks for the Wild Card thanks to some help from the Braves.
The Cubs are heading back home tonight for a big 4 game series versus the Philadelphia Phillies followed by a big 3 game series against the New York Mets. Let's go at least 4-3 on this homestand and hope these 2 teams give the Brewers damage as well.
GO CUBS!

Cubs Bring Sexy Back

Just when you think the Cubs forgot what a home run was they hit 3 homers today including 2 by Alfonso Soriano in the Cubs 8-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. Derrek Lee started off the game hitting a 2 run homer off of Red's starter Aaron Harang. Aaron Harang pitched 10 innings last Monday against the Brewers but Harang only lasted 1 inning today after leaving the game with an injury. Mike Gosling came in the ballgame in the 2nd inning and gave up a 3 run homer to Alfonso Soriano his 17th of the year. Alfonso Soriano hit a 2 run homer in the 9th inning as well which was his 18th of the year. Ryan Dempster struggled in the bottom of the 9th but ended up getting out of a bases loaded jam even with the score 8-1.
In good news, the Milwaukee Brewers had a 5-0 lead in game 1 of a doubleheader but the Cardinals whittled back into it and won the game with a 2 run rally in the bottom of the 9th to help their arch rivals out.
In game 2 of the doubleheader, the Cardinals beat the Brewers 5-2 meaning the Cubs gained 1 1/2 games on the Brewers in 1 day and now trail the Brewers by 1.5 games in the division. The Cubs are also now tied with the Brewers in the loss column as well.