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Category :: Let's Play 2 - Game Recap
Game Three of Five - Cubs 1 Dodgers 3 WP - Hiroki Kuroda (1-0) LP - Rich Harden (0-1) Save - Jonathan Broxton (1) Dodgers Win Series, 3-0 The magical season of 2008 turned into a nightmare as the Cubs were swept out of the playoffs for the second year in a row. Lou Piniella's crew was outplayed in every aspect of the game in the series against the Dodgers. After giving away the first...
Game Two of Five - Cubs 3 Dodgers 10 WP - Chad Billingsley (1-0) LP - Carlos Zambrano (0-1) Save - None Dodgers Lead Series, 2-0 Lou Piniella's crew played their worst game of the entire season in what was deemed a must win before the night began. For all of the struggles and issues Carlos Zambrano has had since the first of August, he did his part and pitched a great game. Zambrano kept...
Game One of Five - Cubs 2 Dodgers 7 WP - Derek Lowe (1-0) LP - Ryan Dempster (0-1) Save - None The Los Angeles Dodgers took the first step at advancing to the next round with an impressive win against Lou Piniella's crew in game one of the National League Division Series. Ryan Dempster could not find the strike zone and walked a season-high 7 batters in 4 2/3 innings. Dempster tossed 109 pitches,...
Game One Hundred Sixty-One - Cubs 1 Brewers 3 WP - CC Sabathia (17-10, 11-2) LP - Bobby Howry (7-5) Save - None The 2008 National League Central Division Champions completed the regular season the same way it began, with a loss by Bobby Howry to the Milwaukee Brewers. In between the Cubs posted a remarkable 97-62 record to finish the year with a 97-64 mark, 33 games over .500....the highest win total for any...
Game One Hundred Sixty - Cubs 7 Brewers 3 WP - Ted Lilly (17-9) LP - Ben Sheets (13-9) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew picked up their 97th win of the year behind a tremendous outing from Ted Lilly. After a horrible start to the season Lilly became the first Cub lefty to post 17 wins in a season since Ken Holtzman in 1970. Lilly followed up his 1-hit gem against the Astros at...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine - Cubs 1 Brewers 5 WP - Seth McClung (6-6) LP - Sean Marshall (3-5) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew lost for the first time at Miller Park this season on Friday night after a poorly played ballgame. Other than Ryan Dempster the Cubs looked tired and did nothing against Jeff Suppan and Seth McClung at the plate. The Cubs ran themselves out of two innings and a rare catcher's...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Eight - Cubs 6 Mets 7 WP - Joe Smith (6-3) LP - Kevin Hart (2-2) Save - None Lou Piniella's bullpen could not hold the lead Micah Hoffpauir gave them on Thursday night in the rain. Hoffpauir turned in a career performance and could have earned a spot on the Cubs' playoff roster with Daryle Ward struggling as a pinch hitter this season. Hoffpauir drove in 5 runs with a 5-for-5...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Seven - Cubs 9 Mets 6 - 10 innings WP - Bobby Howry (7-4) LP - Luis Ayala (2-10) Save - Kerry Wood (34) Before recapping the Cubs 96th win of the season, there were two bigger issues that popped up on Wednesday night. First, Mark DeRosa left the game in the 5th after doubling in a pair of runs and cutting the Mets lead to 5-3. DeRosa hit his 21st longball...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Six - Cubs 2 Mets 6 WP - Johan Santana (11-9) LP - Chad Gaudin (9-5, 4-2) Save - None A day after securing home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs, Lou Piniella began preparing for the post-season and gave several of his regulars the night off. The Cubs scored a pair of runs early against Johan Santana and Sean Marshall out dueled the former AL Cy Young winner early on. Marshall...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Five - Cubs 9 Mets 5 WP - Jason Marquis (11-9) LP - Jonathon Niese (1-1) Save - Kerry Wood (33) Lou Piniella's crew returned to work on Monday night in the Big Apple and won for the 9th time in 11 games. The Cubs posted their 95th win of the year and in the process assured themselves home field advantage throughout the National League Playoffs. Jason Marquis turned in a good...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Four - Cubs 5 Cardinals 1 WP - Ryan Dempster (17-6) LP - Braden Looper (12-14) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew completed the home portion of their 2008 schedule with the 55th win of the year at Wrigley Field....just one short of the organization's all-time mark of 56 set in 1933 and equaled in 1935. The Cubs' skipper ran out a lineup more reminiscent of a Spring Training contest than the...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Three - Cubs 5 Cardinals 4 WP - Ted Lilly (16-9) LP - Joel Pineiro (6-7) Save - Kerry Wood (32) The Chicago Cubs are the 2008 National League Central Division Champions! For the first time since 1906, 1907 and 1908 the Cubs are headed to the post season for the second year in a row. Ted Lilly set a career high with his 16th victory of the season and Kerry Wood...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Two - Cubs 6 Cardinals 12 WP - Adam Wainwright (10-3) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-6) Save - None Carlos Zambrano followed up his no-hitter with one of the shortest outing of his career on Friday afternoon against the Cardinals. Big Z lasted only 1 2/3 innings and gave up 8 runs on 6 hits with 3 walks and a strikeout on 45 pitches. Zambrano struggled with his command and his emotions,...
Game One Hundred Fifty-One - Cubs 7 Brewers 6 - 12 innings WP - Kerry Wood (5-4) LP - Carlos Villanueva (4-7) Save - None The Milwaukee Brewers were one out away from winning their third series of the year at Wrigley Field. Salomon Torres retired Ryan Theriot and Derrek Lee to start the 9th and the Cubs appeared to be headed for another lackluster defeat. The offense after all had managed only 3 hits...
Game One Hundred Fifty - Cubs 2 Brewers 6 WP - Mark DiFelice (1-0) LP - Jason Marquis (10-9) Save - None It was just one of those nights. The Cubs were flat and were not able to make the adjustment at the plate after Mark DiFelice replaced Ben Sheets in the 3rd inning. Sheets left with tightness in his right forearm after giving up a run in 2 innings of work....a solo home run...
Game One Hundred Forty-Nine - Cubs 5 Brewers 4 WP - Ryan Dempster (16-6) LP - CC Sabathia (15-9, 9-1) Save - Kerry Wood (31) Ryan Dempster beat the Milwaukee Brewers for the fourth time this season and handed CC Sabathia his first loss in the National League. Dempster set a new career high with his 16th win of the year and became the first Cubs pitcher since Ferguson Jenkins in 1971 to post 13...
Game One Hundred Forty-Eight - Cubs 6 Astros 1 WP - Ted Lilly (15-9) LP - Brian Moehler (11-7) Save - None How does Ted Lilly follow up a no hitter? By throwing 6 innings of no hit ball of his own. A day after Carlos Zambrano tossed the Cubs' first no-no in 36 years, Ted Lilly entered the 7th inning without allowing a hit and erased the only mistake he made, a walk to...
Game One Hundred Forty-Seven - Cubs 5 Astros 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (14-5) LP - Randy Wolf (10-12) Save - None In a season that has been full of special moments, Carlos Zambrano not only made a statement on Sunday night at Miller Park but pitched the Cubs' first no hitter since Milt Pappas in September of 1972 against the San Diego Padres. Other than possibly the Kerry Wood 20-strikeout game more than 10...
Game One Hundred Forty-Six - Cubs 3 Cardinals 2 WP - Rich Harden (10-2, 5-1) LP - Todd Wellemeyer (12-7) Save - Kerry Wood (30) What a ballgame! For the first time since Rich Harden last appeared on the mound, August 28th and August 29th, the Cubs put together back-to-back victories and notched their first series win since taking three from the Pirates from August 25th - August 27th. All three games of the series...
Game One Hundred Forty-Five - Cubs 4 Cardinals 3 WP - Ted Lilly (14-9) LP - Braden Looper (12-12) Save - Kerry Wood (29) Lou Piniella's crew picked up a much-needed win on Wednesday night behind a tremendous effort behind Ted Lilly....but not without a little drama in the 9th inning. Ted Lilly put together one of his best outings of the season and set the tone when he ran over Yadier Molina in the...
Game One Hundred Forty-Four - Cubs 3 Cardinals 4 WP - Chris Perez (3-2) LP - Carlos Marmol (2-4) Save - None What happened to the swagger? The Cubs lost for the 8th time in 9 games on Tuesday night on a check swing by Cesar Izturis in the bottom of the 9th. Carlos Marmol faced the minimum in the 8th but gave up a leadoff single to Yadier Molina to start the final inning....
Game One Hundred Forty-Three - Cubs 3 Reds 4 WP - Francisco Cordero (5-4) LP - Kerry Wood (4-4, BS 6) Save - None While Saturday's win ended the Cubs 6-game losing streak, Sunday's loss erased the memory of the victory as the Cubs returned to the formula that has seen them drop 7 of their last 8 games. There are no excuses the Cubs can make for losing, not only the game....but the series...
Game One Hundred Forty-Two - Cubs 14 Reds 9 WP - Jason Marquis (10-8) LP - Johnny Cueto (8-13) Save - None The Chicago Cubs ended their 6-game losing streak behind an excellent outing by Jason Marquis and the third 3-homer game of Alfonso Soriano's career. The Cubs left fielder put on a show Saturday night at the Great American Ball Park. Alfonso Soriano drove in five of the Cubs 14 runs and tied a...
Game One Hundred Forty-One - Cubs 2 Reds 10 WP - Bronson Arroyo (14-10) LP - Ted Lilly (13-9) Save - None Call it a slump, call it a swoon but one thing is for certain, after the Cubs sixth straight loss it is up to Lou Piniella to find solutions to the problems. The Cubs have not looked like the same team over the past week that took the field for the first 5...
Game One Hundred Forty - Cubs 0 Astros 4 WP - Randy Wolf (9-11) LP - Ryan Dempster (15-6) Save - None After posting seven consecutive wins a week ago, the Cubs lost their fifth in a row for the first time this season and completed a miserable week on the North Side of Chicago. Not only did the Cubs lose, but they were shutout for the second time in the series and the fifth...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Nine - Cubs 7 Astros 9 - 11 innings WP - Wesley Wright (4-3) LP - Kerry Wood (4-3) Save - Jose Valverde (39) In a game that required 4 hours and 17 minutes to play, the Cubs might have lost more than their fourth game in a row at home for the first time this season. After looking very much like Carlos Zambrano in the first 4 innings, Zambrano gave up...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Eight - Cubs 0 Astros 3 WP - Roy Oswalt (13-9) LP - Jason Marquis (9-8) Save - Jose Valverde (38) The Cubs began the first day of the new month the same way they had in four of the previous five months....with a loss. For the first time this season Lou Piniella's crew lost their third game in a row at Wrigley and were shutout at home for only the third...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Seven - Cubs 3 Phillies 5 WP - Jamie Moyer (12-7) LP - Sean Marshall (3-4) Save - Brad Lidge (33) Jayson Werth was the difference for the second day in a row as the Cubs lost back-to-back games for the first time since July 25th and July 26th. Werth added to his 2 home run, 4 RBI game on Saturday with another home run and 3 more runs batted in on...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Six - Cubs 2 Phillies 5 WP - Brett Myers (8-10) LP - Ted Lilly (13-8) Save - Brad Lidge (32) The Cubs 7-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon at the hands of Brett Myers. Lou Piniella's crew lost for only the 20th time this season at Wrigley (51-20) as Ted Lilly was just out pitched by Brett Myers. The Cubs had chances early against Myers and left...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Five - Cubs 3 Phillies 2 WP - Jeff Samardzija (1-0) LP - Clay Condrey (3-4) Save - Carlos Marmol (7) The Chicago Cubs equaled their win total from a season ago with their 39th come from behind victory of the year on Friday afternoon. The Cubs offense was dominated by Joe Blanton early on and did not record their first hit until the 4th inning, a 2-out single by Aramis Ramirez....
Game One Hundred Thirty-Four - Cubs 6 Phillies 4 WP - Bobby Howry (6-4) LP - Chad Durbin (5-3, BS 5) Save - Kerry Wood (28) One of the most thrilling games of the year....what a comeback on a night the Cubs appeared to be heading for a loss. This version of the Chicago Cubs never quits and they proved it once again on Thursday night at the old ballpark with a dramatic come from...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Three - Cubs 2 Pirates 0 WP - Jason Marquis (9-7) LP - Zach Duke (4-13) Save - Kerry Wood (27) Lou Piniella's crew completed the 3-game sweep against the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon behind 7 shutout innings by Jason Marquis. Marquis picked up his third win of the season against the Bucs and gave his skipper a very strong outing on getaway day. The key to Marquis' success was he kept...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Two - Cubs 14 Pirates 9 WP - Sean Marshall (3-3) LP - Craig Hansen (1-5, BS 3) Save - None There is no such thing in baseball as a bad win, but there are ugly ones and if there could be only one word used to describe Tuesday night's game against the Pirates it would be....U-G-L-Y. Lou Piniella used his entire bench and all but Bobby Howry out of the pen...
Game One Hundred Thirty-One - Cubs 12 Pirates 3 WP - Ted Lilly (13-7) LP - Jeff Karstens (2-3) Save - None Monday night in Pittsburgh was a total team effort led by Kosuke Fukudome, Jim Edmonds and Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs pounded out 17 hits and put the game out of reach after the 5th inning. Lou Piniella's crew scored early and often and 10 of the 12 runs came in the first 5...
Game One Hundred Thirty - Cubs 6 Nationals 1 WP - Rich Harden (9-2, 4-1) LP - Jason Bergmann (2-10) Save - None The Cubs won their 8th straight series for the first time since 1937 behind an impressive outing by Rich Harden. Harden dominated the Nationals lineup and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts....but most importantly no walks. Harden allowed only 2 hits in 7 complete innings on 109 pitches. Harden won his...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Nine - Cubs 9 Nationals 2 WP - Ryan Dempster (15-5) LP - Odalis Perez (5-10) Save - None The 'Big Three' stepped up and Ryan Dempster took care of the rest on Saturday afternoon at the old ballyard. After leaving 8 on base in the first 3 innings, 5 in scoring position, a 1-out walk by Alfonso Soriano led to the Cubs first run of the game. Derrek Lee drove in...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Eight - Cubs 5 Nationals 13 WP - John Lannan (7-12) LP - Neal Cotts (0-2, BS 2) Save - None Lou Piniella said it best in his post-game press conference, "From my perspective it was a pretty good game for 5 innings." For the first 5 innings the Cubs appeared on their way to a win in the series opener against the Nationals. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead and...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Seven - Cubs 3 Reds 2 WP - Carlos Zambrano (13-5) LP - Josh Fogg (2-6) Save - Kerry Wood (26) Carlos Zambrano and his emotions were on full display Thursday afternoon and finally someone was able to get through to him....Big Z. Zambrano struggled with his command in the 1st inning and after escaping the opening frame without allowing a run, Zambrano voiced his displeasure to himself, and while the control...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Six - Cubs 1 Reds 2 WP - Bronson Arroyo (11-10) LP - Ted Lilly (12-7) Save - Francisco Cordero (24) Ted Lilly lost his first game since July 10th, ironically enough against the Reds, despite throwing a gem and dropped to 0-3 versus Cincinnati this season. Lilly retired the first 10 batters he faced and did not give up a hit until a lead off double by Ryan Hanigan in the...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Five - Cubs 5 Reds 0 WP - Rich Harden (8-2, 3-1) LP - Johnny Cueto (8-12) Save - None Rich Harden went back to doing what he does best on Tuesday night and that is strikeout a lot of batters. For the 4th time in a Cubs' uniform Harden struck out 10, including 6 of the first 10 batters he faced, and allowed only 2 hits without a walk in 7...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Four - Cubs 9 Marlins 2 WP - Ryan Dempster (14-5) LP - Renyel Pinto (2-5, BS 2) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew completed the 6-game road trip to Atlanta and Miami with a 5-1 record after a big victory behind Ryan Dempster. Dempster picked up his team leading 14th win, one off his career high, with a quality start after pitching out of trouble in the 6th inning. Dempster and...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Three - Cubs 1 Marlins 2 WP - Anibal Sanchez (2-2) LP - Sean Marshall (2-3) Save - Kevin Gregg (27) The Cubs 9-game road winning streak as well as their current 5-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday night in South Florida. Lou Piniella's left-handed lineup could not come up with the big hit when they needed it off of Anibal Sanchez and the Marlins pitching staff. The Cubs...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Two - Cubs 6 Marlins 5 WP - Chad Gaudin (9-4, 4-1) LP - Kevin Gregg (6-5, BS 7) Save - Kerry Wood (25) The Cubs appeared to be headed for their 10th loss in a row in the Sunshine State and their 7th in a row to the Marlins at Dolphin Stadium. Carlos Zambrano struggled once again in an August start and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits with 5...
Game One Hundred Twenty-One - Cubs 11 Braves 7 WP - Ted Lilly (12-6) LP - Tom Glavine (2-4) Save - None A wild, wild night in Hotlanta.... A little bit of history, a cycle, a lot of hits and runs, a concerning injury to one of the 'Big Three' and a benches clearing discussion between Ted Lilly and Yunel Escobar were only a few of the storylines on Thursday night at Turner Field. Lou...
Game One Hundred Twenty - Cubs 8 Braves 0 WP - Rich Harden (7-2, 2-1) LP - Jorge Campillo (7-5) Save - None Game One Recap - On the Right Foot - Cubs 10 Braves 2 Game Two of the Day-Night Doubleheader The Chicago Cubs completed the sweep of the day-night doubleheader on Wednesday with an impressive shutout victory. The Cubs won their 7th in a row away from Wrigley and improved to 26 games...
Game One Hundred Nineteen - Cubs 10 Braves 2 WP - Jason Marquis (8-7) LP - Charlie Morton (3-6) Save - None Game One of a Day-Night Doubleheader Lou Piniella's crew began a difficult day with their 6th straight win on the road and improved to 25 games over .500 for the first time this season. Jason Marquis ended a personal losing streak to the Braves and posted his first career win against the organization...
Game One Hundred Eighteen - Cubs 6 Cardinals 2 WP - Ryan Dempster (13-5) LP - Chris Carpenter (0-1) Save - None Sunday night under the lights at the old ballpark was a typical Cubs-Cardinals game and much closer than the final score. While Ryan Dempster threw a very good game, it was the Cubs defense and two errors by the Cardinals that was the difference in the final outcome. The Cubs first run scored...
Game One Hundred Seventeen - Cubs 3 Cardinals 12 WP - Todd Wellemeyer (9-4) LP - Carlos Zambrano (12-5) Save - None They say turnabout is fair play, well a day after a former Cardinal provided most of the Cubs offense, a former Cub held his one time organization in check and allowed his offense to have a big day against one of the best pitchers in the game. To say Carlos Zambrano did not...
Game One Hundred Sixteen - Cubs 3 Cardinals 2 - 11 innings WP - Bobby Howry (5-4) LP - Ryan Franklin (4-5) Save - None It doesn't get much better than Friday afternoon at the old ballpark on Clark and Addison....the Cubs and Cardinals in extra innings with Lou Piniella's crew coming out on top. Friday afternoon was another team-win as the Cubs improved to 24 games over .500 for the first time since last...
Game One Hundred Fifteen - Cubs 11 Astros 4 WP - Jason Marquis (7-7) LP - Brandon Backe (6-11) Save - None The Cubs early one run lead did not last long after a misplayed ball and Lance Berkman's first RBI of the season against the Cubs in the 3rd inning. A 2-out walk to Hunter Pence and the 27th career home run off Cubs' pitching by Carlos Lee gave the Astros a 4-1 lead....it...
Game One Hundred Fourteen - Cubs 11 Astros 7 WP - Bobby Howry (4-4, BS 3) LP - Chris Sampson (5-4) Save - None What a day and what a game at Wrigley Field on Tuesday afternoon. A combined 18 runs on 25 hits were scored between two long time rivals in an afternoon that can simply be described as a hitter's day at the Friendly Confines. The Cubs offense jumped on Wandy Rodriguez early...
Game One Hundred Thirteen - Cubs 0 Astros 2 - 8 innings WP - Brian Moehler (7-4) LP - Ryan Dempster (12-5) Save - None After two rain delays and not much offense, the Cubs-Astros game was called on Monday night with 1-out in the 8th inning with Mike Fontenot at the plate and a 0-1 count against LaTroy Hawkins. Not even a rain delay could wake up the Cubs offense on Monday night at...
Game One Hundred Twelve - Cubs 8 Pirates 5 WP - Chad Gaudin (8-4, 3-1, BS 1) LP - Craig Hansen (1-4, 0-1) Save - Carlos Marmol (6) What a week for the Chicago Cubs! After a come from behind win last Sunday against the Marlins, the Cubs swept the 4-game series in Milwaukee and suffered a letdown on Friday against the Pirates. The Cubs manufactured a win on Saturday and then saved the dramatics...
Game One Hundred Eleven - Cubs 5 Pirates 1 WP - Ted Lilly (11-6) LP - Paul Maholm (7-7) Save - None The Chicago Cubs rebounded from Friday's shutout with a solid win against the new-look Pirates. Lou Piniella's crew beat Paul Maholm for the first time in his career and in the process became the first Cubs' team to start the season with a 40-15 record at Wrigley Field. Ted Lilly struggled with his...
Game One Hundred Ten - Cubs 0 Pirates 3 WP - Jeff Karstens (1-0) LP - Jason Marquis (6-7) Save - John Grabow (1) After scoring 31 runs in four games in Milwaukee with hit after hit, Lou Piniella's crew was shutout for the first time this season at Wrigley Field by the new-look Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs offense was very aggressive early in the game against Jeff Karstens and made his first start at...
Game One Hundred Nine - Cubs 11 Brewers 4 WP - Rich Harden (6-2, 1-1) LP - Dave Bush (5-9) Save - None For the first time this season the Chicago Cubs are 21 games over .500 after their first 4-game sweep on the road since 2004. The Cubs offense hit 4 home runs on the afternoon and handed Rich Harden his first win in a Cubs' uniform. Jim Edmonds put the Cubs on the...
Game One Hundred Eight - Cubs 7 Brewers 2 WP - Ryan Dempster (12-4) LP - Manny Parra (9-4) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew put together another impressive win behind Ryan Dempster on Wednesday night. Dempster picked up his second straight road victory with a solid 7-inning performance. The only run Dempster allowed came on a wild pitch in the 1st inning. Dempster gave up 5 hits, two to Manny Parra, walked 1 and...
Game One Hundred Seven - Cubs 7 Brewers 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (12-4) LP - Ben Sheets (10-4) Save - None For the first time since June 2nd and June 3rd in San Diego, the Chicago Cubs won back-to-back games on the road after beating the Brewers for the second straight night at Miller Park. Carlos Zambrano outpitched Ben Sheets in what was a pitcher's duel until the 6th inning. Zambrano tossed 8 shutout...
Game One Hundred Six - Cubs 6 Brewers 4 WP - Chad Gaudin (7-4, 2-1) LP - Salomon Torres (5-3) Save - Carlos Marmol (5) The Chicago Cubs waited 106 games to put together their best performance on the road this season. Many did not give Lou Piniella's crew much of a chance on Monday night against CC Sabathia and the Milwaukee Brewers....but that is why they play the game. In arguably the biggest game...
Game One Hundred Five - Cubs 9 Marlins 6 WP - Chad Gaudin (6-4, 1-1) LP - Mark Hendrickson (7-8) Save - Jeff Samardzija (1) When the Cubs are locked in a close game with the lead in the 9th inning, Pat Hughes' signature statement always begins with "Fasten those seatbelts" and Mr. Hughes could have uttered those words before the game's first pitch....what an afternoon and what a game at the old ballpark located...
Game One Hundred Four - Cubs 2 Marlins 3 - 12 innings WP - Justin Miller (4-2) LP - Chad Gaudin (5-4, 0-1) Save - Kevin Gregg (22) For only the second time this season the Cubs lost back-to-back games at Wrigley Field after another disappointing loss the the Florida Marlins....the Fish repeated the feat the Brewers accomplished in the first two games of the year on March 31st and April 2nd. The Marlins came...
Game One Hundred Three - Cubs 2 Marlins 3 WP - Justin Miller (3-2) LP - Bobby Howry (3-4) Save - Kevin Gregg (21) Bases loaded in the 6th....2nd and 3rd in the 7th....and 2nd and 3rd in the 8th, the Cubs had their chances but could not buy a hit when they needed one the most. Lou Piniella's crew left 6 runners in scoring position in 3 of the last 4 innings and a...
Game One Hundred Two - Cubs 6 Marlins 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (11-4) LP - Scott Olsen (6-5) Save - Carlos Marmol (4) Before Thursday night at the Friendly Confines the last time a Cubs' team beat the Florida Marlins was on April 25, 2006. Ten games and more than two years later Lou Piniella's crew ended the drought behind a total team effort....led by Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs' ace allowed 2 runs on...
Game One Hundred One - Cubs 10 Diamondbacks 6 WP - Ted Lilly (10-6) LP - Doug Davis (3-5) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew salvaged the final game of the series against the Diamondbacks and finished the regular season series against Arizona with a 4-2 record. Ted Lilly won his 10th of the year in a game his team needed to win. Lilly became the third Cubs' starter to notch his 10th win of...
Game One Hundred - Cubs 2 Diamondbacks 9 WP - Yusmeiro Petit (1-1) LP - Jason Marquis (6-6) Save - None Did the Chicago Cubs just hit rock bottom for the 2008 season? After scoring a total of two runs in the first three losses of the road trip, the Cubs offense continued to struggle on Tuesday night in the desert. The team wide slump jumped from concerning to alarming in the worst played game...
Game Ninety-Nine - Cubs 0 Diamondbacks 2 WP - Randy Johnson (7-7) LP - Rich Harden (5-2, 0-1) Save - Chad Qualls (2) For the 13th time in his career Randy Johnson dominated the Chicago Cubs and if Monday night was indeed the last time they faced the Big Unit, he made a statement. The Cubs managed only 3 base runners against Johnson....a single by Jim Edmonds, a swinging bunt by Reed Johnson and a...
Game Ninety-Eight - Cubs 9 Astros 0 WP - Ryan Dempster (11-4) LP - Brandon Backe (6-10) Save - None It took more than half the season for Ryan Dempster to record his first victory on the road....and it could not have come at a better time for his team. Dempster tossed a gem on Sunday, became the Cubs first 11-game winner of the season, ended his team's 3-game losing streak and started his second...
Game Ninety-Seven - Cubs 1 Astros 4 WP - Wandy Rodriguez (5-3) LP - Carlos Zambrano (10-4) Save - Jose Valverde (25) Lou Piniella's crew has started the second half of the season the same way they began the year....with back-to-back losses to a division rival. The Cubs dropped the first two games of the year to the Brewers with a less than stellar performance from their offense and have duplicated the performance the last...
Game Ninety-Six - Cubs 1 Astros 2 WP - Geoff Geary (2-1) LP - Bobby Howry (3-3) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew did not start the second half the way their manager wanted them to. The Cubs offense was overly aggressive at the plate and wasted a very good outing on the road by Ted Lilly. Lilly made only one mistake on the night; he allowed his 22nd home run of the season to...
Game Ninety-Five - Cubs 2 Giants 4 WP - Tim Lincecum (11-2) LP - Ryan Dempster (10-4) Save - Brian Wilson (25) The Cubs finished the first half of the season, unfortunately the same way it began, with a loss at home. In between the Cubs posted a 37-10 record at Wrigley and their 37-12 home mark is the best in the big leagues. Even with the loss, the Cubs finished the last homestand before...
Game Ninety-Four - Cubs 8 Giants 7 - 11 innings WP - Sean Marshall (2-2) LP - Brian Wilson (0-2) Save - None The Cubs ended up winning the ballgame on Saturday afternoon....and that is all that really matters. In what was shaping up to be a great debut and a very memorable win for Rich Harden, the Cubs improved to 20 games over .500 for the fourth time this season with little help from...
Game Ninety-Three - Cubs 3 Giants 1 WP - Bobby Howry (3-2) LP - Tyler Walker (3-5) Save - Kerry Wood (24) For the second time in 10 days, Matt Cain dominated the Cubs offense but they were patient this time and made him work....despite the fact they could still not put the bat on the ball. Cain tossed 7 more shutout innings against the Cubs offense and Lou Piniella's crew managed to scatter only...
Game Ninety-Two - Cubs 7 Reds 12 WP - Bronson Arroyo (7-7) LP - Ted Lilly (9-6) Save - None The only thing missing on Thursday afternoon was the mechanical bull sounding off and smoke coming out of its nose....while Adam Dunn did not receive a free steak, he did hit the building across the street on Sheffield Avenue with a monster blast in the 5th inning. Six different Cincinnati Reds hit 7 home runs...
Game Ninety-One - Cubs 5 Reds 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (10-3) LP - Johnny Cueto (7-9) Save - Kerry Wood (23) Carlos Zambrano proved once again why he is the ace of the Chicago Cubs. Zambrano tossed a gem and faced just one over the minimum in 8 strong innings. The Reds managed only 2 base runners, and 1 hit....a home run in the 2nd inning by Adam Dunn, the seventh of his career...
Game Ninety - Cubs 7 Reds 3 WP - Ryan Dempster (10-3) LP - Aaron Harang (3-11) Save - None The Cubs won their 34th game of the year at the Friendly Confines behind the 10th win of the season by Ryan Dempster. Dempster struggled with his command early in the game. He walked five in 7 innings, including four in the 4th that forced in the only run he allowed. The Reds managed only...
Game Eighty-Nine - Cubs 7 Cardinals 1 WP - Sean Marshall (1-2) LP - Todd Wellemeyer (7-4) Save - None Was Sunday afternoon the biggest win of the year so far for the Cubs? After blowing the lead in the 9th inning on Saturday, Lou Piniella's crew bounced back in impressive fashion behind Sean Marshall. Marshall made only one mistake, a solo home run by Ryan Ludwick in the 6th inning, and allowed only 5...
Game Eighty-Eight - Cubs 4 Cardinals 5 WP - Kyle McClellan (1-3) LP - Kerry Wood (4-2, BS 5) Save - None As the old saying goes....Gotta make 'em earn it and Kerry Wood did everything but make the Cardinals earn their first win of the year when trailing after 8 innings (0-32). Aramis Ramirez ended his 0-for-28 slump with a 2-run homer in the 8th inning that broke a 2-2 tie. Carlos Marmol retired...
Game Eighty-Seven - Cubs 2 Cardinals 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (9-3) LP - Braden Looper (9-6) Save - Kerry Wood (22) Carlos Zambrano made his first start since June 18th after spending the last 15 days on the DL and proved why he is so important to the Chicago Cubs. Zambrano threw 6 innings of shutout ball, struck out 5 and walked 2 on 87 pitches. Zambrano allowed only 4 hits and 2 of...
Game Eighty-Six - Cubs 3 Giants 8 WP - Tim Lincecum (10-1) LP - Sean Gallagher (3-4) Save - None The Cubs struggles on the road continued on Thursday night. The Giants scored 7 of their 8 runs in two big innings....four in the 2nd and three in the 7th. Sean Gallagher gave up 4 runs, 3 earned, on 4 hits in the 2nd. Tim Lincecum drove in the Giants second run of the game...
Game Eighty-Five - Cubs 6 Giants 5 WP - Carlos Marmol (2-3, BS 2) LP - Tyler Walker (3-4) Save - Kerry Wood (21) The Chicago Cubs picked up their first win of July in dramatic fashion. After building a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th off of a 2-run home run by Jim Edmonds in the 6th and a 2-out, 2-run single by Geovany Soto in the top of the inning,...
Game Eighty-Four - Cubs 1 Giants 2 WP - Matt Cain (5-6) LP - Jason Marquis (6-5) Save - Brian Wilson (23) Matt Cain dominated the Cubs on Tuesday night and out pitched Jason Marquis. After rough starts by Marquis and Cain, both pitchers settled down and a double steal in the 1st inning ended up being the difference in the game. Marquis gave up a hit to Fred Lewis to start the bottom of...
Game Eighty-Three - Cubs 9 Giants 2 WP - Ted Lilly (9-5) LP - Barry Zito (3-12) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew bounced back from the weekend and ended their 4-game losing streak with a solid win against the Giants. The Cubs became the first team in the National League to post their 50th victory of the season. Mark DeRosa hit 2 home runs, including his 3rd career grand slam and tied a career...
Game Eighty-Two - Cubs 1 White Sox 5 WP - Mark Buehrle (6-6) LP - Sean Marshall (0-2) Save - None The White Sox returned the favor from a week ago and swept the Cubs for the first time in the 11-year history of Interleague play at the Cell. All 5 of the Sox runs came via the long ball and with the 3 they hit on Sunday night have now out homered their opponents...
Game Eighty-One - Cubs 5 White Sox 6 WP - Matt Thornton (4-1) LP - Carlos Marmol (1-3) Save - Bobby Jenks (18) Lou Piniella's crew lost their third straight for the second time this season in disappointing fashion to the White Sox. The Cubs had plenty of chances to put runs on the board against Javier Vazquez but left a total of 10 on base, including the tying run at 3rd with 1-out in...
Game Eighty - Cubs 3 White Sox 10 WP - Jose Contreras (7-6) LP - Ryan Dempster (9-3) Save - None Anyone that thought the White Sox were not going to come out swinging after last weekend was dreaming. It was a bad day for the Cubs, but like last Saturday on the North Side, it was one big inning that was the difference in the game. Lou Piniella's crew lost to the Sox for...
Game Seventy-Nine - Cubs 4 Orioles 11 WP - Radhames Liz (2-0) LP - Jason Marquis (6-4) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew became the last team in the majors to record their 30th loss of the season following just their third series defeat at home of the year. The Orioles became only the second team to walk into Wrigley Field this year and leave after taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs. After...
Game Seventy-Eight - Cubs 7 Orioles 4 WP - Ted Lilly (8-5) LP - Matt Albers (3-3) Save - Kerry Wood (20) The final score should read, "Chicago Cubs 7 Jay Payton 4" because that was the only two mistakes Ted Lilly made all night. After starting the season 0-4, Ted Lilly won his 8th game of the year despite the fact he gave up two more home runs....both 2-run shots to Jay Payton. Lilly...
Game Seventy-Seven - Cubs 5 Orioles 7 WP - Jeremy Guthrie (4-7) LP - Sean Marshall (0-1) Save - George Sherrill (26) Lou Piniella's crew lost for the first time at Wrigley Field since May 17th after not being able to come up with big hits in the last two innings. The Cubs left 5 on base in the 8th and 9th innings after Jim Edmonds and Aramis Ramirez brought the Cubs to within two...
Game Seventy-Six - Cubs 7 White Sox 1 WP - Ryan Dempster (9-2) LP - Javier Vazquez (7-6) Save - None The Cubs won their 14th straight at Wrigley Field for the first time since June 4 - July 10, 1936 and their sixth straight against the White Sox behind another dominating performance by Ryan Dempster. Dempster allowed only 1 run in 8+ innings on 10 hits with 4 strikeouts and a walk. The key...
Game Seventy-Five - Cubs 11 White Sox 7 WP - Jason Marquis (6-3) LP - Jose Contreras (6-6) Save - Kerry Wood (19) The Cubs came from behind for the 24th time at Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon to beat the White Sox for the second day in a row. Jason Marquis served up two, 2-out, 2-run home runs that accounted for all 4 of the White Sox runs. Lou Piniella's crew found themselves in...
Game Seventy-Four - Cubs 4 White Sox 3 WP - Kerry Wood (4-1) LP - Scott Linebrink (2-2) Save - None Aramis Ramirez stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 9th after tying the game 2 innings earlier with his 11th home run of the year. Ramirez looked at ball one from Scott Linebrink and then...."Ramirez drives one in the air, deep centerfield, it's gotta chance....CUBS WIN!!! Aramis Ramirez with the game winning...
Game Seventy-Three - Cubs 3 Rays 8 WP - Grant Balfour (2-0) LP - Carlos Marmol (1-2) Save - None It took 73 games into the 2008 season for the Cubs to lose their third game in a row. The Tampa Bay Rays swept Lou Piniella's crew after the bullpen wasted a strong performance by Sean Gallagher and a late inning comeback against James Shields. The Rays managed only an unearned run off of Gallagher...
Game Seventy-Two - Cubs 4 Rays 5 WP - Andy Sonnanstine (8-3) LP - Carlos Zambrano (8-3) Save - Troy Percival (17) Lou Piniella's crew lost their second game in row on Wednesday night at the Trop by only one run. Geovany Soto gave the Cubs hope in the 9th. His 12th home run of the season cut the Rays lead in half....but the impressive young Rays manufactured the win in the 3rd inning when...
Game Seventy-One - Cubs 2 Rays 3 WP - Grant Balfour (1-0) LP - Neal Cotts (0-1) Save - Troy Percival (16) Lou Piniella's offense was very quiet in the first game at his old stomping grounds....until the 9th inning. Geovany Soto led off the 9th with the hardest hit ball of the game for the Cubs and was robbed of at least a double by left fielder Justin Ruggiano. Joe Maddon's defense replacement caught...
Game Seventy - Cubs 7 Blue Jays 4 WP - Ted Lilly (7-5) LP - Jesse Litsch (7-3) Save - None In a game that started with the roof opened and finished with it closed, the Cubs moved to 20 games over .500 behind a strong performance by Ted Lilly and clutch 2-out hits by Jim Edmonds, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Lou Piniella's crew posted their third winning road series of the year....and the...
Game Sixty-Nine - Cubs 6 Blue Jays 2 WP - Jason Marquis (5-3) LP - Roy Halladay (8-6) Save - None This is why they play the games. On paper Saturday's pitching match-up looked very lopsided. A former Cy Young Award winner and one of the best in his league against a pitcher that has never performed to his potential consistently throughout his career. Throw in the fact the Cubs' offense had not been scoring...
Game Sixty-Eight - Cubs 2 Blue Jays 3 WP - A.J. Burnett (6-6) LP - Sean Gallagher (3-3) Save - B.J. Ryan (14) Lou Piniella's crew dropped their first series opener since May 5th after leaving 11 on base and in the process snapped their 4-game winning streak. The Cubs loaded the bases in two separate innings and came away with only 1 run, a RBI single by Eric Patterson in the 6th inning. Jim...
Game Sixty-Seven - Cubs 3 Braves 2 - 11 innings WP - Kerry Wood (3-1) LP - Manny Acosta (3-5) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew came from behind once again in dramatic fashion, on throwback day at Wrigley Field. and won their 4th in a row and 11th straight at home. Carlos Zambrano and Tim Hudson locked in a good ole fashion pitcher's duel reminiscent of games from 1948. Zambrano made just one mistake,...
Game Sixty-Six - Cubs 7 Braves 2 WP - Ryan Dempster (8-2) LP - Jeff Bennett (0-4) Save - None What will be lost in the Cubs' 10th straight win at Wrigley on Wednesday night is the performance of Ryan Dempster. Dempster turned in the best outing of the year for a Cubs' starter and in the process notched the team's first complete game of the season. Dempster allowed only 2 runs on 4 hits...
Game Sixty-Five - Cubs 10 Braves 5 WP - Ted Lilly (6-5) LP - Tom Glavine (2-3) Save - None The Cubs won their 9th straight game at Wrigley in come from behind fashion. Ted Lilly spotted the Braves a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning on a 2-out, 3-run homer by Greg Norton. Lilly settled down, did not allow another run and gave the Cubs offense a chance to mount another comeback. The Cubs...
Game Sixty-Four - Cubs 3 Dodgers 1 WP - Jason Marquis (4-3) LP - Brad Penny (5-8) Save - Kerry Wood (18) The Chicago Cubs are once again tops in the majors with a 40-24 record following the best outing of the season by Jason Marquis. Marquis turned in a gem and allowed only 1 unearned run on 3 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The big difference in Marquis' performance was he threw strikes early...
Game Sixty-Three - Cubs 3 Dodgers 7 WP - Derek Lowe (4-5) LP - Carlos Zambrano (8-2) Save - None Carlos Zambrano and Derek Lowe locked in a pitcher's duel for most of Saturday afternoon at Chavez Ravine. The Cubs offense did not record their first hit until the 5th inning but took a 1-0 lead on a RBI groundout in the same inning by Reed Johnson. Alfonso Soriano hit his 15th long ball of...
Game Sixty-Two - Cubs 0 Dodgers 3 WP - Hiroki Kuroda (3-5) LP - Sean Gallagher (3-2) Save - None Hiroki Kuroda earned the first complete game shutout of his Major League career with a dominating performance against the Cubs. Kuroda completed 74 games in 151 career starts in Japan and showed the Cubs how he earned the nickname 'Mr. Complete Game' during his career in Japan. Kuroda shutout the Cubs' offense with pinpoint control...
Game Sixty-One - Cubs 5 Dodgers 4 WP - Bobby Howry (2-2, BS 1) LP - Takashi Saito (3-2) Save - Kerry Wood (17) The Cubs jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on Thursday night. Kosuke Fukudome hit his 4th home run of the year and his first on the road for the game's first run. Aramis Ramirez drove in the second run on a ground out to short and Mark DeRosa hit is...
Game Sixty - Cubs 1 Padres 2 WP - Heath Bell (3-3) LP - Ted Lilly (5-5) Save - Trevor Hoffman (12) If Wednesday night was indeed the last time Greg Maddux faces the Cubs in his career then he saved one of his best for last. Maddux held Lou Piniella's offense to just a single run on 3 hits in 7 innings. The Cubs could not make Maddux work and he threw only 69...
Game Fifty-Nine - Cubs 9 Padres 6 WP - Jason Marquis (3-3) LP - Bryan Corey (1-1) Save - Kerry Wood (16) The Cubs came from behind for the 8th game in a row and earned their first series win on the road since April 7th, April 9-April 10th against the Pirates. Lou Piniella's offense was once again the difference in a poorly pitched game from both teams. Jason Marquis was credited with the win...
Game Fifty-Eight - Cubs 7 Padres 6 WP - Carlos Zambrano (8-1) LP - Cha Seung Baek (1-2) Save - Kerry Wood (15) Lou Piniella's crew held on to win the first game of the road trip after coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the 1st inning. Carlos Zambrano had little to no command, or control of himself, until he picked off Jody Gerut at 2nd base to end the 2nd inning. Zambrano led...
Game Fifty-Seven - Cubs 5 Rockies 3 WP - Sean Gallagher (3-1) LP - Ubaldo Jimenez (1-6) Save - Kerry Wood (14) Lou Piniella's crew started the month of June with a solid win against the Colorado Rockies and completed the 7-game homestand with a perfect 7-0 record. With the victory the Cubs set a new-season high with their 7th win in a row and for the first time since 1984 they posted consecutive homestands...
Game Fifty-Six - Cubs 5 Rockies 4 WP - Ryan Dempster (7-2) LP - Glendon Rusch (1-3) Save - Carlos Marmol (3) Lou Piniella's crew came from behind once again after the Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Ryan Dempster drove in Kosuke Fukudome with the Cubs' first run in the bottom of the 2nd with a 2-out double to left center. Alfonso Soriano followed with his 10th home run of the...
Game Fifty-Five - Cubs 10 Rockies 9 WP - Scott Eyre (2-0) LP - Manny Corpas (0-3, BS 3) Save - Kerry Wood (13) No one, not even Lou Piniella saw this one coming. After rain delayed the start of the game for 22 minutes, the Rockies jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the 4th inning. The Cubs scratched out a run in the bottom of the 4th to cut the lead to 7....
Game Fifty-Four - Cubs 8 Rockies 4 WP - Michael Wuertz (1-1) LP - Matt Herges (2-2, BS 2) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew won their 4th game in a row with another dramatic come from behind win. The Rockies took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 7th inning off of Michael Wuertz. Ryan Spilborghs singled to start the inning, stole 2nd and scored on a RBI double by Ian Stewart. After...
Game Fifty-Three - Cubs 2 Dodgers 1 - 10 innings WP - Bobby Howry (1-2) LP - Chan Ho Park (1-1) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew completed the 3-game sweep of the Dodgers with a dramatic comeback in the 9th and a walk off single by Alfonso Soriano in the 10th inning. With the Cubs down 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th, Ryan Theriot walked to start the rally. After Derrek Lee flied...
Game Fifty-Two - Cubs 3 Dodgers 1 WP - Sean Gallagher (2-1) LP - Hiroki Kuroda (2-4) Save - Kerry Wood (12) Lou Piniella's crew won the second game of a series for the first time since May 10th on a cold night in Chicago. Sean Gallagher pitched a very good game and turned in the longest outing of his brief big league career. Gallagher held the Dodgers to 1 run on 4 hits over...
Game Fifty-One - Cubs 3 Dodgers 1 WP - Ryan Dempster (6-2) LP - Chad Billingsley (4-6) Save - Kerry Wood (11) The Cubs needed a win, Lou Piniella needed innings and Ryan Dempster supplied both. Dempster out pitched Chad Billingsley in a good ole fashion pitcher's duel and made a 2-run home run by Derrek Lee in the 1st inning hold up. Dempster pitched ahead in the count most of the afternoon and worked...
Game Fifty - Cubs 5 Pirates 6 - 11 innings WP - Damaso Marte (4-0) LP - Jon Lieber (2-3) Save - None The Cubs' Wild Card season of 1998 was filled with many memorable games and moments....Kerry Wood's 20-strikeouts, Game 163, Sammy Sosa, the first post-season appearance in 9 years and one very infamous error. On September 23, 1998 Cubs' left fielder Brant Brown dropped a routine fly ball that was lost in the...
Game Forty-Nine - Cubs 4 Pirates 5 - 14 innings WP - John Grabow (4-1) LP - Michael Wuertz (0-1) Save - None The Cubs lost their first game of the year at PNC Park and most importantly fell to 2-3 on the road trip. Michael Wuertz took the loss after Henry Blanco was unable to scoop a low throw in the dirt by Ryan Theriot. Freddy Sanchez advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch...
Game Forty-Eight - Cubs 12 Pirates 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (7-1) LP - Zach Duke (2-3) Save - None For the second time this week the Cubs opened a road series with an impressive win and improved to 9-1 on the year against the Pirates. The Cubs offense put together their biggest output on the road this year by scoring a season high 12 runs on 19 hits with 4 doubles and a 3-run...
Game Forty-Seven - Cubs 3 Astros 5 WP - Shawn Chacon (1-0) LP - Sean Gallagher (1-1) Save - Jose Valverde (14) Lou Piniella's crew completed their 13-game stretch with two disappointing losses to the Astros after an impressive win on Monday. For the second night in a row the Cubs jumped out to an early lead just to see it disappear after one bad inning. Derrek Lee hit his 11th home run in the...
Game Forty-Six - Cubs 2 Astros 4 WP - Chris Sampson (3-3) LP - Ryan Dempster (5-2) Save - Jose Valverde (13) Ryan Dempster could not repeat his previous performance from last Thursday and struggled with his command throughout most of the night. Dempster threw first pitch strikes to only 12 of the 26 batters he faced. For the second night in a row all of the fireworks came in the 4th inning. Derrek Lee...
Game Forty-Five - Cubs 7 Astros 2 WP - Ted Lilly (5-4) LP - Brian Moehler (1-1) Save - None Lou Piniella had his team ready to play on Monday night in Houston. After three quiet innings both teams cranked it up and the game was actually much closer than the final score. This game had it all. The first inside the park home run by a Cubs' catcher since 1959, a spectacular game changing...
Game Forty-Four - Cubs 4 Pirates 3 WP - Jason Marquis (2-3) LP - Phil Dumatrait (1-2) Save - Kerry Wood (10) Lou Piniella's crew won their third series in a row and finished the longest homestand of the season with an improbable 8-2 record. The offense managed only 4 hits on the afternoon but once again it was their patience at the plate that proved to be the difference in the game. Four of...
Game Forty-Three - Cubs 6 Pirates 7 WP - Damaso Marte (3-0) LP - Carlos Marmol (1-1) Save - Matt Capps (10) Carlos Marmol started the 9th in his typical fashion, with a strikeout, but a bloop infield single on a 0-2 pitch to Freddy Sanchez changed the inning. Nate McLouth followed with a home run that just made it into the basket in right. It was only the second long ball of the season...
Game Forty-Two - Cubs 7 Pirates 4 WP - Sean Gallagher (1-0) LP - Tom Gorzelanny (3-4) Save - Kerry Wood (9) Sean Gallagher did what a Major League pitcher is supposed to do when given a big lead....he threw strikes and the result was his first big league win. Gallagher tossed 5 scoreless innings, turned in a quality start and allowed just 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings with 3 walks, 3...
Game Forty-One - Cubs 4 Padres 0 WP - Ryan Dempster (5-1) LP - Greg Maddux (3-4) Save - Kerry Wood (8) The one-time student out pitched the old professor on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley. To say Ryan Dempster threw a gem would be an understatement. Dempster came within just 2 outs of a complete game shutout, set a new career mark with 12 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings and earned the praise of his...
Game Forty - Cubs 8 Padres 5 WP - Ted Lilly (4-4) LP - Jake Peavy (4-3) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew improved to 20-1 in games they score at least 4 runs with an impressive win against Jake Peavy. Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto drove in 6 of the Cubs 8 runs and Kosuke Fukudome added another 3-hit night to his resume. Soriano led off the bottom of the 1st with his third...
Game Thirty-Nine - Cubs 3 Padres 4 WP - Shawn Estes (1-0) LP - Jason Marquis (1-3) Save - Trevor Hoffman (7) Lou Piniella's crew lost a game they should have won on a rainy night at the old ballpark. Shawn Estes shutdown the Cubs offense and picked up his 100th career win. Alfonso Soriano led off the bottom of the 1st with his 5th home run of the season, and second in as many...
Game Thirty-Eight - Cubs 12 Padres 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (6-1) LP - Randy Wolf (2-3) Save - None For the first time this season Randy Wolf allowed a run in the 1st inning after a 1-out single by Ryan Theriot and a opposite field double by Derrek Lee. The Cubs loaded the bases but were not able to add to their lead. Wolf settled down, retired 9 of the next 10 batters he...
Game Thirty-Seven - Cubs 6 Diamondbacks 4 WP - Carlos Marmol (1-0) LP - Tony Pena (0-1) Save - Kerry Wood (7) For the third game in a row the Cubs came from behind to pick up an impressive win....and in the process completed a 3-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first time since 2000. The marquee match-up of Carlos Zambrano against Randy Johnson was scratched because of bad weather. After a 58-minute...
Game Thirty-Six - Cubs 7 Diamondbacks 2 WP - Scott Eyre (1-0) LP - Chad Qualls (0-4, BS 3) Save - None The top two scoring offenses in the National League played another close, low scoring game until the 7th inning. Max Scherzer held the Cubs offense to an unearned run on 5 hits through the first 6 innings of the game. Ryan Dempster matched him pitch for pitch until the top of the 6th...
Game Thirty-Five - Cubs 3 Diamondbacks 1 WP - Ted Lilly (3-4) LP - Dan Haren (4-2) Save - Kerry Wood (6) Chris Young picked up where he left off last October against Ted Lilly, with a home run, but this time Lilly reacted entirely different. Instead of slamming his glove to the turf, he shut the door on the explosive Diamondbacks' offense. Ted Lilly tossed a gem, without a doubt his best outing of...
Game Thirty-Four - Cubs 0 Reds 9 WP - Edinson Volquez (5-1) LP - Jon Lieber (2-2) Save - None The Cubs 6-game road trip did not end the way Lou Piniella had envisioned. The Reds offense woke up, a day after being shutout, and a new Cub killer was born in the lopsided loss. Joey Votto led the Reds attack with 3 of their 7 home runs, each coming off a different pitcher. Four...
Game Thirty-Four: Cubs (19-14) vs. Reds (13-21) Game Time - 11:35am C.T. Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 183 Location - Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Jon Lieber (2-1, 1.86/1.19) vs. Edinson Volquez (4-1, 1.27/1.19) After a very disappointing start to the road trip, the Cubs have a chance to win their first series since a 2-game sweep of the Mets back on April 21st and 22nd....but in order...
Game Thirty-Three - Cubs 3 Reds 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (5-1) LP - Aaron Harang (1-5) Save - Kerry Wood (5) Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood combined on a 4-hit shutout, the Cubs second of the season. Zambrano threw a gem after a rough start, allowed only 3 hits in 8 innings....his longest outing of the year. Zambrano pitched around two more errors by the Cubs defense and was helped out by the overly...
Game Thirty-Two - Cubs 3 Reds 5 WP - Johnny Cueto (2-3) LP - Ryan Dempster (4-1) Save - Francisco Cordero (5) It's not too often a pitcher loses a game without giving up an earned run but that is exactly what happened to Ryan Dempster on Monday night. Dempster was the victim of two errors....one by Mike Fontenot in the 1st inning that led to 3 runs and the other by Mark DeRosa in...
Game Thirty-One - Cubs 3 Cardinals 5 WP - Todd Wellemeyer (3-1) LP - Jason Marquis (1-2) Save - Jason Isringhausen (10) Ron Santo said it all when he named Sean Gallagher the Chevrolet Player of the Game following the loss to the Cardinals on Sunday night. The Cubs could not find a rhythm either on the mound or at the plate and dropped their third straight series. Jason Marquis was once again very ineffective...
Game Thirty - Cubs 9 Cardinals 3 WP - Ted Lilly (2-4) LP - Kyle Lohse (3-1) Save - None After two disappointing losses, the Cubs avoided their first three game losing streak of the season with an impressive win against the Cardinals. The Cubs improved to 11-9 at new Busch Stadium in front of the largest crowd in the park's short three-year history. Ted Lilly did exactly what his team needed after Piniella emptied...
Game Twenty-Nine - Cubs 3 Cardinals 5 - 11 innings WP - Ron Villone (1-0) LP - Chad Fox (0-1) Save - None Every game counts just as much as the next but losing to the Cardinals always seems a little different....especially with the way Lou Piniella's crew dropped the first game of the series on Friday night. After striking out Brian Barton on three pitches to start the game, Rich Hill walked 4 of...
Game Twenty-Eight - Cubs 3 Brewers 4 WP - Brian Shouse (2-0) LP - Kerry Wood (2-1, BS 3) Save - Eric Gagne (9) The Cubs gave one to the Brewers on Thursday afternoon at the old ballpark, plain and simple. Carlos Zambrano was once again very effective on a day he did not have his best stuff. The Cubs' ace held the Brewers to just 1 run, a solo home run by Ryan Braun,...
Game Twenty-Seven - Cubs 19 Brewers 5 WP - Ryan Dempster (4-0) LP - Jeff Suppan (1-1) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew completed the first month of the season by setting a new franchise record for wins in April with 17. The Cubs' skipper preached all winter about the importance of a fast start and Piniella can now check that off his list. The Cubs offense came out swinging against Jeff Suppan. They plated...
Game Twenty-Six - Cubs 7 Brewers 10 WP - Ben Sheets (4-0) LP - Jason Marquis (1-1) Save - Eric Gagne (8) For the first time this season the Cubs lost a game in which they scored at least 4 runs as they were out hit on a cold night at Wrigley. The Cubs offense scored 4 runs, 3 earned, off of Ben Sheets, the most the Brewers' ace has allowed this year, but it...
Game Twenty-Five - Cubs 0 Nationals 2 WP - John Lannan (2-2) LP - Ted Lilly (1-4) Save - Jon Rauch (4) A day after recording their first shutout of the season, the Nationals returned the favor and shutout the Cubs for the first time this year. Ted Lilly turned in the Cubs fourth quality start in a row with an impressive 6 inning performance....he was just out pitched. John Lannan handled the Cubs offense...
Game Twenty-Four - Cubs 7 Nationals 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (4-1) LP - Matt Chico (0-5) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew ended their 2-game losing streak with an impressive shutout win over the Nationals, the first of the year for the Cubs' pitching staff. Carlos Zambrano struggled with his command at times but was able to get the big out when he needed it. Zambrano surrendered only 5 hits in 7 innings, struck...
Game Twenty-Three - Cubs 3 Nationals 5 WP - Jon Rauch (2-0) LP - Bobby Howry (0-2) Save - None For the first time in almost two weeks the Cubs lost back-to-back games after a lackluster performance on Friday night. Lou Piniella's crew had plenty of chances to put runs on the board but left the bases loaded in the 8th and left a total of 10 on in 9 innings. A ground rule double...
Game Twenty-Two - Cubs 2 Rockies 4 WP - Aaron Cook (3-1) LP - Kevin Hart (2-1) Save - Brian Fuentes (1) The Cubs lost their first game in a week on Thursday afternoon in Denver as the 6-game winning streak came to an end. Aaron Cook shut down the Cubs offense as they managed only 2 runs on 4 hits on getaway day. But Jason Marquis was just as effective and the difference in...
Game Twenty-One - Cubs 7 Rockies 6 - 10 innings WP - Kerry Wood (2-0, BS 2) LP - Kip Wells (1-1) Save - Carlos Marmol (2) The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000 game in dramatic, come from behind fashion. Lou Piniella's crew took a 3-0 lead into the 6th inning behind a very good performance by Rich Hill. The Rockies scored 5 runs in the bottom of the inning with 3 of the runs...
Game Twenty - Cubs 8 Mets 1 WP - Ted Lilly (1-3) LP - Nelson Figueroa (1-1) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew swept the 2-game series against the Mets on Tuesday afternoon and finished one of the best homestands in recent memory with an improbable 7-1 record. The Cubs played solid fundamental baseball over the 8 games and took advantage of every opportunity they were given. Tuesday afternoon turned into 'The Ronny Cedeno Show'...
Game Nineteen - Cubs 7 Mets 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (3-1) LP - John Maine (1-2) Save - None It is always a great day when the Cubs beat the Mets, just ask Ron Santo. The first place Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets played an ole fashion nailbiter at Wrigley on Monday night that was much closer than the final score indicates. Carlos Zambrano turned in a gem and held the Mets...
Game Eighteen - Cubs 13 Pirates 6 WP - Ryan Dempster (3-0) LP - Zach Duke (0-1) Save - None The first place Chicago Cubs won their 9th straight against the Pirates and in the process improved to a season high 6 games above .500. The final score does not indicate how close the game was after the top of the 5th. After jumping out to a 5-0 lead, Ryan Dempster allowed 3 runs in...
Game Seventeen - Cubs 13 Pirates 1 WP - Jason Marquis (1-0) LP - Tom Gorzelanny (1-2) Save - None For the second time in the last 7 days, the Cubs set a new season high in runs scored as they moved to 5 games over .500 for the first time on the young season. The Cubs offense clicked on all cylinders and Jason Marquis turned in his best performance since last May. Derrek Lee...
Game Sixteen - Cubs 3 Pirates 2 WP - Rich Hill (1-0) LP - Ian Snell (2-1) Save - Kerry Wood (4) Lou Piniella's crew won another close game against the Pirates on Friday afternoon at the old ballpark. The Cubs' offense had plenty of opportunities to put up runs early in the game but could not come through with the big hit. The offense totaled 9 hits on the afternoon, 4 were for extra...
Game Fifteen - Cubs 2 Reds 9 WP - Edinson Volquez (2-0) LP - Ted Lilly (0-3) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew could not complete the 3-game sweep of the Reds and lost for the first time to their former manager on Thursday afternoon. The Cubs offense had plenty of chances against Edinson Volquez but could not string together any hits. Mark DeRosa and Reed Johnson supplied most of the Cubs offense. DeRosa reached...
Game Fourteen - Cubs 12 Reds 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (2-1) LP - Josh Fogg (1-2) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew improved to a season-high four games over .500 with a decisive win on Wednesday night against the Reds. The Cubs offense exploded for 12 runs, another season-high, on 13 hits with only one home run. Kosuke Fukudome hit the first of 5 doubles on the night in the 1st inning that gave...
Game Thirteen - Cubs 9 Reds 5 WP - Ryan Dempster (2-0) LP - Aaron Harang (1-2) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew handed the Reds their fourth loss in a row with a solid come from behind win. The Reds scored in the 2nd inning on a single by Edwin Encarnacion but Mark DeRosa gave the Cubs a brief 2-1 lead with his second home run in as many games in the bottom of...
Game Twelve - Cubs 6 Phillies 5 - 10 innings WP - Kerry Wood (1-0) LP - Rudy Seanez (0-1) Save - Bobby Howry (1) In the end it was the Cubs defense that ended up being the difference in the finale against the Phillies. Derrek Lee made a game saving play to force extra innings after Kerry Wood and Ryan Theriot turned in a gem for the first out in the 9th. Then in...
Game Eleven - Cubs 1 Phillies 7 WP - Cole Hamels (2-1) LP - Ted Lilly (0-2) Save - None After winning the first three games of the road trip, the Cubs dropped their second in row and were dominated once again by Cole Hamels. Lou Piniella's offense managed only 1 hit and 2 walks in the first 7 innings against Hamels and his tremendous straight changeup. When they did make contact, several Cubs hit...
Game Ten - Cubs 3 Phillies 5 WP - Brett Myers (1-1) LP - Carlos Zambrano (1-1) Save - Brad Lidge (2) The Cubs' 5-game winning streak came to an end on Friday night in Philadelphia at the hands of Brett Myers. Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs in the 1st inning but the Cubs offense managed only 6 hits on the night against the Phillies' top pitcher. Alfonso Soriano added his...
Game Nine - Cubs 7 Pirates 3 WP - Jon Lieber (2-1) LP - Matt Morris (0-1) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew came back from an early 3-1 deficit to win their 5th in a row and completed the 3-game sweep of the Pirates. Rich Hill struggled with his command and left after just 3 innings, exactly what the Cubs bullpen did not need but Jon Lieber came through once again. Lieber threw 4...
Game Eight - Cubs 6 Pirates 4 - 15 innings WP - Kevin Hart (2-0) LP - Phil Dumatrait (0-1) Save - Sean Marshall (1) For the second time in as many games, Lou Piniella's crew beat the Pirates in extra innings. Ronny Cedeno scored the Cubs first run of the game in the 3rd inning on a RBI single by Reed Johnson but the offense was unable to tack on to the lead against...
Game Seven - Cubs 10 Pirates 8 - 12 innings WP - Jon Lieber (1-1) LP - Evan Meek (0-1) Save - Carlos Marmol (1) Lou Piniella's crew jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the 3rd inning against southpaw Tom Gorzelanny and it appeared they were well on the way to winning their third game in a row. The Cubs offense showed a lot of patience at the plate and took advantage of...
Game Six - Cubs 3 Astros 2 WP - Carlos Zambrano (1-0) LP - Oscar Villarreal (0-2) Save - Kerry Wood (3) Lou Piniella's crew won their first one run game of the year on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley. Carlos Zambrano picked up his first win of the young season with a solid 7-inning outing. Zambrano gave up 2 runs on 7 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks....Big Z has walked only 1 batter...
Game Five - Cubs 9 Astros 7 WP - Kevin Hart (1-0) LP - Roy Oswalt (0-2) Save - Kerry Wood (2) Lou Piniella's offense had a big day against one of the best pitchers in the National League. Everyone got into the act, and even the outs late in the game were productive. The Cubs scored 5 runs in a 28-minute 7th inning sparked by a 2-out, game tying single by Derrek Lee and...
Game Four - Cubs 3 Astros 4 WP - Wesley Wright (1-0) LP - Jon Lieber (0-1) Save - Jose Valverde (1) The Cubs third loss of the season can be explained by one word....unearned. Lou Piniella's offense and defense turned in poor performances and were unable to back solid outings by Rich Hill and Jon Lieber. Hill made only two mistakes in 6 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks,...
Game Three - Cubs 6 Brewers 3 WP - Ryan Dempster (1-0) LP - Dave Bush (0-1) Save - Kerry Wood (1) Who would have thought a week ago that Ryan Dempster would record the first win of the season? Ryan Dempster made his first start in nearly three years and responded with a very impressive outing. The Brewers scored two runs off the Cubs' former closer in the 1st inning, one was unearned, and...
Game Two - Cubs 2 Brewers 8 WP - Jeff Suppan (1-0) LP - Ted Lilly (0-1) Save - None In his post-game press conference, Lou Piniella said, "Yesterday we got beat, today we did not play well." And those few words summed up the Cubs performance on Wednesday afternoon. The Cubs did not hit with runners on base, threw the ball around and gave a very good team too many extra opportunities....add all of...
Game One - Cubs 3 Brewers 4 - 10 innings WP - Eric Gagne (1-0, BS 1) LP - Bobby Howry (0-1) Save - David Riske (1) Despite the cold and the rain, it was Opening Day at Wrigley Field and the it had everything.... except for a Cubs win. The game started 40 minutes late and not even the weather dampened the spirits in and around the ballpark. The Ernie Banks Statue was unveiled...
Major League Baseball is flush with cash; every team is making a profit regardless of what their P&L's might be showing. The unexpected signing of Torii Hunter to a 5-year, $90 million dollar contract by the Angels and Scott Linebrink agreeing to terms on a 4-year, $19 million dollar deal with the White Sox further proves the point that teams are making money hand over fist. But will either one of those deals push their...
NLDS - Game Three - Cubs 1 Diamondbacks 5 WP - Livan Hernandez (1-0) LP - Rich Hill (0-1) Save - None Diamondbacks Win Series, 3-0 The end of the marathon.... The Chicago Cubs ended their 2007 campaign with a disappointing finish. The Cubs were swept out of the playoffs for the 4th time in the history of the organization and once again the Faithful had to endure another team celebrating a series win in...
NLDS - Game Two - Cubs 4 Diamondbacks 8 WP - Doug Davis (1-0) LP - Ted Lilly (0-1) Save - None Diamondbacks Lead Series, 2-0 Lou Piniella said after Game One there was plenty of baseball left to be played but after his crew's lackluster performance in Game Two time could be running out. The Cubs were outplayed for the second game in a row by what was supposed to be an experienced Diamondbacks'...
NLDS - Game One - Cubs 1 Diamondbacks 3 WP - Brandon Webb (1-0) LP - Carlos Marmol (0-1) Save - Jose Valverde (1) Diamondbacks Lead Series, 1-0 Lou Piniella's crew had plenty of opportunities to win the first game of the divisional series but struggled once again with runners in scoring position. The Cubs left 8 runners on base and had runners on in each of the first 6 innings against Brandon Webb. They...
Game One Hundred Sixty-Two - Cubs 4 Reds 8 WP - Homer Bailey (4-2) LP - Ryan Dempster (2-7) Save - None The 2007 National League Central Division Champions completed the regular season the way it began, in Cincinnati with a loss to the Reds. In between the Cubs won 85 games, lost 75, won the Central and finished with a mark of 85-77 for the year. What a difference a year makes, a 19-game...
Game One Hundred Sixty-One - Cubs 4 Reds 0 WP - Rich Hill (11-8) LP - Aaron Harang (16-6) Save - None Rich Hill saved his best for his last start of the regular season. Hill, Sean Marshall and Scott Eye combined on a 1-hit shutout in the penultimate game of the regular season. Hill dominated in his 6 innings of work and allowed only 2 baserunners. He had a perfect game going for the...
Game One Hundred Sixty - Cubs 6 Reds 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (18-13) LP - Bronson Arroyo (9-15) Save - None Carlos Zambrano ended the Cubs 3-game losing streak in impressive fashion. Zambrano threw 7 innings of shutout ball and has not allowed a run in his last two outings, 13 innings. Zambrano gave up 6 hits, all singles, with 4 strikeouts and a walk. Zambrano, Bobby Howry and Ryan Dempster combined on the...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine - Cubs 4 Marlins 6 WP - Scott Olsen (10-15) LP - Steve Trachsel (7-11) Save - Kevin Gregg (31) The Chicago Cubs lost their 10th game in a row to the Florida Marlins and for the second time in two seasons they were swept in a season series. The Marlins won all 6 games against the Cubs this year, the last time they beat the Fish was April of 2006....
Game One Hundred Fifty-Eight - Cubs 4 Marlins 7 WP - Logan Kensing (2-0) LP - Jason Marquis (12-9) Save - Lee Gardner (2) Lou Piniella said on his pre-game show, "We came into the series with three mulligans and now we have two." After another poor performance against the Marlins, that number was almost reduced to one. But the Cardinals put a win on the board at Miller Park after a 4-run 8th inning...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Seven - Cubs 2 Marlins 4 WP - Dontrelle Willis (10-15) LP - Ted Lilly (15-8) Save - Taylor Tankersley (1) Dontrelle Willis pitched his best game of the year, unfortunately it came at the Cubs expense. The one-time Cubs farmhand dominated Lou Piniella's crew and ended their 4-game winning streak. Willis allowed only 2 runs on 2 hits in 8 innings with 7 strikeouts and 3 walks. He faced just 1...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Six - Cubs 8 Pirates 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (17-13) LP - Tom Gorzelanny (14-9) Save - None Carlos Zambrano set a new career high on Sunday with his 17th victory of the season, his first at Wrigley since July 18th. Zambrano struck out the side to start the game with one of the most dominating innings of his career. Zambrano worked very quickly and found a rhythm that has been...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Five - Cubs 9 Pirates 5 WP - Rich Hill (10-8) LP - Zach Duke (3-8) Save - None Lou Piniella said after the game, "If you can't get excited about this, you are not an excitable person," and while there are 7 games left in the season, Saturday was an impressive win. The Cubs hit 4 more home runs and have hit 8 in the last 2 games. The 'Big 3'...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Four - Cubs 13 Pirates 8 WP - Scott Eyre (2-1) LP - Franquelis Osoria (0-2) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew took advantage of several miscues by the Pittsburgh Pirates and beat them at their own game. Neither starting pitcher made it through the 3rd inning and the two teams combined to score 14 runs in the first three frames. The Cubs bullpen took over for Jason Marquis with 2 outs...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Three - Cubs 3 Reds 2 WP - Bobby Howry (6-7) LP - Gary Majewski (0-3) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew improved to 5-0 in the last 5 games Ted Lilly has taken the mound. Lilly threw another gem after a Cubs' loss with a quality start. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings with 8 strikeouts and only 1 walk. The two runs Lilly allowed were solo...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Two - Cubs 2 Reds 5 WP - Aaron Harang (16-4) LP - Carlos Zambrano (16-13) Save - David Weathers (31) In the battle of staff aces, Lou Piniella's crew came out on the losing end once again. Carlos Zambrano lost his 4th game in 5 starts against the Reds this year. Zambrano gave up 3 runs in the first 2 innings and left with 1 out in the 6th after allowing...
Game One Hundred Fifty-One - Cubs 7 Reds 6 WP - Will Ohman (2-4) LP - David Weathers (2-6, BS 6) Save - None A walk, a single, a 2-run game tying triple, an intentional walk and a walk off single....the only thing missing was Harry Caray shouting at the top of his lungs, "Cubs Win! Cubs Win!" The Cubs were down by 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th when Ryan Theriot stepped...
Game One Hundred Fifty - Cubs 4 Cardinals 2 WP - Jason Marquis (12-8) LP - Mark Mulder (0-3) Save - Ryan Dempster (28) Lou Piniella stated on Friday that his team's goal was to win the very important weekend series against the Cardinals. While the final score on Sunday was much closer than it needed to be, the Cubs' skipper has to be happy with the end result. The Cubs continued to hit the...
Game One Hundred Forty-Nine - Cubs 3 Cardinals 4 - Game Two WP - Joel Pineiro (6-4) LP - Sean Marshall (7-8) Save - Jason Isringhausen (29) Lou Piniella's crew had a chance to bury the Cardinals but ran out of gas after jumping out to an early lead. The Cubs scored a run in the 1st and two in the 2nd off of Alfonso Soriano's 27th home run of the season and should have...
Game One Hundred Forty-Eight - Cubs 3 Cardinals 2 - Game One WP - Kerry Wood (1-1) LP - Ryan Franklin (4-4, BS 5) Save - Ryan Dempster (27) Lou Piniella's crew won their 4th in a row in come from behind fashion. In the first 7 innings, the Cubs' offense managed just 1 run on 3 hits against Braden Looper and were down 2-1 in the 8th. Cliff Floyd walked to start the 8th...
Game One Hundred Forty-Seven - Cubs 5 Cardinals 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (16-12) LP - Adam Wainwright (13-11) Save - Bobby Howry (8) Lou Piniella's crew won their 3rd game in a row for the first time since August 16th - August 18 behind one of Carlos Zambrano's best outings of the season. Zambrano made only one mistake on the night and out pitched Adam Wainwright in an ole fashion pitcher's duel. Zambrano gave...
Game One Hundred Forty-Six - Cubs 6 Astros 2 WP - Steve Trachsel (7-10) LP - Woody Williams (8-15) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew won their first back-to-back games since the Astros series at Wrigley at the beginning of the month. The Cubs tied a season-high with 4 home runs that accounted for all of their runs in the series and season finale. Alfonso Soriano hit his 8th lead off home run of the...
Game One Hundred Forty-Five - Cubs 3 Astros 2 WP - Rich Hill (9-8) LP - Matt Albers (4-8) Save - Ryan Dempster (26) The Cubs won their first game of the season at Minute Maid Park in dramatic fashion. Ryan Dempster took the mound in the 9th with a 3-1 lead but a bad bounce gave the Astros life in their last at bat. Mark Loretta hit what appeared to be a routine grounder...
Game One Hundred Forty-Four - Cubs 4 Astros 5, 11 innings WP - Brad Lidge (4-2) LP - Ryan Dempster (2-6) Save - None A day after Lou Piniella's crew put a 12 spot on the board against the defending World Champions, the Cubs were unable to score a single run after Mark DeRosa's 3-run home run in the 3rd. The biggest Cub Killer of them all, Carlos Lee, robbed Ryan Theriot of an extra...
Game One Hundred Forty-Three - Cubs 12 Cardinals 3 WP - Ted Lilly (15-7) LP - Joel Pineiro (5-4) Save - None The Cubs played one of their best games of the season on a scheduled day off. Monday was supposed to be a day of rest for the Cubs in Houston but instead they spent Monday afternoon at home knocking the cover off the ball. Lou Piniella has been promising his team will get...
Game One Hundred Forty-Two - Cubs 5 Pirates 10 WP - Matt Morris (9-9) LP - Steve Trachsel (6-10) Save - None For the first time in 23 days the Cubs are not in either sole position or tied for first place in the Central Division. Lou Piniella's crew jumped out to an early lead in the 2nd inning but the Pirates scored 6 in the home half and made the Cubs play from behind...
Game One Hundred Forty-One - Cubs 5 Pirates 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (15-12) LP - Ian Snell (9-12) Save - None Carlos Zambrano ended the worst losing streak of his career with one of his best outings of the season when his team needed him the most. Zambrano stepped up and delivered on the promise he made during a press conference last week and beat the Pirates for the first time this year. Zambrano...
Game One Hundred Forty - Cubs 1 Pirates 6 WP - Tom Gorzelanny (14-7) LP - Rich Hill (8-8) Save - None Lou Piniella said before Friday night's game, "I think we're going to be in a dog fight for 9 innings tonight," but someone forgot to tell his team. The Cubs were beaten for the 6th time in 10 games by the last place Pirates and were outplayed in ever aspect of the game....
Game One Hundred Thirty-Nine - Cubs 4 Dodgers 7 WP - Joe Beimel (4-1) LP - Ryan Dempster (2-5, BS 3) Save - Takashi Saito (37) Lou Piniella's crew dropped their 5th game of the homestand after Ryan Dempster gave up the lead in the 9th for his third blown save of the year. Jason Marquis threw a gem and retired the first 14 batters he faced. Marquis allowed only 2 runs on 4 hits...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Eight - Cubs 8 Dodgers 2 WP - Ted Lilly (14-7) LP - Eric Stults (1-3) Save - None Ted Lilly tied Carlos Zambrano for the club lead with his first win since August 9th. Lilly gave Lou Piniella a quality start in a game that was much closer than the final score. Lilly allowed 1 run while he was on the mound, a sacrifice fly by Rafael Furcal in the 5th....
Game One Hundred Thirty-Seven - Cubs 2 Dodgers 6 WP - Brad Penny (15-4) LP - Steve Trachsel (6-9) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew had plenty of opportunities to give Steve Trachsel his first win in a Cubs' uniform since September of 1999 but they could not string together any hits and the struggling offense hit into 5 double plays. The Cubs came away empty in the 1st inning after loading the bases and...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Six - Cubs 3 Dodgers 11 WP - Esteban Loaiza (2-0) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-12) Save - None Carlos Zambrano started out his afternoon by striking out 2 of the first 4 batters he faced. Alfonso Soriano gave him an early lead when he hit his 20th home run of the year to lead off the home half of the 1st. And despite the fact Zambrano allowed the Dodgers to tie...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Five - Cubs 6 Astros 5 WP - Carlos Marmol (5-1) LP - Chad Qualls (6-4, BS 5) Save - Ryan Dempster (25) Lou Piniella's crew struggled to start the game once again and had to play catch-up for the 5th time in the past 6 games. Rich Hill ran up his pitch count in the 1st inning while the offense continued leaving runners in scoring position. The Cubs were down 5-1...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Four - Cubs 4 Astros 3 WP - Jason Marquis (11-8) LP - Troy Patton (0-2) Save - Ryan Dempster (24) The last time the Chicago Cubs were in first place on September 1st was 1989....18 long years later Lou Piniella's crew started the final month of the regular season with a win. The Cubs offense could not figure out Astros' rookie, Troy Patton early in the game. They managed only 3...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Three - Cubs 1 Astros 6 WP - Wandy Rodriguez (8-12) LP - Sean Marshall (7-7) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew could not build any momentum after their series win against the Brewers and suffered a let down against an old nemesis, with a new face. Hunter Pence, the Astros' top prospect, put on an impressive show at Wrigley on Friday afternoon. Pence scored the first run of the day after...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Two - Cubs 5 Brewers 4 WP - Carlos Marmol (4-1) LP - Chris Capuano (5-12) Save - Ryan Dempster (23) Lou Piniella's crew came from behind and beat the Brewers for the 9th time this season in 15 games. Thursday night was the last meeting of the year between the two teams and it came down to two pitches. With the game tied at 3 with 2 outs in the 6th...
Game One Hundred Thirty-One - Cubs 1 Brewers 6 WP - Ben Sheets (11-4) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-11) Save - None No one in the Cubs organization will be happier than Carlos Zambrano to see the calendar flip to a new month on Saturday. Zambrano lost his 4th straight game and finished August 0-4 in 5 starts with a 7.06 ERA after signing his long over due contract almost two weeks ago. While Zambrano...
Game One Hundred Thirty - Cubs 5 Brewers 3 WP - Rich Hill (8-7) LP - Scott Linebrink (4-6, BS 7) Save - Ryan Dempster (22) Lou Piniella's crew handed their skipper an impressive come from behind win on his birthday, but it was a decision by Ned Yost that changed the course of the ballgame. Jeff Suppan was in cruise control until the 7th inning. He held the Cubs under performing offense to 1...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Nine - Cubs 4 Diamondbacks 5 WP - Edgar Gonzalez (6-2) LP - Jason Marquis (10-8) Save - Jose Valverde (40) Lou Piniella's crew could not mount another 9th inning comeback after giving away an early 3-0 lead. The Cubs scored 3 runs in the 1st inning against Yusmeiro Petit that included a solo home run by Cliff Floyd, the Cubs first of the road trip. Derrek Lee hit his second career...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Eight - Cubs 1 Diamondbacks 3 WP - Doug Davis (11-11) LP - Ted Lilly (13-7) Save - Jose Valverde (39) In front of the 3rd largest crowd of the season at Chase Field, Lou Piniella's crew dropped their 20th game of the year against a left-handed starter. The Cubs managed only 1 run on 6 hits in 7 innings against Doug Davis. Davis walked just 1 and tied a season-high with...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Seven - Cubs 6 Diamondbacks 2 WP - Sean Marshall (7-6) LP - Micah Owings (6-7) Save - Ryan Dempster (21) Lou Piniella received his third quality start in the last four games, this time from Sean Marshall. Marshall threw without a doubt his best game of the season with help from Ryan Theriot. The Diamondbacks hit the ball hard several times on the night but only 2 were put in play...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Six - Cubs 1 Giants 4 WP - Matt Cain (6-13) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-10) Save - Brad Hennessey (13) For the 8th time in 27 starts Carlos Zambrano could not complete 6 innings and struggled against another team with a record below .500. Zambrano was making his second start after signing his new contract last Friday. He was spectacular against the Cardinals on Sunday before the rain came but he...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Five - Cubs 4 Giants 2 - 10 innings WP - Carlos Marmol (3-1) LP - Patrick Misch (0-3) Save - Ryan Dempster (20) A night after driving in the winning runs, Cliff Floyd came through again. Floyd doubled to right to lead off the 10th. Felix Pie pinch ran and advanced to 3rd on Bengie Molina's 13th passed ball of the season. After a walk to Mike Fontenot, Pie scored the...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Four - Cubs 5 Giants 1 WP - Scott Eyre (1-1) LP - Tim Lincecum (7-4) Save - None The Cubs' offense managed only 2 hits in the first 8 innings against rookie Tim Lincecum but it was a 2-out walk by Jason Kendall in the 8th inning that played a huge role in the comeback. Kendall's walk was just the Cubs third baserunner of the night but he flipped the order...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Three - Cubs 4 Cardinals 6 WP - Joel Pineiro (4-2) LP - Ted Lilly (13-6) Save - Jason Isringhausen (23) The Cubs and Cardinals completed their abbreviated 4-game series after the 4th rain delay in 3 games. The Cubs fell behind early and tried to play catch-up all afternoon. They were down 6-to-4 when the rain came in the 7th inning and after a 1 hour and 27 minute delay had...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Two - Cubs 5 Cardinals 3 WP - Sean Marshall (6-6) LP - Anthony Reyes (2-12) Save - Ryan Dempster (19) Saturday afternoon at the Friendly Confines was just another run-of-the-mill Cubs and Cardinals game. Four home runs, one a grand slam, two rain delays totaling 2 hours and 6 minutes, a little bit of controversy and the winning team totaling less hits than runs....what else would one expect when these two...
Game One Hundred Twenty-One - Cubs 2 Cardinals 1 WP - Rich Hill (7-7) LP - Braden Looper (10-10) Save - Ryan Dempster (18) Friday afternoon there was a playoff atmosphere at the Friendly Confines and it was highlighted by a good ole fashion pitchers duel. Rich Hill threw arguably his best game of the year against the Cubs biggest rival. Hill made one mistake all afternoon, a home run to Albert Pujols in the...
Game One Hundred Twenty - Cubs 12 Reds 4 WP - Jason Marquis (10-7) LP - Bobby Livingston (3-3) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew finally figured out how to beat the pesky Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field....just out hit them. The Cubs pounded out a season-high 20 hits, highlighted by 8 doubles but the game was a lot closer than the final score indicates. The Cubs scored 4 runs in the 1st inning to...
Game One Hundred Nineteen - Cubs 9 Reds 11 WP - Bill Bray (1-0) LP - Bobby Howry (5-7) Save - David Weathers (24) The Reds continued their dominance of the Cubs at Wrigley with their 4th win of the season in 5 games after a 91-minute rain delay. The Reds hit 4 home runs, two off of Ted Lilly and the difference in the game was a 2-run homer by Josh Hamilton in the...
Game One Hundred Eighteen - Cubs 5 Reds 6 WP - Aaron Harang (12-3) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-9) Save - David Weathers (23) Lou Piniella's old team handed his current crew their 6th loss of the season in their 10 head-to-head match-ups. The Cubs spotted the Reds a 4-0 lead by the 4th inning but kept battling back all night. They scored 5 runs in the last 5 innings and had the tying run...
Game One Hundred Seventeen - Cubs 3 Rockies 6 WP - Matt Herges (1-0) LP - Kerry Wood (0-1) Save - Manny Corpas (9) Lou Piniella's crew finished their 7-game road trip with a disappointing loss to the Rockies and ended up with a split in the 4-game series. The Cubs managed only 3 runs off of Tim Harikkala, who was making his first start at the big league level since 1996. The Cubs offense...
Game One Hundred Sixteen - Cubs 2 Rockies 15 WP - Josh Fogg (7-7) LP - Rich Hill (6-7) Save - None Lou Piniella's pitching staff did a good job cooling off the Rockies red-hot offense for the first 23 innings of the series. The Rockies were coming off a 3-game series against the Brewers in which they scored 36 runs and the Cubs' staff held them to just 6 runs until the 6th inning...
Game One Hundred Fifteen - Cubs 6 Rockies 2 WP - Jason Marquis (9-7) LP - Aaron Cook (8-7) Save - None The new look Cubs' lineup put up double digit hits for the second game in a row led by Jacque Jones, Jason Kendall and Matt Murton. Jones homered for the first time since June 1st while adding a bunt single, a double and 2 RBI's. Murton hit his 3rd home run of the...
Game One Hundred Fourteen - Cubs 10 Rockies 2 WP - Ted Lilly (13-5) LP - Ubaldo Jimenez (1-2) Save - None Lou Piniella reportedly met with his team before Thursday night's game and apparently what he said worked. After scoring just 5 runs in the 3-game series in Houston the Cubs offense bounced back with a 10 run, 16-hit performance and for one night cooled off the very hot Colorado Rockies. The usually sure-handed...
Game One Hundred Thirteen - Cubs 2 Astros 8 WP - Roy Oswalt (12-6) LP - Carlos Zambrano (14-8) Save - None The Cubs were swept in a 3-game series in Houston for the first time since September of 1999 and the first time at Minute Maid Park. For the third game in a row the Cubs offense had plenty of opportunities to score runs. They out hit the Astros 12-to-11 but were 2-for-14 with...
Game One Hundred Twelve - Cubs 2 Astros 5 WP - Woody Williams (6-12) LP - Sean Marshall (5-6) Save - Brad Lidge (7) For the second night in a row Lou Piniella's crew missed opportunities to put the game away in the 1st inning and ended up wasting a solid start by Sean Marshall. The Cubs loaded the bases with no outs to start the game but came away with only 1 run. Woody...
Game One Hundred Eleven - Cubs 1 Astros 2 - 10 innings WP - Brad Lidge (3-1) LP - Michael Wuertz (2-3) Save - None Rich Hill put forth his best effort of the second half but unfortunately the Cubs' offense faced a lefty in his home park that is just lights out this season in Wandy Rodriguez. Hill made only one mistake in 7 strong innings, a solo home run to Carlos Lee in...
Game One Hundred Ten - Cubs 3 Mets 8 WP - Tom Glavine (10-6) LP - Jason Marquis (8-7) Save - None The Wrigley Faithful were able to see a little piece of history on Sunday night. Tom Glavine became the 23rd pitcher in the history of baseball to win his 300th career game and the first to accomplish the feat at Wrigley Field. He became only the 5th left-handed pitcher in Major League history...
Game One Hundred Nine - Cubs 6 Mets 2 WP - Ted Lilly (12-5) LP - John Maine (12-6) Save - None Ted Lilly not only bounced back from his last start, he dominated the New York Mets. Lilly kept the Mets offense off balance all afternoon by throwing strikes and pounding the inside part of the plate. He gave up just 2 runs, both solo home run by Moises Alou, and scatted 5 other...
Game One Hundred Eight - Cubs 2 Mets 6 WP - Guillermo Mota (1-0) LP - Ryan Dempster (2-4) Save - None What started out as a pitcher's duel ended with another horrendous outing by the Cubs' bullpen. Carlos Zambrano gave up just 1 run on 2 hits in 5+ innings of work but had to leave the game in the 6th inning with heat related cramps. He did not allow a hit until the...
Game One Hundred Seven - Cubs 6 Phillies 10 WP - J.D. Durbin (4-2) LP - Sean Marshall (5-5) Save - None Sean Marshall has been one of the many bright spots this season for Lou Piniella but on Thursday he had a rare bad outing. Marshall labored through the first 2 innings and was lifted in the 3rd with 2 outs after he allowed a season high 7 earned runs on 9 hits. Marshall...
Game One Hundred Five - Cubs 7 Phillies 3 WP - Jason Marquis (8-6) LP - Adam Eaton (9-7) Save - None Lou Piniella's crew finished the month of July the same way it began, with a win. In between the Cubs won another 15 games to finish an improbable month with a 17-9 record, their most wins in July since 2000. The Cubs 17 wins in July were the most in the National League...
Game One Hundred Four - Cubs 1 Phillies 4 WP - Cole Hamels (12-5) LP - Ted Lilly (11-5) Save - Brett Myers (7) Lou Piniella's crew continued their struggles against left-handed starters on Monday night and dropped to 9-16 on the season against southpaws. Cole Hamels dominated the Cubs lineup and allowed just 3 hits in 8 strong innings of work. The lone run of the game came off of Ryan Theriot's 3rd home...
Game One Hundred Three - Cubs 6 Reds 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (14-7) LP - Matt Belisle (5-8) Save - None For the second day in a row the Cubs played in front of a home crowd at Great American Ball Park. There were clearly more of the Faithful on hand once again and Carlos Zambrano treated them to arguably his best outing of the season, a stark contrast to the way he pitched...
Game One Hundred Two - Cubs 8 Reds 1 WP - Sean Marshall (5-4) LP - Aaron Harang (10-3) Save - None Saturday at Great American Ball Park was 70's night complete with slinky giveaways, retro commercials, disco music and Barry Williams aka Greg Brady throwing out the first pitch and singing the 7th inning stretch. The only thing that was missing were the Cubs two-toned blue striped jerseys. In front of a sold out...
Game One Hundred One - Cubs 4 Reds 5 WP - David Weathers (2-3, BS 5) LP - Bobby Howry (5-6) Save - None After a one hour and 27 minute rain delay, the Cubs scored an unearned run off of Bronson Arroyo in the 1st inning, thanks to an error by Ken Griffey, Jr. Bronson Arroyo settled in and threw a gem with help from a Reds' defense that made several highlight real-type plays....
Game One Hundred - Cubs 1 Cardinals 11 WP - Braden Looper (8-8) LP - Jason Marquis (7-6) Save - None Jason Marquis has either been very good this season or very bad and unfortunately for Lou Piniella on Thursday night it was the latter. Marquis appeared to be in control and showed good command in the first 3 innings but a solo home run by Scott Rolen in the 4th inning broke the scoreless...
Game Ninety-Nine - Cubs 7 Cardinals 1 WP - Ted Lilly (11-4) LP - Adam Wainwright (9-8) Save - None Ted Lilly gave Lou Piniella another quality start and he set a new career high with his 7th win in a row. Lilly threw another gem but his throwing error in the 4th led to the only run on the night for the Cardinals. Lilly gave up just 6 hits, struck out 2 and walked...
Game Ninety-Eight - Cubs 4 Cardinals 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (13-7) LP - Kip Wells (4-13) Save - Ryan Dempster (17) Carlos Zambrano became the first National League pitcher to reach the 13-win plateau with a solid performance against the Cardinals on Tuesday night. Zambrano's scoreless inning streak reached 20 1/3 innings before the Cardinals scored 2 runs in the 5th inning to take the lead in the ballgame. The Cubs tied the game...
Game Ninety-Seven - Cubs 0 Diamondbacks 3 WP - Yusmeiro Petit (2-2) LP - Sean Marshall (4-4) Save - Jose Valverde (30) For the first time since June 20th and 21st the Cubs lost back-to-back games but still finished the 10-game homestand with a 7-3 record. The Derrek Lee-less offense managed just 4 hits and only 5 base runners on the afternoon. Lou Piniella's crew was shutout for just the 5th time this season and...
Game Ninety-Six - Cubs 2 Diamondbacks 3 WP - Juan Cruz (4-1) LP - Bobby Howry (5-5) Save - Jose Valverde (29) The Cubs offense could not string together any hits against rookie Micah Owings and former Cub Juan Cruz threw 3 innings of nearly perfect relief to earn the win. Cruz walked just 1 batter and did not surrender a single hit; he improved to 3-0 lifetime against the Cubs. Lou Piniella's offense managed...
Game Ninety-Five - Cubs 6 Diamondbacks 2 WP - Jason Marquis (7-5) LP - Brandon Webb (8-8) Save - None With Cliff Floyd unavailable, Daryle Ward on the DL and Derrek Lee serving the third game of his five game suspension, Lou Piniella used more of a Cactus League-type lineup than one usually seen during the regular season. But once again, Piniella pulled the right strings and got the desired result. Mike Fontenot had a...
Game Ninety-Four - Cubs 9 Giants 8 WP - Ted Lilly (10-4) LP - Matt Morris (7-6) Save - Bobby Howry (7) It is not too often an opposing team's slugger hits two home runs, drives in six runs and his team still loses but that was the case on Thursday afternoon in front of a record setting crowd. Barry Bonds hit a solo home run, #752 of his career, in the 2nd inning, added...
Game Ninety-Three - Cubs 12 Giants 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (12-7) LP - Matt Cain (3-11) Save - Sean Gallagher (1) With Derrek Lee deciding to serve his 5-game suspension and Aramis Ramirez with a scheduled day off, the Cubs' starting lineup featured just one player in the same position as Opening Day. Lou Piniella's bench was led by Koyie Hill, who drove in 5 of the Cubs 12 runs, all with 2 outs,...
Game Ninety-Two - Cubs 2 Giants 4 WP - Barry Zito (7-9) LP - Carlos Marmol (2-1) Save - Brad Hennessey (6) Lou Piniella thought he had found a lineup that solved the riddle of the southpaw when his team put up 7 runs against Wandy Rodriguez on Sunday afternoon but then Barry Zito took the mound on Tuesday night. Zito handed the Cubs their 15th loss of the season against left-handed starters as he...
Game Ninety-One - Cubs 3 Giants 2 WP - Rich Hill (6-6) LP - Kevin Correia (1-5) Save - Bobby Howry (6) The night at 1060 West Addison started with what appeared to be just a couple of roster moves, Billy Petrick was recalled from Triple-A and Rob Bowen was designated for assignment. Once the actual game started, Rich Hill and Tim Lincecum locked in a pitcher's duel that saw a combined 2 runs scored...
Game Ninety - Cubs 7 Astros 6 WP - Michael Wuertz (2-2) LP - Wandy Rodriguez (6-8) Save - Bobby Howry (5) For the first time since 1984 the Cubs swept a 3-game series against the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field with a very impressive, come from behind victory. After staking the Astros to a 5-to-nothing lead in the 2nd inning, the Cubs scored 6 runs in the bottom of the inning with 5 runs...
Game Eighty-Nine - Cubs 9 Astros 3 WP - Ted Lilly (9-4) LP - Roy Oswalt (8-6) Save - None On a beautiful day at Wrigley with the wind blowing straight out, the only long ball hit was by the Cubs' Alfonso Soriano. The Cubs offense exploded for 9 runs off of Roy Oswalt and Soriano's 3-run homer in the 6th put an end to the Cubs recent power outage. Aramis Ramirez had a 4...
Game Eighty-Eight - Cubs 6 Astros 0 WP - Carlos Zambrano (11-7) LP - Jason Jennings (1-5) Save - None Carlos Zambrano continued his recent dominance over the Astros and allowed just 3 hits while throwing 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball. With the win, Zambrano became the first National League pitcher to reach 11 wins on the season and with his strong performance he lowered his ERA on the year to 3.83, the first...
Game Eighty-Seven - Cubs 2 Pirates 6 WP - Shane Youman (2-0) LP - Carlos Zambrano (10-7) Save - None Lou Piniella stated in his pre-game show before Sunday's game that he will be spending the All-Star break down at his home in Florida and planned to relax for a couple of days. Hopefully he will come back from his retreat with a game plan for his team on how to beat left handed pitchers....
Game Eighty-Six - Cubs 7 Pirates 1 WP - Ted Lilly (8-4) LP - John Van Benschoten (0-3) Save - None Ted Lilly won his 4th game in a row and helped his own cause in the 3rd inning. Lilly singled to left to drive in Mark DeRosa for his second career RBI. On the mound Lilly kept the Pirates guessing all night. He did not allow his fourth hit until the 6th inning and...
Game Eighty-Five - Cubs 4 Pirates 8 WP - Paul Maholm (5-11) LP - Jason Marquis (6-5) Save - None Paul Maholm won his 5th game of the season on Friday night and two of his wins have come at the expense of Lou Piniella's crew. The Cubs offense continued to struggle against left handed pitching and did not record their 4th hit of the game until a lead off single in the 8th inning...
Game Eighty-Four - Cubs 4 Nationals 2 WP - Will Ohman (1-4) LP - Luis Ayala (0-1) Save - Bobby Howry (4) A winning team has to receive contributions from their entire bench during 162-game schedule, every player, no matter how good they may or may not be, will need a game off from time to time. Daryle Ward stepped in for Derrek Lee on Thursday night and responded with a big game for Lou...
Game Eighty-Three - Cubs 0 Nationals 6 WP - Matt Chico (4-5) LP - Rich Hill (5-6) Save - None The Cubs offense managed just 4 hits off of rookie starter Matt Chico with one coming off the bat of Rich Hill. Mark DeRosa extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the 2nd inning but the Cubs were a combined 0-7 on the day with runners in scoring position. The Cubs...
Game Eighty-Two - Cubs 3 Nationals 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (10-6) LP - Tim Redding (0-1) Save - Bobby Howry (3) Lou Piniella's crew took care of business against the Nationals on Tuesday night. The Cubs offense was not much of a factor but they gave Carlos Zambrano just enough to pick up his 10th win of the season. The Cubs jumped out in front early once again and scored all 3 of their...
Game Eighty-One - Cubs 7 Nationals 2 WP - Ted Lilly (7-4) LP - Jason Simontacchi (5-6) Save - None For the first time since 2004, the Cubs are over .500 at the midway point of the season. The Cubs scored all of their runs in the first 4 innings and received contributions from the entire lineup. Mark DeRosa had another big night in the field and at the plate. He was 2-for-5 with 3...
Game Eighty - Cubs 5 Brewers 1 WP - Jason Marquis (6-4) LP - Dave Bush (6-7) Save - None The Cubs bounced back from the lopsided loss on Saturday with a solid win behind Jason Marquis. Ryan Theriot hit 3 doubles and scored 3 times and for the second time in the series Aramis Ramirez had the game winning RBI. The Cubs took 2 of 3 from the division leading Brewers and on the...
Game Seventy-Nine - Cubs 4 Brewers 13 WP - Ben Sheets (10-3) LP - Sean Marshall (4-3) Save - None For the second day in a row the Brewers batted around in the 1st inning, they scored 4 runs in the opening frame but unlike Friday they kept tacking on runs and by the 3rd inning the Brewers had scored 7 runs and chased Sean Marshall from the game. After Rich Hill's 3-inning performance on...
Game Seventy-Eight - Cubs 6 Brewers 5 WP - Bobby Howry (5-4) LP - Francisco Cordero (0-2, BS 3) Save - None A week ago Lou Piniella's crew appeared to be dead and buried in the weakest division in baseball. They had just lost two of three to arguably the worst team in the majors and limped back to Chicago to face the White Sox on the South Side. Since then the Cubs have rattled...
Game Seventy-Seven - Cubs 6 Rockies 4 WP - Carlos Zambrano (9-6) LP - Jason Hirsh (3-7) Save - Carlos Marmol (1) The Cubs' offense scored 5 of their 6 runs in the first 4 innings and gave Carlos Zambrano a very comfortable cushion to work with. Zambrano was very impressive once again and allowed just 2 earned runs in 6 innings of work. Billy Petrick made his Major League debut and Carlos Marmol picked...
Game Seventy-Six - Cubs 8 Rockies 5 WP - Ted Lilly (6-4) LP - Rodrigo Lopez (4-1) Save - Will Ohman (1) After a day full of distractions and roster moves, Alfonso Soriano paced the offense with two hits and two runs scored, including the first run of the game. Cliff Floyd hit his 4th home run of the season in the 1st inning and every starter, including Ted Lilly, recorded at least one hit....
Game Seventy-Five - Cubs 10 Rockies 9 WP - Bobby Howry (4-4, BS 4) LP - Brian Fuentes (0-2, BS 4) Save - None On Monday afternoon Alfonso Soriano was named the National League Player of the Week and on Monday night he showed why he deserved the honor. The Cubs took the field in the 9th up by 5 runs but Scott Eyre could not find the strike zone and Bobby Howry gave up...
Game Seventy-Four - Cubs 3 White Sox 0 WP - Sean Marshall (4-2) LP - Jose Contreras (5-8) Save - Bobby Howry (2) For the first time in the history of the Crosstown Classic the Cubs swept a 3-game series at U.S. Cellular Field and handed the White Sox their 6th shutout of the season. Sean Marshall threw extremely well but he has to give his defense the credit for the 6 1/3 shutout innings...
Game Seventy-Three - Cubs 2 White Sox 1 WP - Michael Wuertz (1-2) LP - Bobby Jenks (2-3) Save - Bobby Howry (1) The Cubs' offense managed just 2 runs on the afternoon, one in the 1st inning and one in the 9th. Alfonso Soriano led off the game for the second straight day with a home run but the winning run came after Cliff Floyd singled with 1-out in the 9th inning. Angel Pagan...
Game Seventy-Two - Cubs 5 White Sox 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (8-6) LP - Mark Buehrle (4-4) Save - None For the second time in as many starts Carlos Zambrano found himself in the middle of a pitcher's duel but this time the Cubs offense scored enough runs to get him the win. Zambrano was a few mistakes short of perfection with the only run he allowed coming off a solo home run by...
Game Seventy-One - Cubs 5 Rangers 6 WP - Eric Gagne (2-0) LP - Bob Howry (3-4) Save - None Ted Lilly gave up 5 runs in the first 3 innings but settled down and retired the last 10 batters he faced while finishing with 10 strikeouts but once again the Cubs offense could not come through with enough hits with runners in scoring position. The Cubs battled back to tie the game while Lilly...
Game Seventy - Cubs 3 Rangers 7 WP - Kameron Loe (3-6) LP - Jason Marquis (5-4) Save - None Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs will be forever linked together and that bond was reinforced on Wednesday night in Arlington. Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career home run in the 5th inning to right field off of the Cubs current number 21, Jason Marquis. Marquis, on the other hand, could not find the strike...
Game Sixty-Nine - Cubs 5 Rangers 4 WP - Carlos Marmol (2-0) LP - Joaquin Benoit (2-2) Save - Ryan Dempster (16) Sean Marshall was ineffective for the first time this season and Lou Piniella had to go to his bullpen in the 5th inning. They responded with their best outing of the year. Carlos Marmol, Bobby Howry and Ryan Dempster threw 5 perfect innings in relief of Marshall and struck out 9 of the...
Game Sixty-Eight - Cubs 3 Padres 11 WP - Greg Maddux (6-3) LP - Rich Hill (5-5) Save - None The Padres managed just two runs in the first two games of the series but on Sunday afternoon they matched their series run total in the 1st inning. The Padres scored 11 times on 14 hits and hit 5 home runs against Cubs' pitching. The heart of the Padres' order was a combined 9-for-14 with...
Game Sixty-Seven - Cubs 0 Padres 1 WP - Heath Bell (1-2) LP - Carlos Zambrano (7-6) Save - Trevor Hoffman (19) What will be lost in the latest melee at Wrigley Field is the performance turned in by Carlos Zambrano. Not only did Zambrano have a no-hitter going until 1-out in the 8th inning, he did not let the Derrek Lee-Chris Young bench clearing brawl effect him and remained composed on the mound. Zambrano...
Game Sixty-Six - Cubs 4 Padres 1 WP - Ted Lilly (5-4) LP - David Wells (3-4) Save - Ryan Dempster (15) Ted Lilly appeared to be on his way to another early exit after he struggled with his command in the 1st inning. Lilly settled down after a visit from Derrek Lee and ended with a gem. Lilly regained his early season form and surrendered just 1 earned run on 6 hits in 8...
Game Sixty-Five - Cubs 5 Mariners 4 WP - Bob Howry (3-3) LP - Brandon Morrow (3-1, BS 2) Save - None Jason Marquis was just short of perfect until the 6th inning. Marquis had allowed just one base runner until he hit Jeff Weaver with 1-out and he was unable to get back into a rhythm. Before Marquis was able to record the second out of the inning he allowed 4 runs to score...
Game Sixty-Four - Cubs 3 Mariners 2 WP - Sean Marshall (3-2) LP - Miguel Batista (7-5) Save - Ryan Dempster (14) Sean Marshall notched the longest outing of his big league career and Mike Fontenot ended the Cubs' drought with the bases loaded. Fontenot's 2-out single proved to be the game winner in the 5th and Sean Marshall did the rest. Marshall kept the Mariners off balance all night while not allowing a walk...
Game Sixty-Three - Cubs 3 Mariners 5 - 13 innings WP - Eric O'Flaherty (3-0) LP - Will Ohman (0-4) Save - J.J. Putz (19) Loading the bases and failing to score, poor defense, mental errors both on the mound and on the bases, arguing in the dugout, wasting another quality start, giving up the winning runs after retiring the first two batters in the inning and losing another game decided by 2 runs or...
Game Sixty-Two - Cubs 2 Astros 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (7-5) LP - Woody Williams (2-9) Save - Ryan Dempster (13) Will the real Carlos Zambrano please stand up? After an inconsistent start to the season, Carlos Zambrano won his second game in a row for the first time this year and gave his bullpen a much-needed night off. Zambrano allowed just one hit in the first 6 innings and gave up a total...
Game Sixty-One - Cubs 4 Braves 5 WP - Chad Paronto (3-1) LP - Ryan Dempster (1-3, BS 2) Save - Bob Wickman (11) Ted Lilly was ejected in the 1st inning of the game after hitting Edgar Renteria on the third pitch of his at bat. The umpires had not warned either bench but home plate umpire Jim Wolf deemed Lilly's actions intentional in retaliation for Tim Hudson hitting Alfonso Soriano on Saturday. With...
Game Sixty - Cubs 5 Braves 9 WP - Peter Moylan (2-1) LP - Jason Marquis (5-3) Save - None The Cubs scored 4 runs in the 1st inning after Tim Hudson hit Alfonso Soriano with the first pitch of the ballgame but Jason Marquis continued to struggle and could not make it out of the 2nd inning. The Braves continued their dominance of Marquis and once again Andruw Jones led the onslaught. Marquis surrendered...
Game Fifty-Nine - Cubs 9 Braves 1 WP - Sean Marshall (2-2) LP - Lance Cormier (0-2) Save - None Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs in the first four innings of the game and gave Sean Marshall more than enough run support to earn his second win of the season. The Cubs offense showed a lot of patience at the plate with the second run of the game being scored off of a bases...
Game Fifty-Eight - Cubs 2 Braves 1 WP - Rich Hill (5-4) LP - Chuck James (5-5) Save - Ryan Dempster (12) The Cubs offense managed just two runs in the first two innings of the game and Rich Hill did the rest. Hill faced 28 batters in his 8 innings of work, 4 over the minimum and made just one mistake, a solo home run in the 2nd inning by Andruw Jones. Hill kept...
Game Fifty-Seven - Cubs 6 Brewers 2 WP - Carlos Zambrano (6-5) LP - Jeff Suppan (7-6) Save - None The Cubs last trip to Wrigley Field North for the 2007 season was a memorable one for Carlos Zambrano and Felix Pie. Zambrano recovered from his last start and turned in one of his best performances of the season while Felix Pie's second home run of the year powered the Cubs to their first series...
Game Fifty-Six - Cubs 5 Brewers 7 WP - Claudio Vargas (4-1) LP - Ted Lilly (4-4) Save - Francisco Cordero (22) Ted Lilly could not put an end to his recent command problems and gave up a season high 6 earned runs on Tuesday night. The Brewers scored in 4 of the 5 innings Lilly pitched with 3 of the runs he allowed coming off of solo home runs by Tony Graffanino, Corey Hart...
Game Fifty-Five - Cubs 7 Brewers 2 WP - Carlos Marmol (1-0) LP - Dave Bush (3-6) Save - None With the season getting out of hand and the Cubs coming off a 10-1 offensive surge on Sunday, they needed a big win against the Brew-Crew on Monday night. It did not look good early, but with a perfect night at the plate by Alfonso Soriano and a stellar performance by the Cubs pen, end...
Game Fifty-Four - Cubs 10 Braves 1 WP - Sean Marshall (1-2) LP - Lance Cormier (0-1) Save - None Just what the Cubs needed, a decisive victory over a good team against a pitcher they had no success against in the past. The Cubs scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings, all off of home runs, and never looked back. Mark DeRosa hit a 1st inning Grand Slam with 2 outs, Alfonso Soriano...
Game Fifty-Three - Cubs 3 Braves 5 WP - Tyler Yates (2-0, BS 1) LP - Will Ohman (0-3) Save - Bob Wickman (9) Lou Piniella gave the Faithful what they have been looking for....some emotion but not even Piniella's ejection in the 8th could spark his team to victory. The Cubs are flat and continued their downward spiral against the Braves, dropping their 6th in a row....the longest current streak in baseball. Once again...
Game Fifty-Two - Cubs 5 Braves 8 WP - Kyle Davies (3-3) LP - Carlos Zambrano (5-5) Save - None Another day and another drama for the Chicago Cubs....just when the Faithful thought this season had reached its lowest point, along came Friday afternoon at Wrigley. The Cubs made several poor defensive plays before a passed ball and a throwing error by Michael Barrett apparently pushed Carlos Zambrano over the edge. Zambrano had a horrible...
Game Fifty-One - Cubs 0 Marlins 9 WP - Randy Messenger (1-1) LP - Ted Lilly (4-3) Save - None Is this rock bottom for Lou Piniella's crew? When the word spread that the Cubs had a players only meeting before Wednesday night's game and that is was Derrek Lee's idea, it gave hope for this group of players to once and for all gel into a team....well that was not the case. If Piniella...
Game Fifty - Cubs 4 Marlins 9 WP - Dontrelle Willis (7-3) LP - Jason Marquis (5-2) Save - Kevin Gregg (6) Ron Santo summed up the Cubs' season very well, "They're to anxious." The Cubs built an early lead against Dontrelle Willis just to see it evaporate midway through the game due in large part to poor defense and bad base running. Jason Marquis could not recover from a 40-pitch 4th inning and ineffectiveness...
Game Forty-Nine - Cubs 3 Marlins 5 WP - Byung-Hyun Kim (3-2) LP - Sean Marshall (0-2) Save - Kevin Gregg (5) The Cubs offense was a non-factor early in the game against the Marlins' pitching staff and the rally in the 9th was a case of too little too late. They managed just 8 hits on the afternoon to go along with 5 walks and could not come up with the clutch 2-out hits...
Game Forty-Eight - Cubs 1 Dodgers 2 - 11 innings WP - Chad Billingsley (3-0) LP - Angel Guzman (0-1) Save - None The Cubs had several opportunities early in the ballgame to put runs on the board but could not cash them in. Rich Hill and Randy Wolf both threw six shutout innings and did not figure in the outcome. After the Cubs took the lead in the top of the 8th, Scott Eyre...
Game Forty-Seven - Cubs 4 Dodgers 2 WP - Carlos Zambrano (5-4) LP - Mark Hendrickson (2-2) Save - Ryan Dempster (11) Carlos Zambrano returned to form at Chavez Ravine on Saturday afternoon and turned in arguably his best outing of the season. While Zambrano did surrender 2 runs, he kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard until the 7th inning and did not walk a batter until 2 outs in the 8th inning. He showed...
Game Forty-Six - Cubs 8 Dodgers 9 WP - Rudy Seanez (2-0) LP - Will Ohman (0-2) Save - Takashi Saito (15) After being silenced by Derek Lowe in the first 5 innings, the Cubs offense showed signs of life in the 6th inning and took out their recent frustrations on the Dodgers' bullpen in the 7th. The Cubs scored 7 runs on 8 hits, a walk and an error and erased an early 5-0...
Game Forty-Five - Cubs 3 Padres 1 WP - Bob Howry (2-3) LP - Cla Meredith (1-2) Save - Ryan Dempster (10) A simple single to centerfield by Derrek Lee started the 9th inning and by the time the Padres recorded the third out, the Cubs scored 2 runs and salvaged the last game of the series in San Diego. Lee's single was his first of the series and he scored the eventual winning run...
Game Forty-Four - Cubs 1 Padres 2 WP - David Wells (2-2) LP - Sean Marshall (0-1) Save - Trevor Hoffman (13) Sean Marshall made just one mistake, a 2-run home run to Kevin Kouzmanoff in the 7th inning and unfortunately for the Cubs, it was the difference in the game. Marshall pitched a very good game and allowed 4 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings while striking out 8, a new career high....
Game Forty-Three - Cubs 1 Padres 5 WP - Jake Peavy (6-1) LP - Rich Hill (4-4) Save - Trevor Hoffman (12) Rich Hill was not able to put his recent struggles behind him and after walking the first two batters he faced on the night, he started throwing strikes but unfortunately the Padres started hitting them over the fence. Mike Cameron and Adrian Gonzalez hit back-to-back home runs in the 3rd inning and Cameron...
Game Forty-Two - Cubs 6 White Sox 10 WP - Nick Masset (2-1) LP - Carlos Zambrano (4-4) Save - None Carlos Zambrano was unable to give his team what they need most, a win. Not only because it was the White Sox but a win on Sunday would have put the Cubs back at .500 for the season before a well-deserved day off and a very important 6-game West Coast road trip against two...
Game Forty-One - Cubs 11 White Sox 6 WP - Bobby Howry (1-3) LP - David Aardsma (2-1, BS 3) Save - None For the second day in a row the Cubs came from behind to beat the White Sox in dramatic fashion. The Cubs trailed 6-5 when Ryan Theriot led off the 8th inning with a triple and 1-out later tied the game on a single by Alfonso Soriano. Aramis Ramirez tripled to score...
Game Forty - Cubs 6 White Sox 3 WP - Ted Lilly (4-2) LP - Mike MacDougal (1-1, BS 2) Save - Ryan Dempster (9) ....And ironically enough it all started after a bases empty 2-out walk. Mark Buehrle had given up just 1 run on 5 hits when he retired Cesar Izturis for the second out in the 7th inning. Henry Blanco pinch hit for Ted Lilly, the only right-hander left on Lou Piniella's...
Game Thirty-Nine - Cubs 5 Mets 6 WP - Ambiorix Burgos (1-0) LP - Ryan Dempster (1-2) Save - None There are only so many words in the English dictionary and not enough to describe the 9th inning that took place in Shea Stadium on Thursday afternoon. When the Cubs took the field to start the bottom of the 9th they were ahead 5-1, seemingly with the game well in hand. A lead off single...
Game Thirty-Eight - Cubs 1 Mets 8 WP - Jorge Sosa (3-0) LP - Rich Hill (4-3) Save - None A day after scoring 10 runs on 15 hits the Cubs managed just one hit off of Jorge Sosa. The start of the game was delayed for 3 hours and 7 minutes the Cubs appeared flat from the start. Sosa was very impressive in his 3rd start of the season and only 5 runners reached...
Game Thirty-Seven - Cubs 10 Mets 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (4-3) LP - John Maine (5-1) Save - None Questions have been raised in the media about the relationship between Carlos Zambrano and Lou Piniella but on Tuesday night it was clear to see Zambrano listened to his skipper and turned in his best outing of the season. Zambrano's 1st inning struggles this year have been well documented but after retiring the Mets in...
Game Thirty-Six - Cubs 4 Mets 5 WP - Aaron Heilman (4-2) LP - Michael Wuertz (0-2) Save - None Updated 11:10pm C.T. with Quotes from Piniella after Monday's Game Jason Marquis started Monday night's game the way he had finished his two previous outings. He threw strikes and helped his team build an early 4-0 lead against Tom Glavine. Marquis lost his command and confidence in the 4th, allowed a 2-run home run to...
Game Thirty-Five - Cubs 4 Phillies 1 WP - Ted Lilly (3-2) LP - Jon Lieber (1-2) Save - Ryan Dempster (8) The Cubs began Sunday in the midst of a 3-game losing streak, staring at the possibility of losing the first three games of a seven game road trip and facing a pitcher at the top of his game. The Cubs' offense had been struggling to score runs and the bullpen was coming off...
Game Thirty-Four - Cubs 7 Phillies 11 WP - Antonio Alfonseca (2-1) LP - Bobby Howry (0-3, BS 3) Save - None After falling behind early, the Cubs rallied for 4 runs in the 7th inning to even the score before rain delayed the game for 1 hour and 4 minutes. When played resumed Jacque Jones hit a 2-out double to left center to give the Cubs what would turn out to be a brief...
Game Thirty-Three - Cubs 2 Phillies 7 WP - Cole Hamels (5-1) LP - Rich Hill (4-2) Save - None Friday night started out the same as most of Rich Hill's outings this season. Hill worked fast, appeared very confident and allowed just 2 hits in the first 3 innings. Most importantly, Hill threw strikes. After 3 innings of work, Hill had thrown just 36 pitches, only 9 out of the strike zone with first...
Game Thirty-Two - Cubs 4 Pirates 6 WP - Paul Maholm (2-4) LP - Carlos Zambrano (3-3) Save - Salomon Torres (11) Before the season began Carlos Zambrano predicted his team would win the World Series and he would win the Cy Young Award....after 8 starts Zambrano has looked like anything but an award winner. Zambrano gave up 3 runs in the 1st inning after hitting Freddy Sanchez to start the game and while Matt...
Game Thirty-One - Cubs 1 Pirates 0 WP - Jason Marquis (5-1) LP - Tom Gorzelanny (4-2) Save - None Lou Piniella needed a solid outing from Jason Marquis but what he received was just short of perfection. Marquis retired the first 16 batters he faced and on the night he allowed just 3 hits in route to his 2nd career complete game shutout. Marquis ended the game the way he started it, with a...
Game Thirty - Cubs 3 Pirates 4 - 15 innings WP - Jonah Bayliss (3-2) LP - Neal Cotts (0-1) Save - Salomon Torres (10) For the second time in as many games the Cubs played into extra innings but this time with a much different result. After taking a 3-2 lead in the 7th, the Cubs were unable to build to their lead in the 8th and Ryan Dempster gave up the lead in...
Game Twenty-Nine - Cubs 4 Nationals 3 - 10 innings WP - Ryan Dempster (1-1) LP - Ryan Wagner (0-2) Save - None Ryan Theriot tied the game in the bottom of the 9th with a single to right and Daryle Ward hit the game winner in the 10th, a single to left over the drawn in outfield, to give the Cubs the 3-game sweep over the Washington Nationals and a season high 5-game winning...
Game Twenty-Eight - Cubs 5 Nationals 3 WP - Rich Hill (4-1) LP - John Patterson (1-5) Save - Ryan Dempster (7) Good teams find different ways to win ballgames, the Cubs offense appeared flat for the first time in nearly a week but because of a very good outing by Rich Hill and a lot of patience at the plate, the Cubs evened their record on the season at 14-14 and won a series...
Game Twenty-Seven - Cubs 6 Nationals 4 WP - Carlos Zambrano (3-2) LP - Jason Bergmann (0-3) Save - Ryan Dempster (6) The first inning of Friday's game with the Nationals is one Carlos Zambrano will want to forget. Before the Cubs were able to take a swing, Zambrano spotted the Nationals 4 runs on 3 hits that included a 3-run home run by Austin Kearns. Zambrano walked 2 batters in the inning while throwing...
Game Twenty-Six - Cubs 7 Pirates 1 WP - Jason Marquis (4-1) LP - Ian Snell (2-2) Save - None After securing the win in the suspended game from Tuesday night, Jason Marquis took the hill in search of his 4th victory of the year and he responded with his best outing thus far. Marquis made just one mistake, a home run to Ryan Doumit in the 2nd inning. He threw 8 strong innings, allowed...
Game Twenty-Five - Cubs 8 Pirates 6 WP - Rocky Cherry (1-1) LP - Jonah Bayliss (2-2, BS - 1) Save - Ryan Dempster (5) After nearly a 16 hour delay, the comeback the Cubs started on Tuesday night ended with a victory. Rocky Cherry recorded his first career win and Lou Piniella received solid contributions from every member of the outfield. Bobby Howry finished the 7th and Ryan Dempster picked up a 4-out save....
Game Twenty-Four - Cubs 2 Pirates 3 WP - Matt Capps (2-0) LP - Michael Wuertz (0-1) Save - Salomon Torres (8) The Pirates were able to snap the Cubs mini 3-game winning streak with a come from behind win on Monday night in Pittsburgh. Rich Hill gave up just 2 runs in 7 innings of work but the offense could not add to the 2-1 lead in the 7th. The Pirates tied the game...
Game Twenty-Three - Cubs 8 Cardinals 1 WP - Carlos Zambrano (2-2) LP - Adam Wainwright (1-2) Save - None The Cubs made it two straight and three in a row with an impressive performance on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis. Jacque Jones had his best game of the year and led the way in the 7-run 5th inning that saw eleven Cubs step to the plate. Jones doubled and tripled in the 5th and...
Game Twenty-Two - Cubs 5 Cardinals 3 WP - Jason Marquis (3-1) LP - Anthony Reyes (0-4) Save - Ryan Dempster (4) Lou Piniella pulled all the right strings while Jason Marquis beat his former team for the second time in a week. The Cubs won their first game decided by 2 runs or less this season (1-8) and in the process raised their road record to 5-4 on the year. Marquis had a solid...
Game Twenty-One - Cubs 9 Brewers 3 WP - Ted Lilly (2-2) LP - Elmer Dessens (1-1) Save - None After Tuesday night's game Lou Piniella stated, "One of these days, we'll break the barn door down and get going."....well a 9 run, 16 hit performance that featured the first home run of the season by Derrek Lee, against a division rival, is a good start. Ted Lilly had another solid outing and held the...
Game Twenty - Cubs 1 Brewers 4 WP - Jeff Suppan (3-2) LP - Rich Hill (3-1) Save - Francisco Cordero (8) Rich Hill retired the first 10 Brewers he faced but in the 4th inning Prince Fielder hit his third home run in two games, a 2-run shot to right, which proved to be the game winner. Hill allowed 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings and the Brewers ended his scoreless innings streak at...
Game Nineteen - Cubs 4 Brewers 5 - 12 innings WP - Carlos Villanueva (1-0) LP - Rocky Cherry (0-1) Save - Derrick Turnbow (1) While there is no such thing as a must win in April, Monday night's loss really has to hurt. Carlos Zambrano left the game in the 6th inning with a 4-2 lead but Scott Eyre gave up 2 runs in the 8th and Prince Fielder hit a game winning home...
Game Eighteen - Cubs 9 Cardinals 12 - 10 innings WP - Jason Isringhausen (1-0, BS 1) LP - Ryan Dempster (0-1) Save - None With the wind blowing out to left it was pretty clear to see early on that Sunday's match-up was going to be anything but a pitcher's duel....Pat Hughes correctly predicted the final score, just not the winner. It was a classic Cubs-Cardinals game, several lead changes, a bunch of pitches...
Game Seventeen - Cubs 6 Cardinals 0 WP - Jason Marquis (2-1) LP - Anthony Reyes (0-3) Save - None For the second time in a week the Cubs pitching staff threw a combined shutout, this time led by Jason Marquis. Marquis threw strikes and in his 7 innings of work he did not allow a single walk. The Cubs' defense had a solid game, especially Felix Pie and despite an error, Ronny Cedeno. Marquis...
Game Sixteen - Cubs 1 Cardinals 2 WP - Braden Looper (3-1) LP - Ted Lilly (1-2) Save - Jason Isringhausen (4) The lack of fundamentals by this organization has been well documented over the years. Just when the Cubs appear to have lost a game in every possible way, they prove everyone wrong. While the play in the 9th inning on Friday may or may not have cost the Cubs the game will never...
Game Fifteen - Cubs 3 Braves 0 WP - Rich Hill (3-0) LP - Mark Redman (0-3) Save - Ryan Dempster (3) A little less than a year ago Rich Hill was just another prize pitching prospect in the Cubs' farm system. He had struggled in his first call-up during the 2005 season and had not come anywhere near the success he had at the Triple-A level. The Cubs optioned him to Iowa to start...
Game Fourteen - Cubs 6 Braves 8 WP - Oscar Villarreal (1-0, BS 1) LP - Scott Eyre (0-1, BS 1) Save - Bob Wickman (5) For the past several seasons this organization's pitching staff has given up countless numbers of 2 out runs and it was more of the same on Wednesday night. All 8 of the Braves runs came with 2 outs in the inning....the 4-run 1st inning was sparked by a 2...
Game Thirteen - Cubs 3 Padres 4 - 14 innings WP - Doug Brocail (1-0) LP - Will Ohman (0-1) Save - Trevor Hoffman (3) For the past several years the Faithful have heard the name Felix Pie, over and over and over again....on Tuesday they were finally able to put a face with the name. The highly touted Cubs' prospect made his major league debut and despite going 1 for 6 at the plate...
Game Twelve - Cubs 12 Padres 4 WP - Jason Marquis (1-1) LP - Clay Hensley (0-3) Save - None The Cubs took out their early season offensive struggles on Clay Hensley and the San Diego Padres on Monday night, but it came with a scare in the 5th inning. Alfonso Soriano strained his left hamstring diving for a ball in center. Early reports are that Soriano will have an MRI on Tuesday and his...
Game Eleven - Cubs 0 Reds 1 WP - Kyle Lohse (1-0) LP - Ted Lilly (1-1) Save - David Weathers (5) Ted Lilly threw a gem but came out on the losing end of a 1-0 ballgame. Lilly gave up just 2 hits and a walk to Brandon Phillips in the 4th inning that was the difference in the game. Lilly struck out 10 Reds in his 6 innings of work, including 5 of...
Game Ten - Cubs 7 Reds 0 WP - Rich Hill (2-0) LP - Bronson Arroyo (0-2) Save - None The Cubs rebounded from the loss on Friday behind a very impressive performance from Rich Hill. Hill threw 7 shutout innings and allowed just 3 hits while striking out 5 and walking 4. Hill had a little trouble with his command from time to time but was able to get out of trouble with two...
Game Nine - Cubs 5 Reds 6 WP - Todd Coffey (1-0) LP - Carlos Zambrano (1-2) Save - David Weathers (4) "What the hell do you think isn't working? You see the damn game."....was Lou Piniella's response to George Castle's question following the Cubs loss to the Reds on Friday afternoon. The Cubs and especially Carlos Zambrano were very impressive through the first 4 innings of the game. They were hitting the ball, stealing...
Game Eight - Cubs 2 Astros 4 WP - Chris Sampson (1-0) LP - Jason Marquis (0-1) Save - None What a long, sloppy game.... The Cubs were shutout again by Chris Sampson for the first 5 innings on Tuesday in his first start of the year. The Astros jumped all over Jason Marquis in the 1st with 3 runs on 4 hits with Luke Scott delivering the big blow of the inning a 2-run...
Game Seven - Cubs 3 Astros 5 WP - Chad Qualls (1-1) LP - Bobby Howry (0-2) Save - Dan Wheeler (1) Ted Lilly gave Lou Piniella another solid start but the offense could not string together any hits against 40-year old Woody Williams. The questionable defense in the Cubs' outfield led to a couple of runs along with two wild pitches and another bad outing by Bobby Howry. Craig Biggio led the Astros with...
Game Six - Cubs 4 Brewers 9 WP - Chris Capuano (1-0) LP - Wade Miller (0-1) After 31 shutout innings, dating back to last season, the Cubs finally figured out to score runs against Chris Capuano but by the time they put up a 4 spot against him in the 6th inning it was a case of too little too late. Chris Capuano's change up kept the Cubs off balance and off base most...
Game Five - Cubs 6 Brewers 3 WP - Carlos Zambrano (1-1) LP - Ben Sheets (1-1) Save - Ryan Dempster (2) Carlos Zambrano won his first game of the season and his first April start since 2005 with an impressive 7-inning performance against the Brewers on Saturday afternoon. The Cubs are over .500 for the first time this season. Zambrano gave Lou Piniella his fourth consecutive quality start but most importantly Zambrano threw strikes...
Game Four - Cubs 9 Brewers 3 WP - Rich Hill (1-0) LP - Dave Bush (0-1) Lou Piniella received a quality start for the third consecutive game. Rich Hill threw 7 brilliant innings against the Brewers' high powered offense and allowed just 1 run on 1 hit....a home run by Corey Hart. Counting spring training Hill has yet to walk a batter in 2007 and he struck out 6 on the night on just...
Game Three - Cubs 2 Reds 5 WP - Victor Santos (1-0) LP - Bobby Howry (0-1, BS 1) Save - David Weathers (1) Jason Marquis made his Cub debut on Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati and followed Ted Lilly's outstanding performance with one of his own. Marquis held the Reds to just 1 run on 4 hits in 6 strong innings of work. Marquis left the game in the 7th with the Cubs ahead 2...
Game Two - Cubs 4 Reds 1 WP - Ted Lilly (1-0) LP - Bronson Arroyo (0-1) Save - Ryan Dempster (1) Ted Lilly made his Cub debut one to remember. One of the major acquisitions in the off-season by Jim Hendry led the Cubs to their first victory of the season and in the process gave Lou Piniella his first victory as well. Lilly was in full command all night, hit his spots and...
Game One - Cubs 1 Reds 5 WP - Aaron Harang (1-0) LP - Carlos Zambrano (0-1) But according to a Reds fan exiting Great American Ball Park, it made today. Lou Piniella was not able to win his Cub debut in large part to Carlos Zambrano's inability to throw strikes and a huge day from Adam Dunn that included his 200th big league homer. Zambrano could not throw strikes and to go along with...
Game One Hundred Sixty-Two - Cubs 8 Rockies 5 The Cubs finished the season the way they started it....with a win, unfortunately somewhere in between they lost 96 games. To say this season was a disappointment would be a huge understatement. In the middle of writing this recap came the news of Andy MacPhail resigning as the President of the Chicago Cubs. While change is always good, the Faithful must keep in mind that this...
Game One Hundred Sixty-One - Cubs 9 Rockies 11 - 14 innings As much as everyone is ready for this season to end and move on to "Next Year", it is always a sad day when the 27th out is recorded on the last game of the season and as bad as this season has been....the feeling is still there. Baseball is fun, just ask Ron Santo. The Cubs finish their season on Sunday but...
Game One Hundred Sixty - Cubs 2 Rockies 5 Carlos Zambrano was unable to reach either of his milestones and dropped his 7th game of the season. Zambrano was victimized by a 3-run 6th inning in which the Rockies scored 3 runs without the benefit of a hit. Zambrano walked 3, 1 intentionally, hit a batter and John Mabry committed an error. The Cubs offense could not string any hits together and left runners in...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine - Cubs 3 Brewers 2 Freddie Bynum tied the game in the 9th with a solo home run into the basket in right and Henry Blanco hit the game winning single to left center to win the game. After a career night on Tuesday, Blanco came through for his team again and had another solid night behind the plate. The Cubs managed only 7 hits on the night and just 3...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Eight - Cubs 14 Brewers 6 The Cubs bounced back from their humiliating losses in Cincinnati and took out a lot of their frustrations on the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs pounded out 18 hits and three different Cubs had at least 3 RBI's on the night. Henry Blanco tied career highs in hits (4) and RBI's (4). Juan Pierre added 2 more hits to bring his season total to 198 and he...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Seven - Cubs 4 Reds 5 That is the only condolence this site can give the Faithful.... The bullpen blew another lead on Monday afternoon in Cincinnati. It looked like for a while the Cubs were going to hand the Reds their 13th shutout of the season. They scored 4 unearned runs in the 1st inning off of Bronson Arroyo and Wade Miller threw 5 shutout innings....he allowed just 3 hits. But...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Six - Cubs 2 Reds 3 The Cubs were ahead 2-1 when Ryan Dempster took the ball to start the bottom of the 9th. Dempster proceeded to give up a leadoff double to Todd Hollandsworth, Ray Olmedo pinch ran for him and later scored after two wild pitches by Dempster. Dempster then gave up back-to-back singles to Chris Denorfia and Scott Hatteberg, which put runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out....
Game One Hundred Fifty-Five - Cubs 11 Reds 4 Carlos Zambrano tied his career high in wins on Saturday night in Cincinnati as the Cubs scored 11 runs for the 3rd time in a week. Zambrano threw 7 innings and allowed 4 runs, all in the 2nd inning, on 6 hits, walked 3 and struck out 7. Zambrano also hit his 6th home run of the season to tie Ferguson Jenkins' record for most home...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Four - Cubs 2 Reds 4 - 5 innings With a News Short... After a 1 hour 30 minute rain delay the game was called after 5 innings. Rich Hill had mixed results in the 5 innings. The good news....Hill struck out 10, the bad news....of the 4 hits he surrendered, 3 were home runs, which led to all 4 of the Reds runs. Hill was incredibly sharp and his signature curve...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Three - Cubs 2 Phillies 6 Brett Myers dominated the Cubs for the second time this season. Myers threw his first complete game of the season and his first in over a year....August 20, 2005 against the Pirates. Myers gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits, walked 3 and struck out a season high, 12. The Cubs could not get the offense going for the second straight night while the Phillies...
Game One Hundred Fifty-Two - Cubs 1 Phillies 4 After scoring 22 runs in the previous 2 games the Cubs could only manage a single run on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, a solo shot in the 6th by Matt Murton. Wade Miller threw the ball well but was aided by the very aggressive Phillies offense. Miller struck out 8 but walked 4, gave up 2 runs, 1 earned, in 4 2/3 innings. Miller loaded the...
Game One Hundred Fifty-One - Cubs 11 Phillies 6 Aramis Ramirez was 4 for 5 on the night and drove in 7 of the Cubs 11 runs. Ramirez hit a pair of 3-run home runs and the 7 RBI's set a new career high. The Cubs, as a team, picked up where they left off on Sunday and hit 4 more round trippers to go along with scoring 11 runs in back-to-back games. Juan Pierre...
Game One Hundred Fifty - Cubs 11 Reds 3 The Cubs scored 7 times in the 1st inning, hit 3 home runs and chased Eric Milton from the game with 1 out in the 1st. The Cubs hit the ball hard all day; Carlos Zambrano was incredibly sharp in his 1st start in almost 2 weeks. The Cubs hit 6 home runs on the day, a season high....Jacque Jones, Ronny Cedeno, Matt Murton, Carlos Zambrano...
Game One Hundred Forty-Nine - Cubs 4 Reds 0 Rich Hill returned the favor to the Reds and recorded the first complete game of the season for the Cubs. Hill dominated the Reds from the first pitch of the game to the last and even struck out Edwin Encarnacion to end the game. Hill struck out 10 on the day, allowed only 2 hits, a double and an infield single that should have been an...
Game One Hundred Forty-Eight - Cubs 0 Reds 4 The Cubs were blanked again on Friday afternoon and were beaten by the long ball....same story different game. The Cubs could not get on track against Bronson Arroyo, he threw 8 more shutout innings against the Cubbies and gave up 4 hits, 3 walks and struck out 7. In his last 22 innings against the Cubs he has allowed just 1 run in those 3 games...
Game One Hundred Forty-Seven - Cubs 6 Dodgers 5 Wade Miller threw the ball well in his second start of the season and held the Dodgers to just 1 hit, unfortunately for Miller it was a 2-run home run by Marlon Anderson. Miller pitched 5 strong innings, his location was much-improved over his last start but the free passes led to one of the additional runs. Miller gave way to Carlos Marmol who gave up...
Game One Hundred Forty-Six - Cubs 0 Dodgers 6 The Cubs were shutout for the 14th time this season....they pounded out 7 hits and did not walk a single time against Brad Penny. Penny gave up all 7 hits to the Cubs on the night but they were all singles and the only time they recorded hits in the same inning was in the 6th with 2 outs. Angel Guzman had another bad start and...
Game One Hundred Forty-Five - Cubs 9 Dodgers 8 - 11 innings The Cubs and Dodgers combined for 8 errors on the night but there were several more defensive miscues than the scorecard indicates. The game started out with light rain and by the 2nd inning it looked like the game might be delayed but the skies cleared and the sloppiest game of the season took place under the lights at Wrigley. The Cubs were...
Game One Hundred Forty-Four - Cubs 8 Braves 3 The Cubs scored 6 runs against John Smoltz in 2+ innings off of two 3-run home runs, one by Jacque Jones and the other by Derrek Lee. Lee homered twice on the night and the Cubs salvaged the last game of the series and the year against the Braves. The Cubs ended several streaks on Monday night in Atlanta....Monday was the first win for the Cubs...
Game One Hundred Forty-Three - Cubs 1 Braves 2 The Cubs had hits in the first 8 innings but were unable to plate any of those base runners. The Cubs only run of the day came on a solo shot, line drive, off the bat of Freddie Bynum in the 6th. The Cubs had chances in the 7th and 8th to tie the game but were unable to bail out Juan Mateo who pitched a...
Game One Hundred Forty-Two - Cubs 3 Braves 7 Wade Miller made his Cub debut on Saturday night in Atlanta and threw 74 pitches in 3 innings, only 36 strikes, that stat alone tells the story of his first game back in the Major Leagues this season. Miller looked awkward and uncomfortable on the mound, everything he threw was up and when they were not called a ball the Braves hit Miller hard. The Braves...
Game One Hundred Forty-One - Cubs 4 Braves 8 For the second consecutive game Cubs' pitching allowed a home run to start the game and eventually surrendered three total on the evening....the difference in the game. Angel Guzman exited with 1-out in the 5th and when he was not serving up gofer balls, he was very sharp and struck out 7 on the night without giving up a single free pass. Tim Hudson was just...
Game One Hundred Forty - Cubs 5 Pirates 7 Thursday afternoon was a typical day for the Cubs in 2006....horrible defense, leadoff walks and the inability to record the final out in an inning without giving up runs. Last week when the Cubs started their 3-game series in Pittsburgh, the main topic of conversation was that the next 7 games against the Pirates will decide who the worst team in the league is and 11...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Nine - Cubs 7 Pirates 2 Derrek Lee lifted the Cubs out of the National League cellar with a Grand Slam to centerfield in the 8th inning on his 31st birthday. The Cubs loaded the bases in the 8th with a little help from the Pirates then Lee hit his 7th career Grand Slam off of Matt Capps, a line shot into the bleachers. The Cubs need Derrek Lee and on Wednesday...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Eight - Cubs 5 Pirates 6 On a beautiful night in Chicago, the most beautiful park in the bigs was empty. I did not attend the game tonight, lately I have decided to stay home and turn the game off at will. But I did turn the game on the TV tonight and to my surprise, my delightful surprise the stadium was empty. Now I am not talking Florida Marlins empty, but...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Seven - Cubs 4 Pirates 5 With notes from an interview with Jim Hendry on WGN before Monday's game Carlos Zambrano left in the 2nd inning of Monday's game with what was later reported as back stiffness. Zambrano had his shortest outing of his career....just 1 1/3 innings of work. Zambrano did not look comfortable on the mound, gave up back-to-back walks to start the game, Freddy Sanchez singled to load the...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Six - Cubs 4 Giants 7 Angel Guzman pitched a very good game and was in line to pickup his first Major League victory until his forearm cramped up on him and he had to leave the game with 2 outs and 2 on in the 5th. After Guzman left Michael Wuertz gave up a 2-run triple to Omar Vizquel to tie the game, closed the book on Guzman and then served...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Five - Cubs 2 Giants 4 Matt Cain was tremendous; he repeated his performance from last September against the Cubs and struck out 4 of the first 9 Cubs he faced on Saturday afternoon. Cain allowed just 1 run (unearned) in 7 2/3 innings on 4 hits. struck out 7 and walked just 2. Sean Marshall pitched a very good game in his return but his unwillingness to pitch to Barry Bonds...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Four - Cubs 6 Giants 2 The Cubs ended their 6-game losing streak....Rich Hill was outstanding for his second consecutive start, Matt Murton hit his 10th home run of the season and Ryan Theriot hit his first career home run to power the Cubs past the Giants on Friday afternoon at Wrigley. Rich Hill was very impressive and retired 7 of the first 8 hitters he faced. Hill became very aggressive after...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Three - Cubs 9 Pirates 10 - 11 innings For the first time since 1999 the Cubs were swept by the Pirates in Pittsburgh and for the second consecutive day, the two worst teams in the National League played 11 innings and Ryan Dempster took the loss. Everyday is an adventure, to say the least, with this "team" and as of late the defense, or lack thereof, has been the reason for...
Game One Hundred Thirty-Two - Cubs 6 Pirates 7 - 11 innings The Cubs dropped their 5th in a row....again in embarrassing fashion. Ronny Cedeno committed another throwing error on a tailor made double play that would have ended the game, Bynum missed the throw, was credited with the error, the tying run scored and after an intentional walk to Chris Duffy, Ryan Dempster walked home the winning run. The Cubs played an incredibly sloppy...
Game One Hundred Thirty-One - Cubs 6 Pirates 11 The Cubs were humiliated on Monday night in Pittsburgh, the Pirates scored 11 runs on 19 hits and it could have been worse, they left 11 on base, including the bases loaded twice. Angel Guzman was horrible, could not record a out in the 4th and allowed 8 runs on 10 hits in 3+ innings, he struck out 5 and walked 2 on 93 pitches....93 pitches...
Game One Hundred Thirty - Cubs 6 Cardinals 10 More defensive mishaps cost the Cubs a very winnable game, the story of 2006. Gary Bennett beat the Cubs for the second day in a row with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning. Bennett beat the Cubs in the 9th on Saturday with a single and had an unbelievable week and series and should be named the NL Player of the...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Nine - Cubs 1 Cardinals 2 What a pitchers' duel....Rich Hill had the best start of his Major League career and went pitch for pitch against one of the league's best but unfortunately he did not figure into the decision, thanks to more mismanagement by Dusty Baker. Hill left the game after 7 full innings, warmed up to start the 8th but was not allowed to throw a pitch, Bobby Howry took...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Eight - Cubs 0 Cardinals 2 Shutout....again. The Cubs could not figure out Jeff Suppan and recorded only 5 hits in 8 innings, it was Suppan's second longest outing of the season. The Cubs actually recorded only 1 clean hit, Chris Duncan misplayed 3 balls in left that resulted in doubles and the 4th hit was an infield single. The offense could not get going and when they did have runners on,...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Seven - Cubs 11 Phillies 2 Where has this been all series? The Cubs had not had a lead in a game since last Saturday when they beat the Cardinals and had been out played the first 3 games against the Phillies, but not on Thursday. After surrendering a run in the 1st inning, Zambrano did not allow another until the 7th and the offense supplied more than enough runs for Z...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Six - Cubs 1 Phillies 2 Let's get all of the particulars out of the way....the Cubs lost their 4th in a row and are just 1-5 on this homestand, they are back to 20 games under .500, the bad base running continued and a 2-out walk beat them in the 9th but most importantly....Angel Guzman had the best start of his Major League career. After a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Five - Cubs 3 Phillies 6 Ryan O'Malley's dream came true on Tuesday night....he got to start a game at Wrigley Field for the Cubs. After a rough 1st inning, O'Malley settled down and threw strikes, he did allow 3 runs on 5 hits but left the game with 2 outs in the 5th after throwing a pitch to Jimmy Rollins. Henry Blanco went to the mound immediately and was followed by...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Four - Cubs 5 Phillies 6 The Cubs out hit the Phillies but lost the game....what else is new? The Cubs continue to out hit the opposition on a daily basis and at the same time keep dropping games and are back to 18 games under .500. This team can hit, no doubt, look at the numbers they do not lie but what they cannot do is take pitches and increase the...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Three - Cubs 3 Cardinals 5 Juan Mateo barely made it out of the 1st inning, he gave up 4 runs on 2 home runs that included a 3-run homer off the bat of Juan Encarnacion. Mateo did settle in and show very good composure, especially for a rookie, and did not allow another hit after a lead off single in the 4th by Chris Carpenter until he left the game after...
Game One Hundred Twenty-Two - Cubs 5 Cardinals 4 - 10 innings A pinch-hit single that gave the Cubs a brief lead in the 8th and a walk off single to win the game in the 10th....not a bad day at the office for Phil Nevin. The Cubs played their second extra innings game in a week against another division rival and won it despite a rough day from the bullpen. Carlos Zambrano threw a...
Game One Hundred Twenty-One - Cubs 3 Cardinals 11 The Jekyll and Hyde season continues....the Cardinals improved their season series record at Wrigley to 1-7 thanks to horrible pitching, atrocious defense and 6 home runs. Does anyone remember the "lollygagger" scene in Bull Durham? Hopefully Dusty threw a couple of bats in the clubhouse after this one. The good news is Carlos Marmol did not walk a single batter, the bad news is he did...
Game One Hundred Twenty - Cubs 1 Astros 0 With Roster Move - Scott Eyre to the DL - O'Malley Selected from Triple-A Iowa The Cubs swept the Astros at the Juice Box....repeating the Cubs swept the Astros at the Juice Box. Two rookies and Carlos Zambrano recorded victories against Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The Cubs gave up just 6 runs in 3 games, shutout the Astros over the last 21 innings...
Game One Hundred Nineteen - Cubs 8 Astros 6 - 18 innings What a game, the longest of the season for the Cubs and Matt Murton was the difference in the game. Murton tied the game with a home run in the 9th and won it in the 18th on a 2-out bases loaded single to right, he did not start the game. Rich Hill picked up the win in relief, the 3rd of his...
Game One Hundred Eighteen - Cubs 3 Astros 0 With an Update on Wade Miller Carlos Zambrano shut the Astros down and Phil Nevin supplied all the runs the Cubs needed off of Roy Oswalt. Zambrano pitched around trouble all night and despite giving up 7 walks and striking out just 5, he held the Astros scoreless for 8 innings on just 4 hits....it was not his best outing of the year, but he was...
Game One Hundred Seventeen - Cubs 8 Rockies 7 Ryan Theriot's 3-run, base clearing double in the 8th inning capped the comeback and the Cubs salvaged the last game of the series against the Rockies. The Cubs got out to an early lead thanks to a 4-run 3rd inning but the 10 free passes on the day by Cubs pitching allowed the Rockies to come from behind. The Rockies bullpen surrendered 4 runs in the...
Game One Hundred Sixteen - Cubs 4 Rockies 8 Mark Prior Placed on DL - Likely Done for Season The Cubs needed a productive night out of Angel Guzman, they had lost 3 in a row, just put one of their starting pitchers on the DL and a good outing by Guzman would have gone a long way in the psyche of the Cubs. In his third stint with the big league team this season...
Game One Hundred Fifteen - Cubs 2 Rockies 10 Rich Hill could not make it through the 5th inning and returned to his previous Major League form. Hill walked 5 and only struck out 2 and gave up 6 runs on 6 hits. Hill had little to no command and threw an incredibly high 96 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, 96 pitches....unbelievable!!! After his last two outings at Wrigley the Cubs had to have liked...
Game One Hundred Fourteen - Cubs 6 Brewers 8 Thursday afternoon in Milwaukee could have possibly been played better, if the Nashville Sounds and Iowa Cubs had taken the field. The Cubs and Brewers combined for 5 errors, 10 walks, a wild pitch and two hit batsmen. The ball was thrown around by both teams, balls fell between outfielders, again on both teams and there was even a collision in the outfield by the Brewers....vintage...
Game One Hundred Thirteen - Cubs 3 Brewers 6 For the first time this year Carlos Zambrano lost a road game....not too bad for a guy that did not get a win in the month of April. After going 9-0 in June and July, Z has lost his last two starts. Zambrano was 10-0 in his last 15 road starts dating back to August 7, 2005. The most reliable pitcher on a staff full of...
Game One Hundred Twelve - Cubs 6 Brewers 3 The Cubs evened the season series with the Brewers at 6 with a convincing win over the Brew Crew in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Carlos Marmol had another good outing, threw strikes and walked only 4 in 5 1/3 innings of work. The Cubs offense did not miss a beat with the day off and scored 5 runs on 5 hits all with 2 outs in...
Game One Hundred Eleven - Cubs 6 Pirates 1 Rich Hill picked up where he left off against the Diamondbacks, was tremendous against the Pirates and earned his second consecutive big league victory. Hill threw 7 strong innings, allowed only 5 hits (1 was for extra bases), walked just 2 and struck out 9, a career high....6 in the first 4 innings. The Cubs offense was not as sharp against Ian Snell as they had...
Game One Hundred Ten - Cubs 7 Pirates 5 Mark Prior won his first game of the season and the Cubs finally beat Zach Duke....that is the two most important parts of Saturday afternoon's win at Wrigley. In between there was some good baseball being played on both sides but a questionable managerial move in the 6th helped keep the Cubs in the game. Mark Prior was very good through the first 5 innings he...
Game One Hundred Nine - Cubs 0 Pirates 6 For the 12th time this season the Cubs were unable to plate a run and another lefty from Pittsburgh held them to just 2 hits on the day. Carlos Zambrano lost his first game since May 31st. Z was not sharp but his defense let him down, as well as the refusal of this team to take pitches and make a pitcher work, especially against a...
Game One Hundred Nine: Cubs (45-63) vs. Pirates (41-68) Game Time - 12:05pm C.T. WGN TV, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 186 Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago Carlos Zambrano (12-3, 3.26) vs. Tom Gorzelanny (1-2, 5.84) The National League Pitcher of the Month for July, Carlos Zambrano takes the hill today for the Cubs in search of his 10th victory in a row. He will face a Pirates team with a much different look than...
Game One Hundred Seven - Cubs 2 Diamondbacks 10, Game One Game One Hundred Eight - Cubs 7 Diamondbacks 3, Game Two The events that took place at Wrigley on Thursday have been happening all season....one game was horrendous and the next game was a gem. Carlos Marmol barely made it out of the 1st inning and Juan Mateo did not allow a hit until the 3rd inning and earned his first Major League victory,...
Game One Hundred Six - Cubs 9 Diamondbacks 3 For the first time in his brief big league career Rich Hill showed what the Cubs have been waiting patiently to see....his first Major League win. Hill was magnificent against a team that put up 15 runs on Monday night at Wrigley. Hill earned his first win and gave the Cubs' bullpen a much-needed rest. The Cubs' got out to an early lead with help from...
Game One Hundred Five - Cubs 4 Diamondbacks 15 Including Notes from Jim Hendry on Monday's Trade Deadline Deals Game time temperature was 106 with the heat index at Wrigley and the Diamondbacks must have felt right at home. Orlando Hudson had a huge night at the plate, that included home runs from both sides of the plate, and in the field despite committing an error but he was just one of many standouts on...
Game One Hundred Four - Cubs 6 Cardinals 3 The last time the Cubs swept the Cardinals at Wrigley in a 4-game series was July 29-31, 1972, almost 34 years to the day the Cubs did the unthinkable and swept the Cardinals at home. The win Sunday gave the Cubs their longest winning streak of the season, 4 games, and topped off the best week the Cubs have had all season. After taking 2 of...
Game One Hundred Three - Cubs 4 Cardinals 2 Whether Saturday was Greg Maddux's last with the Cubs at Wrigley does not matter the way he pitched and the appreciation shown from the Cubs Faithful was unbelievable to see. Saturday was unofficially Greg Maddux Day at Wrigley and the Ole Professor was at the top of his game. Forget the fact he won his second game in a row, forget the fact the Cubs won...
Game One Hundred Two - Cubs 6 Cardinals 5 This series could boil over before the end of the weekend, Friday's game was just the beginning and it is pretty obvious the two teams are ready to explode. The Cubs and Cardinals are one of the oldest and most heated rivalries in all of sports....and Friday lived up to the billing. This game had it all, a good pitching performance from Carlos Marmol, another good...
Game One Hundred One - Cubs 5 Cardinals 4 With Roster Moves - Hill Recalled and Aardsma Optioned Before Thursday's Game What started out great for the Cubs turned sour and finished just the way the game started, with the Cubs coming out on top of the Cardinals. Rich Hill was tremendous in the 1st inning and then slipped back into his Major League form when he took the mound in the 2nd but Jeff...
Game One Hundred - Cubs 0 Mets 1 - 10 innings Mark Prior threw 5 2/3 innings of no hit ball but was matched pitch for pitch by John Maine. The Cubs had only two scoring chances on the day and could not cash in on either of them. The bullpen did their job until the 10th inning when Glendon Rusch gave up a bases loaded single to Jose Valentin to give the Mets the...
Game Ninety-Nine - Cubs 8 Mets 6 The Cubs were back in action at Shea on Tuesday night and continued to play some of their best baseball since the beginning of April. The Cubs looked horrible against the Nationals over the weekend. I was at the Friday game at RFK, it was a great game with a horrible outcome or horrible 8th inning. The Cubs lacked everything in that series, from bruised hands to sore...
Game Ninety-Eight - Cubs 8 Mets 7 What a game!!! The Cubs out dueled the best team in the National League led by 3 home runs and a 2-out, 2-run single by Juan Pierre that was the difference in the game. Michael Barrett went deep with 2-outs in the 1st and Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones hit back-to-back home runs, the second time this season and the second time in a week the Cubs went...
Game Ninety-Seven - Cubs 1 Nationals 7 The Cubs loss on Sunday to the Nationals was just another disappointment in a long line this season. Sunday's loss was the third game of the series that involved a Cubs' pitcher leaving the game in the middle of an inning due to injury. Friday night it was Scott Eyre, who reportedly is O.K., he has been available for the past two days, Saturday was Sean Marshall, who...
Game Ninety-Six - Cubs 3 Nationals 7 For the second straight game Aramis Ramirez hit 2 home runs, the bullpen could not hold the lead and the Cubs lost to the Nationals dropping to 22 games under .500 for the season. Sean Marshall was not sharp and had trouble with location but he was effective before he left the game after one pitch in the 5th to Robert Fick. Marshall left the game with a...
Game Ninety-Five - Cubs 6 Nationals 7 The Washington Nationals are having their Grand Reopening this weekend at R.F.K. against the Cubs and Friday was anything but grand for the Boys in Blue. After an early deficit they scratched back to take the lead in the 7th only to lose the game in the 8th. The defense, or lack thereof, let the pitching staff down again and created extra opportunities for the Nationals....and they took...
Game Ninety-Four - Cubs 4 Astros 1 Something happened on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley that had not occurred all season, the Cubs hit back-to-back home runs in the 3rd inning to power them past the Astros and give Carlos Zambrano his seventh straight victory, a new career high. Zambrano threw another incredible game and had a perfecto going until he walked Aubrey Huff in the 5th. Zambrano allowed only 1 run on 2 hits in...
Game Ninety-Three - Cubs 2 Astros 4 With Updates on Chris Speier and Mark Prior The match up between Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens was as advertised, both threw tremendous games but Maddux made one mistake and his defense let him down again as this battle of the Future Hall of Famers went to Roger Clemens and the Astros. Clemens picked up his second win of the season, both against the Cubs. Neither of these...
Game Ninety-Two - Cubs 4 Astros 2 Carlos Marmol won for the second time in a row, his third on the season and led his team to victory for the first time this season at home against the Astros. Marmol pitched himself in and out of trouble all night and out pitched his opponent Roy Oswalt. Marmol allowed just 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings of work and struck out 6. Once he...
Game Ninety-One - Cubs 7 Mets 13 Two Bloops, Two Slams and Two Errors....On a night the Cubs scored 7 runs the Faithful would expect to see the "W" flag flying high at top the Wrigley Field scoreboard but not on Sunday night. The Cubs got out to a 5-0 lead led by the good pitching of Sean Marshall, he even hit his first career home run but like Saturday's game it was a tale...
Game Ninety - Cubs 9 Mets 2 Updated - 9:55pm C.T. This game was a tale of two halves....until the 6th inning the Cubs offense was incredibly flat against the 40-year old Tom Glavine, they had only collected 2 hits in the first 5 innings and both of those were of the infield variety. The Cubs were entrenched in a "good ole fashion" pitchers duel. Carlos Zambrano was spectacular again and did not allow a...
Game Eighty-Nine - Cubs 3 Mets 6 Mark Prior Placed on 15-Day DL on Friday Greg Maddux had another rough start and lost his 10th game of the season against just 7 wins and only 2 since May 3rd. Maddux received little run support from the Cubs anemic offense and was not aided by the Cubs inconsistent defense. A missed double play in the 4th cost Maddux and the Cubs 2 runs and they were...
Game Eighty-Eight - Cubs 11 Brewers 4 The Cubs ended the first half of the season the way they started it....with a win and in fact way back in April the Cubs won their first 4 out of 5 games to start the season and with Sunday's very impressive win in Milwaukee the Cubs have won their last 4 out of 5 games....something happened in between, but for now the Cubs have played possibly their...
Game Eighty-Seven - Cubs 3 Brewers 1 For the first time in almost a month, June 9th - 11th in Cincinnati, the Cubs won back-to-back games and like Friday night the Cubs received a tremendous pitching performance from their starter. Carlos Marmol threw a 3-hit gem and allowed only 1 run. He had a rough start to the game, but settled down and kept the Brewers off balance all evening. The bullpen pitched extremely well...
Game Eighty-Six - Cubs 7 Brewers 2 Say what you want about Carlos Zambrano but he continues to pitch great for a bad team and shows emotion on the mound like he is pitching for a team in a pennant race, not one that started Friday's game 23 games under .500. The "experts" use words such as "mediocre" and "average" to describe Zambrano but Zambrano gives 110% every fifth day, hustles down the line and...
Game Eighty-Five - Cubs 0 Brewers 2 The Chicago Cubs were in Milwaukee on Thursday night for the start of a four game series that will conclude on Sunday. Maddux was on the mound against the magic man Chris Capuano. Against the Cubs Capuano performs his disappearing act and the Cubs runs disappear...like magic....or they never appear. One or the other Capuano is 3-0 against the Cubs this year and he has two complete game...
Game Eighty-Four - Cubs 1 Astros 0 For the 4th time this season Cubs pitching shutout the opponent and the Cubs ended their 7-game losing streak to the Astros. Sean Marshall out pitched Roy Oswalt in a well-pitched game on both sides. Todd Walker tallied the only RBI on the night and the Cubs avoided being swept by the Astros for the 2nd time this season. Wednesday night was a "good-ole-fashion" pitchers duel from beginning...
Game Eighty-Three - Cubs 2 Astros 7 Mark Prior had clearly his best outing of the season.... early on he was sharp and had command of his breaking ball and fastball. But all of the Astros' runs off of Prior were scored with 2 outs and the two runs in the 6th was scored on a wild pitch, the same wild pitch. Of the Astros 7 runs, 4 scored after reaching base via the walk...
Game Eighty-Two - Cubs 2 Astros 7 The Astros have had their struggles this season but they know how to play and win at Minute Maid Park. The Cubs were facing an uphill battle before the game ever started and once it did, Craig Biggio started the game with a home run and the Astros never looked back. The Astros hit 3 home runs into the Crawford Boxes in left field, one by Biggio and...
Game Eighty-One - Cubs 15 White Sox 11 What was supposed to be a pitchers duel turned out to be a slug-fest. The Cubs and Sox pounded out a combined 34 hits, 9 home runs, 6 doubles and a triple. The Cubs got home runs from Michael Barrett, Neifi Perez, Carlos Zambrano and two from Angel Pagan....the first two home runs of Pagan's career. The Cubs recorded 20 hits, the most hits in a single...
Game Eighty - Cubs 6 White Sox 8 Not only did the Cubs lose to the Sox, not only did the Cubs play one of their better games in recent weeks, not only did Ryan Dempster blow another game but the winning home run, a 3-run shot in the 9th with 2 outs, but the home run was hit by of all people, A.J. Pierzynski and no matter what you think of Pierzynski he puts...
Game Seventy-Nine - Cubs 2 White Sox 6 Day in and day out this season, the Cubs lack of clutch hitting gets more and more frustrating. For the fourth straight game the Cubs had opportunities to put up a win and in those four games they are a disappointing 1-3. The Cubs managed 9 hits against Sox pitching including 3 from Juan Pierre but they left 9 on base and could not score any runs...
Game Seventy-Eight - Cubs 4 Brewers 5 The Cubs showed on Wednesday afternoon how they are capable of playing with a near healthy roster, on Thursday they had plenty of chances to win the game on what should have been their third victory in a row....shoulda, woulda, coulda has become a theme for this year's team. The Cubs were not patient enough against the Brewers starter and former Cub, Geremi Gonzalez. Gonzalez was given his...
Game Seventy-Seven - Cubs 6 Brewers 3 Carlos Marmol was tremendous, Juan Pierre hit a home run for the first time in almost a year and Derrek Lee led the comeback in the 8th that saw the Cubs score 5 runs to end their 5-game losing streak and their 9-game home losing streak, it was the first win for the Cubs since May 30th at Wrigley. Marmol faced just one over the minimum before he...
Game Seventy-Six - Cubs 5 Brewers 8 Carlos Zambrano was on the mound on Tuesday night as the Cubs looked to snap their longest home losing streak in 14 years. Zambrano and the Cubs faced rookie left hander, yes another lefty Zach Jackson. Jackson is 1-0 with a 4.67 ERA. But he is a lefty and as we all know the Cubs have struggled against lefties all year. Jackson threw 3 perfect innings before Juan...
Game Seventy-Five - Cubs 0 Brewers 6 After being swept by the Twinkies at the blah Metrodome, you would think the Cubs would come back to Wrigley with a little excitement. Maybe give one of the top five players in the game D-Lee the homecoming he deserves. A nice "W" on a chilly night on the North Side of Chicago. Well wake up, not this team and not this year. After taking two out of...
Game Seventy-Four - Cubs 1 Twins 8 The Cubs out hit the Twins, 11 to 10, but they also committed more errors (3) and opportunities (too many to count) that led to 6 runs for the Twins. The only two runs of the game that the Twins actually earned were the home runs by Torii Hunter and Luis Rodriguez. Although the Cubs were credited with three errors there were several more that changed the game...
Game Seventy-Three - Cubs 0 Twins 3 Updated - 9:54pm C.T. - Freddie Bynum Taken to the Hospitol The Cubs had their chances on Saturday night and wasted a much-improved outing by Mark Prior. The Cubs had two big base running mistakes that erased lead off singles in 2nd and 4th and the attempted steal of 3rd by Freddie Bynum cost them a run. Tony Womack left the game in 3rd with lower back spasms...
Game Seventy-Two - Cubs 2 Twins 7 The Cubs collected only 5 hits, a walk and a home run against Johan Santana while Carlos Marmol fell behind most of the batters he faced. Marmol did not pitch as bad as his line looks (5 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 7 runs, 4 walks and 3 strike outs)....2 of the 7 runs were allowed by Will Ohman but when your team is facing the best left hander...
Game Seventy-One - Cubs 9 Indians 2 in 7 innings With the Cubs barley hanging on to 5th place in the National League Central, getting a win tonight would be a very saving of face move. There are many of us out there that might think the Cubs still have a shot. They can get back in this thing....right? If you think that is the case then you also believe the Pirates have a shot....
Game Seventy - Cubs 2 Indians 4 With Injury Updates on Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood and Angel Pagan The southpaw slump continued on Tuesday night for the Cubs as they dropped their 16th game of the season against left-handed pitching. The Cubs hit the ball hard all night but unfortunately they could not hit green. Greg Maddux pitched into the 8th inning, his longest outing since May 15th, threw over 100 pitches for the first...
Game Sixty-Nine - Cubs 12 Indians 8 The Cubs scored 12 runs on Monday night in Cleveland; they hit 3 home runs, pounded out 16 hits on the night and scored more runs than their previous four games combined. Sean Marshall pitched well despite giving up 3 home runs to the Tribe, he was hit hard but he was effective and when the rain came after the bottom of the 5th, he and the Cubs...
Game Sixty-Eight - Cubs 3 Tigers 12 Like Ron Santo said earlier in the week, this year's Cubs finds a new way to lose ball games everyday....and Sunday was no exception. The Cubs were swept at home and are now 12-20 at Wrigley Field this season. This sweep was the first time the Cubs had been held winless at home in a series of at least 6 games since 1997 (Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves and...
Game Sixty-Seven - Cubs 3 Tigers 9 The Cubs had plenty of opportunities on Saturday to win the game, they had runners on base each of the first 6 innings; they had 11 hits and even walked 4 times…and all of that production led to just ONE runs in the first 8 innings. The last 2 runs of the game for the Cubs came in the 9th inning after the game had already been decided....
Game Sixty-Six - Cubs 3 Tigers 5 When it was announced that the wind was blowing out to left everyone had to wonder how long Glendon Rusch would last in the game. Would it be 3 innings? What about 4? Well, Mr. Rusch could not make it through the 2nd inning, the Tigers had their way with him, scored 4 runs on 6 hits, 5 for extra bases that included three doubles, a triple and...
Game Sixty-Five - Cubs 2 Astros 3 The Cubs inability to manufacture runs from 3rd base and less than 2 outs cost them the game on Thursday afternoon. While most will point to the Todd Walker error in the 8th that loaded the bases in front of a single by Brad Ausmus that was responsible for the tying and go ahead runs, it was the Cubs lack of fundamentals that continue to cost them ball...
Game Sixty-Four - Cubs 4 Astros 5 Greg Maddux threw strikes....66 of them to be exact unfortunately he was unable to get the all-important third strike against many of the Astros hitters he faced. Maddux was able to get ahead of the Astros hitters on several occasions but his early problems finding the strike zone cost him and the Cubs the game. Maddux did not receive any help from his defense, Ramirez was credited with...
Game Sixty-Three - Cubs 2 Astros 9 With Injury Updates on Wade Miller and Angel Pagan The Cubs continued their offensive struggles against left-handers on Tuesday and lost to Andy Pettitte for the first time. The Cubs are now 7-13 against southpaws and had plenty off opportunities to make the game interesting in the last innings but like too many other times this season they were unable to score those precious runs that can change...
Game Sixty-Two - Cubs 9 Reds 3 The Cubs got everything and more than they could have expected from rookie Carlos Marmol, he threw a gem in his first career Major League start, Neifi Perez had his best game of the season and the Cubs finished the 10-game road trip at 6-4. The Cubs actually beat the Reds at their own game and although both teams hit three home runs it was the 2-out walk...
Game Sixty-One - Cubs 4 Reds 2 The Cubs relied on a good outing from Carlos Zambrano and one swing of Michael Barrett's bat to beat the Reds in a very close game on Saturday night in the rain. Zambrano was not particularly sharp but he was effective and a couple of times seemed to be on the verge of losing his composure. Zambrano only allowed 2 hits through the first 7 innings but his...
Game Sixty - Cubs 6 Reds 5 Greg Maddux earned career victory number 325, Henry Blanco drove in 3 runs, Aramis Ramirez doubled into the lights and Ryan Dempster somehow pulled out his 10th save of the season after a nail biting finish in Cincinnati on Friday Night. The Reds lost their first game since Maddux beat them on May 30th but there were several key plays and an otherwise good game played by the...
Game Fifty-Nine - Cubs 1 Reds 7 The Cubs looked out of sync tonight and once you thought they have left one of the worst May's in club history, in May. Think again. The Cubs looked confused and impatient at the plate all night, The merry-go-round known as the Cubs pitching staff, put Glendon Rusch on the hill and he tumbled off or rolled off early in the game. Rusch lasted 3 1/3 threw 78...
Game Fifty-Eight - Cubs 0 Astros 1 With Updates on Kerry Wood and Derrek Lee Sean Marshall pitched a tremendous game but was out pitched by the Astros rookie Chris Sampson in his first Major League start. The Cubs made another young pitcher look like a proven veteran and was shutout for the 7th time this season. The Cubs could only manage 3 hits against the rookie Sampson, Dan Wheeler and Brad Lidge and only...
Game Fifty-Seven - Cubs 1 Astros 4 There will be days like these....to quote the late great John Lennon, but this season they always seem to come against left handers. Wandy Rodriguez shutout the Cubs through 7 innings and allowed just 5 hits on Tuesday night in route to a 4-1 victory over the Cubs. The entire team looked tired and Kerry Wood left to many breaking balls out over the plate, he did not...
Game Fifty-Six - Cubs 8 Astros 0 When Dusty Baker filled out the lineup card for Monday evening in Houston little did he know the most important name he wrote in was the one at the end....Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano had a no-hitter going until Preston Wilson singled to right in the 8th with 1-out and before the walk to Mike Lamb in the 8th, he had only allowed one other base runner on the evening....a...
Game Fifty-Five - Cubs 6 Cardinals 9 The Cubs had not swept a 3-game season series in St. Louis since June of 1988 and the drought still stands. The Cardinals got 5 RBI's from Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds on a day that Greg Maddux had trouble getting out of the 1st inning. Maddux was not sharp from the beginning of the game and allowed 3 runs on 2 walks and 2 hits while throwing...
Game Fifty-Four - Cubs 8 Cardinals 5 Updated - 8:23pm C.T. with Injury Update and Roster Move on Scott Williamson...Williamson Headed for DL...Cubs Call Up Carlos Marmol from the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA) Glendon Rusch pitched his best game of the season, Roberto Novoa was very sharp in his 3 innings of relief and the Cardinals committed 3 errors in the 4th inning, the first time that had happened since September 23, 2000 and...
Game Fifty-Three - Cubs 5 Cardinals 4 - 14 Innings The Cubs pulled out arguably their biggest win of the season against their biggest rival....in their house in front of the largest crowd of the season at Busch Stadium. On a night when the Cubs did not play good fundamental baseball they were able to outlast the best team in the National League and win their longest game of the year....a one run decision on...
Game Fifty-Two - Cubs 2 Reds 3 Eric Milton out pitched Carlos Zambrano on Wednesday night and for the second time this season Milton beat Zambrano and the Cubs. The Cubs could only manage 2 hits against the fly ball pitcher with the wind blowing in through the first 7 innings and the comeback attempt fell short. Jacque Jones' second home run in as many games got the Cubs to within a run, but they...
Game Fifty-One - Cubs 8 Reds 3 For the 6th game in a row the Cubs recorded double-digit hits, Greg Maddux got back on track and Jacque Jones drove in 4 runs on a double and a home run....and the Cubs won their second game in a row for the first time since May 16th and 17th. The game got underway on time but the rain started with 2 outs in the bottom of the...
Game Fifty - Cubs 7 Reds 3 With an Injury Update on Angel Pagan Kerry Wood pitched his best game of the season and provided the go ahead RBI in the 4th inning to end the Cubs 6-game losing streak against the Cincinnati Reds. Wood pitched great and topped out at 95 MPH on the radar gun, he had good command of his pitches, threw a good curve and a great changeup....he looked like a...
Game Forty-Nine - Cubs 12 Braves 13 - 11 innings As soon as it was announced the wind was blowing out on Sunday afternoon at the Friendly Confines the Cubs Faithful knew the writing was on the wall for a long afternoon, especially with the fourth rookie of the season scheduled to start the game for the Cubs. Jae Kuk Ryu could not make it out of the 2nd inning and was only able to...
Game Forty-Eight - Cubs 1 Braves 2 With Roster Moves, Derrek Lee and Wade Miller Updates, plus Mark Prior moved to the 60-Day DL The game on Saturday afternoon at the Friendly Confines came down to who wanted it more and the Braves proved why they are still the team to beat after 14 straight Division titles, they know how to win day in and day out and the Cubs just hope to do so....
Game Forty-Seven - Cubs 5 Braves 6 Updated - 8:38pm C.T. A complete game is usually referred to in pitching but with the Cubs this season a complete game should be used in terms of the entire team. There are too many games to try to count that they have lost and that loss could be traced back to one play or a series of plays and while the loss on Friday will be blamed...
Game Forty-Six - Cubs 3 Marlins 9 Updated - 7:33 pm C.T. ....And the Cubs can't get out of it. With the sweep on Wednesday complete, the Cubs are now 5-20 since April 28th and have fallen to 10 games under .500. Greg Maddux, once a surprise, is now looking like the 40-year old that he is and is fitting right in with the rest of his teammates....underachieving, to say the least. To say this...
Game Forty-Five - Cubs 4 Marlins 5 For the second time in his last three save opportunities, Ryan Dempster could not hold the lead and the Marlins came back in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Cubs. The Marlins were 0-24 before Tuesday night when trailing after 8 innings. Dempster gave up a leadoff single to Wes Helms, walked Hanley Ramirez, after a sacrifice bunt by Dan Uggla advanced the runners, Dempster intentionally...
Game Forty-Four - Cubs 1 Marlins 9 The Cubs road struggles continued on Monday night in Florida with a huge loss to the Marlins. Monday night's victory was only the 4th home victory of the season for the Marlins and Ricky Nolasco, the former Cub farm hand and Southern League Pitcher of the Year for 2005, showed the Cubs and the Faithful what could have been. Nolasco was brilliant and only allowed 1 run, a...
Game Forty-Three - Cubs 7 White Sox 4 The Cubs took advantage of an extra out in the 8th and came from 2 runs down to beat the Sox on Sunday afternoon at the Cell, 7 to 4 to salvage the last game of the series. Carlos Zambrano pitched a very good game and only allowed 4 hits, unfortunately 3 of them were home runs. The offense came around against Jose Contreras, but other than...
Game Forty-Two - Cubs 0 White Sox 7 Plus News from the Post-Game Press Conferences Updated - 5:58pm C.T. with a 40-man Roster Move The media has a tendency to make the Cubs-Sox series about the fans and not about the players....well on Saturday the players proved that this is a heated series on all sides, not just the one's in the stands. The Cubs' frustration erupted in the 2nd inning when Michael Barrett and...
Game Forty-One - Cubs 1 White Sox 6 Updated - 10:12pm C.T. Every time throughout the years that the White Sox have beaten the Cubs, it hurts....the Cubs Faithful never wants to see their team lose to the hated cross-town rival. Chicago has always been a Cubs' town, but the Northsiders seem to be losing their grip on that title. With what happened last October, Cubs' fans everywhere had this weekend marked on their calendar...
Game Forty - Cubs 3 Nationals 5 Updated - 11:03pm C.T. Kerry Wood's first start at Wrigley Field since July 15th of last year started out like a script from a Hollywood movie as he struck out the first batter he had faced since last August and struck out 2 of the first 3 batters on the afternoon. But with 1 out in the 2nd inning, Ryan Zimmerman hit the first of three home runs...
Game Thirty-Nine - Cubs 5 Nationals 0 After a 51-minute rain delay, the Cubs won their first series since April 24-26 against the Florida Marlins and will go for the sweep on Thursday afternoon against the Nationals. Sean Marshall picked up his 3rd win of the year and Cubs' pitching combined for a 1 hit shutout, their first back-to-back shutouts since late June of last year. Marshall bounced back and only allowed 1 hit in...
Game Thirty-Eight - Cubs 4 Nationals 0 Great pitching....great defense and good hitting on a beautiful night in Chicago all led to a much-needed Cubs victory. Carlos Zambrano continued his tremendous May pitching performances with 8 shutout innings against the Washington Nationals. Zambrano only allowed 4 hits and at one point retired 11 in a row in route to the first Cubs shutout of the year. Zambrano has only allowed 1 earned run in 22...
Game Thirty-Seven - Cubs 0 Padres 9 For the first time in Chicago Cubs history, the Cubs have gone winless in a season series against a National League opponent. The Padres second series sweep over the Cubs capped a 0-7 record against the Friars on the season. The Cubs have lost 14 of their last 17 being outscored 94 to 38 and Sunday's shutout was the fourth time the Cubs have allowed that outcome over...
Game Thirty-Six - Cubs 3 Padres 4 Greg Maddux was on the mound on Saturday looking to get the Cubs out of their horrific slide and to get his first win in the month of May. Maddog threw 73 pitches, 48 for strikes, struck out three and walked one in seven close to perfect innings of work. Maddux was on automatic and his pitch count by inning was amazing. 1st-9 (pitches), 2nd-7, 3rd-15, 4th-10, 5th-9,...
Game Thirty-Five - Cubs 5 Padres 10 Updated - 9:55pm C.T. On a very cold and rainy day in Chicago the Padres beat the Cubs on Friday for the 5th time in the last week. The Cubs and the Padres are going in different directions...the Padres have won their last 12 out of 13 after starting the year 8 and 15, while the Cubs have lost their last 12 out of 14 and are 6...
Game Thirty-Four - Cubs 3 Giants 9 Updated - 8:28pm C.T. Or should I say, "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back"? I usually do my best to just report the game and what I saw that affected the outcome, whether it was good or bad, but after the last road trip the Cubs just completed, this might be more of an opinion column than a game recap. The Cubs just finished one of the worst...
Game Thirty-Three - Cubs 8 Giants 1 Well it's over....for the first time since May 1st the Cubs Faithful can rejoice....CUBS WIN, CUBS WIN!!! The Cubs ended their 8-game losing streak on Wednesday night by pounding the Giants, 8 to 1. Carlos Zambrano pitched a tremendous game and other than a 1st inning run, he was in total control of himself and of the ball all evening. Zambrano more than earned his first win of...
Game Thirty-Two - Cubs 1 Giants 6 With an Injury Update on Derrek Lee On a very cool night in San Francisco with all eyes on Barry Bonds, the Cubs dropped their 8th game in a row and are now 2-8 on the season against the Wes.. Rich Hill pitched a good game on Tuesday and if were not for the performance of Jason Schmidt, he might have picked up his first victory of the...
Game Thirty-One - Cubs 3 Padres 8 Greg Maddux could not get out of the 4th inning and the Cubs offense could not get a hit with runners in scoring position....if the Cubs made any positive steps on Sunday, they took several steps back on Monday. All of the problems that the Cubs have had over the past week came to a head on Monday at the hands of the San Diego Padres. The Cubs...
Game Thirty - Cubs 3 Padres 6 The Cubs offense finally put a crooked number on the board on Sunday in San Diego, but the pitching staff could not continue their string of good outings and the Cubs dropped their 6th game in a row. Khalil Greene was the main Cub killer on Sunday with a great day at the plate and in the field. Greene finished the day 4 for 4 with 2 doubles...
Game Twenty-Nine - Cubs 1 Padres 2 - 10 innings For the second night in a row the Cubs and Padres played extra innings and the result was the same....a Cubs loss. Saturday night's loss was their 5th in a row and the Cubs are now one game under .500 for the first time this season. Rob Bowen hit a 1-1 fastball over the right field wall off of Bobby Howry to win the ballgame...
Game Twenty-Eight - Cubs 0 Padres 1 - 11 innings For the first time since April 5th the Cubs are a .500 baseball team....their record is now 14-14 with the 11 inning loss on Friday night to the San Diego Padres. For the second game in a row the Cubs were shutout and have only scored one run in the last 3 games. Carlos Zambrano pitched a great game, but so did Chan Ho Park....
Game Twenty-Seven - Cubs 0 Diamondbacks 6 For the first time this season the Cubs dropped their third game in the row and are now just one game over .500....5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds. The Cubs were shutout for the third time in five games and only managed 8 hits. Dusty tried a different lineup on Thursday night, he moved Aramis Ramirez up to the third spot, put Todd Walker in the clean-up spot...
Game Twenty-Six - Cubs 1 Diamondbacks 5 The professor was on the hill on Wednesday night, but did not have the same genius stuff as he has taught in his previous outings. Unfortunately he has not mastered the Diamondbacks in the past and Wednesday was no different. Going into tonight Maddux has a 1-8 record against the D-backs and 0-4 at the BOB (Bank one Ball Park) now Chase Field. After this evening Maddux is...
Game Twenty-Five - Cubs 0 Pirates 8 Updated - 9:05pm C.T. The Cubs entered Tuesday's game 3-6 against left-handers this season and 4-3 on the current 8-game home stand and they were looking to improve both of those records. Zach Duke was the sixth different lefty the Cubs faced over the last 8 games and for the second time in 3 games the Cubs were unable to score a run and collected only 5 hits....
Game Twenty-Four - Cubs 2 Pirates 1 Sean Marshall pitched a gem on Monday night and showed composure that most veterans do not have. At one point Marshall retired 10 in a row and only allowed 1 hit until the 7th inning. Marshall was the victim of a bad call in the 7th that allowed the tying run to score and should have been in line for the win, but because of poor base running...
Game Twenty-Three - Cubs 0 Brewers 9 The Cubs were shutout for the first time this season and did not end the month of April with a win, but did finish the month 13-10, 3 games over .500. Chris Capuano threw a gem allowing only 5 hits (2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th), he struck out 6 and did not issue a walk. Capuano threw first pitch strikes to 27 of the...
Game Twenty-Two - Cubs 2 Brewers 16 Glendon Rusch took the hill on a very cloudy, rainy Wrigley Field on Saturday. Rusch was horrible and the Cubs' pitching staff as a whole allowed 6 home runs to the Brewers. Rusch came into the game on Saturday second in the league in home runs allowed with 7 and left the game being the league leader with 11. Rusch threw 81 pitches in just 2 2/3 innings...
Game Twenty-One - Cubs 6 Brewers 2 Updated - 10:24pm C.T. On a beautiful spring day in Chicago with Babe Ruth's relatives in the crowd the Cubs Faithful went back to school....with the 'Ole Professor' at the head of the class. Greg Maddux threw another masterpiece....what can Maddux not do? For a guy that was written off at the beginning of the season, he is proving all of the critics wrong....the fountain of youth has...
Game Twenty - Cubs 5 Marlins 7 Updated - 9:55pm C.T. By no means does a regular season game compare to a playoff game but why does it seem like the 8th innings of games between the Marlins and the Cubs are always the make-it or break-it inning of the ballgame. On Monday night the Cubs' offense was quiet until the 8th inning and on Wednesday the Marlins broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th...
Game Nineteen - Cubs 3 Marlins 1 It was 39 degrees at the start of the game on Tuesday night and the wind was howling in from center.....cold and the wind blowing in from center? A pitchers dream indeed. The veteran Dontrelle Willis against the rookie Sean Marshall. Marshall was making his 4th career start and his second at Wrigley. Willis has never lost in the month of April and came in with a perfect...
Game Eighteen - Cubs 6 Marlins 3 The Cubs had only 1 hit going into the 8th inning and had been dominated the entire evening on the mound and in the field. The young Marlins made several great defensive plays....Todd Walker should have been 3 for 3 on the night. Jason Vargas did not give up a hit until the 5th inning and the Cubs looked like the young Fish had their number....and the Cubs...
Game Seventeen - Cubs 7 Cardinals 3 Greg Maddux was the story again on Sunday as he blanked the Cardinals over 7 masterful innings. Maddux actually lowered his league leading ERA to 0.99, and yes you read that correctly....the fountain of youth has found Greg Maddux and he has not looked this good in over a decade and Maddux has never started a season 4-0....until today, number 322 for his career. Maddux faced 26 batters...
Game Sixteen - Cubs 1 Cardinals 4 For the first time this season the Cubs lost their second game in a row and dropped to 4-4 on the current road trip with one game left. The story from Saturday was walks, walks and more walks....plus a hit batsman. Cubs' pitching gave the Cardinals 6 free passes and Scott Williamson hit So Taguchi in the bottom of the 6th. The Cardinals had more walks than hits...
Game Fifteen - Cubs 3 Cardinals 9 The Cubs got off to a rough start tonight in the new Busch Stadium. Do the Cubs feel like the fans....lost and unsure of what the future holds without Derrek Lee? I don't think so; the Cubs did not get a quality start tonight from Jerome Williams....when your starter accounts for only 4 outs and lasts an inning and a third you are not going to win against...
Game Fourteen - Cubs 5 Dodgers 4 In what could be a defining moment of the 2006 season, Derrek Lee and Scott Eyre were both injured and left the game in the 7th inning....on the same play. The Cubs won the game and that is the good, but the unknown status of Lee and Eyre put a dark cloud on a comeback win at Chavez Ravine. In the bottom of the 7th with the Cubs...
Game Thirteen - Cubs 1 Dodgers 2 It was a quiet Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium....well at least for the bats and not even Hef and all his pretty ladies could get the bats in action. It was a pitchers duel between Derek Lowe and Carlos Zambrano, through seven innings and sinker ball pitchers can make for a long night with a lot of ground balls. Zambrano pitched well but has yet to get his...
Game Twelve - Cubs 4 Dodgers 1 Updated - 11:40pm C.T. with update on Angel Pagan Greg Maddux has discovered the fountain of youth....or just a very good off-season program. Maddux was unbelievable against the Dodgers on Monday night. Maddux turned 40 last Friday and looks more like the 30-year old that pitched in Atlanta oh so many years ago. Maddux held the Dodgers to just 3 hits in 8 innings of work and lowered...
Game Eleven - Cubs 7 Pirates 3 Updated - 6:54pm C.T. with Pagan Update and Roster Move - Cubs Call Up David Aardsma The Cubs had several questions going into Sunday's game in Pittsburgh. When will Juan Pierre start hitting? When will Aramis Ramirez start hitting? When will Freddie Bynum get his first hit as a Cub? How will Glendon Rusch pitch? The Cubs got answers to all of those questions and more. Glendon Rusch...
Game Ten - Cubs 1 Pirates 2 Update on Angel Pagan - Pagan is Expected to be placed on the 15-day DL on Sunday Jerome Williams did his part on Saturday night, but the inconsistent bats and lackluster play was the demise of our beloved Cubbies. Williams went six innings giviing up 2 runs, only one was earned. He only gave up four hits, walked four and struck out three. The Cubs lost 2-1 on...
Game Nine - Cubs 11 Pirates 6 Sean Marshall had an impressive start against the Cardinals last Sunday night under the bright lights of Wrigley Field, on Friday the young lefties' goal was to get his first big league victory. Marshall was given a one run lead before he took the mound at PNC Park at never looked back. Marshall retired the first nine Pirates he faced....a perfect three innings on just 30 pitches and...
Game Eight - Cubs 3 Reds 8 Updated - 10:06pm C.T. On a day where the starting lineup had question marks from the beginning, Carlos Zambrano had another meltdown on the mound. Zambrano has the stuff to be an ace in the Major Leagues and one day he could even win the Cy Young Award....but he has to learn how to pitch under control first....right now the Cubs' ace is 40-year old Greg Maddux and...
Game Seven - Cubs 4 Reds 1 Updated - 8:52pm C.T. The second game of the series against the Reds was not a pretty game....some could even say down right ugly and the only positive was the pitching performance of Greg Maddux. The Reds did commit five errors on Wednesday that helped the Cubs win the ballgame, but were those errors induced? Maddux had another great outing and held the potent Reds' offense to only...
Game Six - Cubs 2 Reds 9 Updated - 9:27pm C.T. with a tidbit from XM Radio The Wind Blowing Out....The Cincinnati Reds Offense....Glendon Rusch on the Mound....all ingredients for a Cubs loss and for the second time in less than a week, Bronson Arroyo beat the Cubs and hit a home run off of Glendon Rusch. Before this season Arroyo did not have a Major League home run and now he has two. The...
Game Five - Cubs 8 Cardinals 4 The Cubs had not swept the Cardinals at Wrigley Field since June of 2001, until Sunday night. When Sean Marshall took the mound against the Cardinals he became the 1,800th different player to wear a Cubs' uniform. Marshall pitched a fine game, even though the box score will not show the quality start it was....more on Marshall later. The Cubs fought back all night and for the first...
Cubs 3 Cardinals 2 It was a cold, cold day at Wrigley but the hearts of the Cubs Faithful were warmed by some solid pitching and some clutch hitting. Michael Barrett and Derek Lee received their silver slugger awards before the game, but after this one they should have traded them in for gold. The Cubs have a lot of fight this year, and they proved it again on Saturday....
Game Four - Cubs 3 Cardinals 2 Just when I thought Opening Day was cold....Saturday at Wrigley was even colder, but the game was unbelievable and was everything a baseball fan would want to see. Carlos Zambrano and Chris Carpenter both had excellent games and rebounded from their first appearances of 2006. This was a good ole fashioned pitcher's duel. On the day Jim Hendry's contract extension was announced (through 2008)....Zambrano held the Cardinals offense...
Game Three - Cubs 5 Cardinals 1 Updated - 10:15pm C.T. In the immortal words of Pat Hughes, "And Away We Go"....On a cloudy, cold Opening Day at Wrigley the Cubs handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season. It was a typical early December....uh....April day in Chicago....temperature at game time was in the upper 30's. Greg Maddux took the mound and he was more like the '96 version of Maddog than the nearly...
Game Two: Cubs 6 Reds 8 Updated: 6:02pm C.T. The Cubs returned the favor from Opening Day on Wednesday....with handing the Reds the victory. The Cubs reverted back to the underachieving standards they set in 2005. The box score only says one error, but the box score does not count mental errors and passed balls. Glendon Rusch not only continued his poor pitching from Spring Training, he also continued committing the mental errors that plagued...
Game One - Cubs 16 vs. Reds 7 Updated - 8:18pm C.T. with a Photo Gallery from Opening Day The day started off like any other, roll out and stumble to the coffee pot in order to become a functioning human being....instant human, just add coffee. But this was not any other day, it was Opening Day in the Queen City, it was the Cubs vs. the Reds, it was time for baseball. The scene...
Part 5 of 5 - The Bullpen The relief pitchers in 2005 had as much change as the rest of the team. When the Cubs left Mesa in March, the bullpen was full of experienced veterans with a long track record of success. I can even remember Harold Reynolds (ESPN - Baseball Tonight) saying the Cubs had the best bullpen in the National League at the start of the season. I remember thinking 'what is...
Part 4 of 5 - The Starting Pitchers The starting rotation, like the rest of the team, could not stay healthy. What was supposed to be the strength of the team became another weakness for Dusty Baker. Mark Prior started the year on the DL, and then he got beaned, missed another month and finished with a decent season. Carlos Zambrano continued to shine and despite throwing too many pitches, became the ace of the...
Part 3 of 5 - The Outfield The outfield of the 2005 Chicago Cubs had a lot of change and drama everyday. With the off-season departure of Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou, the Cubs searched the entire year to replace their numbers and experience. Jeromy Burnitz did a fine job in Right Field, but he was the only consistent throughout the year. Hollandsworth and Dubois were traded. Lawton and Gerut were added, and then traded....
Part 2 of 5 - The Infield & Catchers The infield of the 2005 Chicago Cubs had it's ups (Derrek Lee and Ronny Cedeno) and downs (as in the DL). Nomar started the year at shortstop and ended it at 3rd. Todd Walker was on and off the DL during the year. Aramis Ramirez had his leg problems again. Jose Macias played way too much. Jerry Hariston did not play enough (Hariston is a natural...
Part 1 of 5 Well I promised it, so I guess I have to deliver. The 2005 Season Review. This was a season none of us ever want to live through again. Too many injuries, too many mistakes and not enough winning. I will admit that I did not see the 2005 Chicago Cubs going to the World Series or even making the playoffs. When Alou was allowed to leave and Sammy was traded, I...
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Astros 6 The last day of the baseball season is usually a very sad day for me...and today is no different. I am a HUGE football fan, but baseball(and the Cubs) are my first love....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Astros 3 The extra outs killed the Cubs today. In the 6th and 7th innings, Williams got the ground ball he needed to get out of the inning and the infield could not turn the double play. Both of those plays cost the Cubs 2 runs and the game....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Astros 3 How many times have we heard this...the bullpen could not hold the lead...Cubs lose. BUT NOT TONIGHT. Tonight it was the Astros' pen that blew the ballgame. The Cubs came back in the 9th to win the game....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Astros 2 The roof was off at the Juice Box tonight, but the Cubs pitching staff was not. Glendon Rusch had another quality start. Rusch went 7 strong innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. He actually beat Rodriguez for the 3rd time this year(3-1)....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Pirates 3 The Cubs were at Wrigley today, to bad they forgot to play a game. The Cubs were swept in a 2 game series by the Pirates. For the second straight day, the Cubs offense made another Pirate Rookie look like a Seasoned Vet....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Pirates 5 Tonight was an end to an era in Chicago. Greg Maddux's pursuit of 18 consecutive seasons with at least 15 wins ended tonight. For the second time this season Maddux threw a complete game and lost....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Astros 2 For the second straight day there was rain in Chicago. Unlike Saturday, the Cubs came away with the win. Jerome Williams had another qualtity start and put his team in a position to win the ballgame....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Astros 8 Although the post season hopes for the Cubs ended weeks ago, the Astros officially eliminated the Cubs from the playoffs today. Zambrano could not hold down the Astros' offense and gave up 6 runs on 9 hits in 6 1/3 innings before the rain came....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Astros 4 It was a good win...and a bad loss today at Wrigley. Glendon Rusch had a good start. He went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits. I did not think the Cubs could beat the Astros if Rusch had a short outing and I was wrong....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Brewers 0 First I was right about Scott McClain and yesterday I was right about Maddux...Dusty whenever you want to add me to the payroll, leave a comment and I will get back with you A.S.A.P....
(from BNB) Cubs 6 Brewers 7 ROONEY "If the Cubs think they'll coast through these last 10 games, they're sorely mistaken." JOYCE: "This is all news to me." ROONEY: "So far this year alone, they've lost against the Brewers nine times, including today." JOYCE: "Nine times?" Yes, nine times....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Brewers 5 After tonight's game, I could use a beer....Why can the Cubs beat the Cardinals and not the Brewers? I do not understand it. After tonight's loss the Cubs have 6 wins in 14 games against the Brewers. And have dropped 3 games under .500 and 1/2 game behind the Brewers for 3rd place in the Central....
(from BNB) Cubs 7 Cardinals 4 The Cubs did not win the division or make the playoffs...but they did BEAT THE CARDINALS. The Cubs finished their season series today with the Cardinals. The Cubs won 10 of 16 games this year and the Cubbies are the only team in the Central Division to have a winning record against the Cardinals....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Cardinals 5 When I heard the lineup today...I was in shock! I kept asking myself...why is Jose Macias hitting in the leadoff spot? Why is he playing 2nd base? Where is Todd Walker? Where is Jerry Hariston, Jr? What the (blank) is going on?...
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Cardinals 3 Yes, this has been a disappointing year (one I kinda expected, will discuss in 2 weeks). But anytime the Cubs beat the Cardinals is a GREAT DAY. The walls could be coming down around me and it would not matter because the CUBS BEAT THE CARDINALS....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Cardinals 6 It was a rainy, gloomy night in Chicago and the Cubs started the series against the Cardinals with a loss. Mark Prior started the game tonight and had another bad inning. He did not have a bad start, just one inning....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Reds 7 FUNDAMENTAL BASEBALL. According to Merriam-Webster .com the definition of fundamental is of central importance or belonging to one's innate or ingrained characteristics. I am going to email this to Dusty's boys....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Reds 3 The Cubs finally beat the Reds tonight in the bottom of the 10th inning. Tonight's come from behind win ends a 6 game losing streak against the boys from Cincinnati....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Reds 5 The Cubs could not get it done against the Reds tonight. What made them a success on the road could not carry over to Wrigley Field. During the 8 win road trip, the best the Cubs have had since 1993, they got timely hitting and good pitching....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Giants 2 The Cubs finished the road trip today with a big win over the Giants. The Cubs got down early on an RBI single by Moises Alou in the first inning. Nomar kept his hot bat going and singled and scored in the 3rd on the triple by Todd Walker....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Giants 2 It is not how you start, but how you end...and Mark Prior proved that today. Prior had a very bad 1st inning, giving up 2 runs and throwing 40 pitches. Wellemeyer actually started warming up in the pen....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Giants 2 The Giants rookie pitcher Matt Cain shut the Cubs down tonight. Cain gave up only 1 hit, a homerun to Derrek Lee(41) over the first 8 innings. Hariston added the 2nd Cub hit in the 9th and I can see why the Giants are so high on this guy....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Giants 3 It is becoming pretty obvious that this is Carlos Zambrano's World and we all just live in it. What can Big Z not do? He is 7-1 since the All-Star break....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Cardinals 1 The Cubs won their first season series at Busch Stadium since 1995 tonight. Maddux beat Mark Mulder for the 2nd time this year to earn his 12th win of the season and the 317th of his career. Maddux threw another great game and even pitched himself out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the 3rd inning....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Cardinals 2 Glendon Rusch threw one of the best games of his career tonight. Rusch actually had a Perfect Game going through the first 6 innings. David Eckstein led off the 7th with a single up the middle and the thought of the 'perfecto' was over....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Cardinals 6 In this case it was a curve ball to Albert Pujols that did in the Cubs. With the game tied 2-2 in the 8th inning. Dusty brought in Roberto Novoa to face the top of the Cards line-up. Novoa walked Eckstein and gave up an infield single to Nunez....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Pirates 0 For the first time since July 8 - July 10 against the Marlins, the Cubs earned a series sweep. I know it is the Pirates, but a sweep is a sweep. The 2005 Cubs have not beaten the teams they should and this weekend they did....
(from BNB) Cubs 9 Pirates 5 Just when I thought I had Dusty figured out, he goes and changes the line-up again...and it worked. The Cubs had 13 hits today and 7 were for extra bases....
(from BNB) Cubs 7 Pirates 3 The Cubbies started September off in the win column. With Derek Lee out nursing a bruise on his foot, the Cubs pitchers struck out 13 and allowed only 3 runs. Greg Maddux started the game and won his 11th of the year....
(from BNB) Cubs 0 Dodgers 7 Do Not Try To Fix It! The line-up was changed today and none of the young Cubs got to play. Dusty needs to realize this year is now about preparing for next year. Johnny B. sat Cedeno and Murton in favor of Perez and Patterson....
(from BNB) Cubs 6 Dodgers 3 And the youth shall led them...tonight was so much fun to watch. In my eyes this is what the future can look like. The Cubs played a solid game..one they could have easily given up on....
(from BNB) Cubs 6 Dodgers 9 Too little to late. The Cubbies got down 6 runs in the second inning and could never bounce back. Jerome Williams pitched as bad tonight as he has pitched all year. Williams is only 24 years old and will have great years for the Cubs...just not tonight....
(from BNB) Cubs 14 Marlins 3 There was a wonderful fish fry at 1060 West Addison in Chicago today. The extra activities included a jersey retirement, a home run display and a look into the future....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Marlins 2 Maddux pitched his 2nd complete game of the season today..but he lost. Maddux held the Marlins to 2 runs on 5 hits, but the other 2 hits cost him and the Cubs the game....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Marlins 7 6 innings late and no cigar. The Cubbies dug themselves a hole they could not get out of. Again the Cubs got no clutch hitting, 10 LOB. Poor starting pitching, Glendon Rusch had another bad start 5 runs, 4 earned on 8 hits over 4 2/3 innings. Despite all of this, in my eyes there were some bright spots....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Braves 3 And the hits just keep on coming. The game ended as it started, on a bad note. The Cubs' All-Star Third Baseman, Aramis Ramirez, went down in the first inning of today's game trying to beat out a double play ball....
(from BNB) Cubs 10 Braves 1 10 runs on 15 hits, and only 1 home run. This is the line that I have been wanting to see all year. It was the Jerome/Jeromy show tonight. Jerome Williams pitched his best game as a Chicago Cub....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Braves 4 Larry "Chipper" Jones pretty much put an end to the Cubs hopes of the post-season tonight. Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood only made 2 mistakes tonight, both to Chipper....
(from BNB) Cubs 7 Rockies 9 Today's word boys and girls is 'Fundamental', as in 'Fundamental Baseball'. According to Merriam-Webster.com, the definition of fundamental is 'of central importance, belonging to one's innate or ingrained characteristics and one of the minimum constituents without which a thing or a system would not be what it is'....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Rockies 4 It was Aaron Cook's night. The Rockie right hander held the Cubs to 1 run on 7 hits through 7 innings. The sinker-baller was on, getting ground out after ground out....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Rockies 3 It was homecoming in Colorado today. 4 of the 9 starters for the Cubs are ex-Rockies. And all of them came back to bite their former team. Henry Blanco(1999), Todd Walker(2000), Neifi Perez(1996-2001) and Jeromy Burnitz(2004) led the Cubs to victory today....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Astros 2 2 outta 3 ain't bad! There is still hope! Zambrano pitched another great game. 2 runs on 3 hits, only 1 earned and 10 k's over 8 1/3 innings. The Big Z became the second Cubs pitcher to win 10 this year....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Astros 1 What a difference 24 hours makes..where has this Greg Maddux been all season. His past 2 starts have been AMAZING to watch, it is like we all went back in time when he was with the Braves and kept thinking he should be doing this with the Cubs, and now he is....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Astros 12 What started out as a promising night...turned out to be a nightmare. The Cubs pitching allowed 7 more walks. I do not understand all of the walks and 2 out trouble. Do these pitchers not realize there are 7 more guys behind them with gloves?...
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Cardinals 4 Oh boy is this great!!! 3 of 4 from the Cardinals. Prior looked good, no bad innings. Although he did not have any 1-2-3 innings, he still pitched VERY well....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Cardinals 5 I think we have seen this team WAY TO MANY TIMES this year. Bone-head defense, zero clutch hitting, walks, walks and more walks. Everytime the Cardinals scored today was because of a lead-off walk. What is the problem with throwing a pitch over that big white thing right below the catcher's glove. GIVE ME A BREAK....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Cardinals 1 Maddux showed 'em how and Zambrano did. Six innings of shut out ball against the best team in the National League. Z has some of the best stuff I have seen in a while. As long as he keeps his head on straight, in my opinion he is one, if not the best, in the league....
(from BNB) Cubs 11 Cardinals 4 Where has this been? DLee 2 home runs, ARam, Nomar, CPat...and a complete game by Maddux. Believe me I am not too excited, but anytime the Cubs can beat up on the Cards like this IS A VERY GOOD DAY....
(from BNB) Cubs 2 Reds 8 O.K., Rich Hill showed me up again. What an unbelievable 4th. Just when you though it could not get any worse...BAM! a 7 run 4th. I will get back to Rich Hill....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Reds 8 ...Knock, Knock...Who's there? Not the Cubs offense that's for sure. The Big Red Machine strikes again....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Reds 9 It was anniversary night at Wrigley, 17 years ago tonight they turned on the lights, August 8, 1988. In some ways it seems like yesterday, but in someways it seems like the lights have always been on....
(from BNB) Cubs 1 Mets 6 ..Well after tonight there should be. When a big league team gives away extra outs, this is what happens. Big Z did everything he could, with the defense that is behind him, I am supprised he made it that long....
(from BNB) Cubs 0 Mets 2 ...You Throw the Ball, You Hit the Ball and You Catch the Ball...well 2 out of 3..gets you beat. The offense was a non-factor, but Maddux pitched well enough to win....
(from BNB) Cubs 5 Mets 9 Well....the curve did not break, the defense did not show up (i.e Todd Walker) and the Mets made the Chicago Cubs look like the Iowa Cubs....
(from BNB) Amigos, Saviors...or just ball players. I think Jim Hendry and Dusty are hoping they are all 3....
(from BNB) Cubs 4 Phillies 6 Wow...another bad inning for Mark Prior. With everything that has happened this year, injuries etc..the expectations put on Prior and Zambrano is unbelievable....
(from BNB) Cubs 3 Phillies 4 Just when you thought this season could not get any stranger....here comes the passed ball..I still do not understand what Barrett was thinking. Anyway...they should really look at not using Remlinger anymore. He has become VERY uneffective. I think a dfa would be good as this point, especially with Williamson and Wood coming back on Friday....
(from BNB) "Now There Is Hope!" This is a phrase that has been sticking with me since last October. For all of us (fans) out there, we all know what this means. I do not know if this is a phrase for Cubs fans or for just life in general...but we shall see. Now back to the game....
Jim (Tinley Park)
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