Today we are going to eschew what has become the “Original” format to talk about the three different types of major league baseball players, at least I believe, should be on every team:
The Super Star(Soriano, Zambrano)
The Fan Favorite(Ramirez, Theriot)
The Grinder(which is not my favorite term, but F*&k it, it serves my purpose here–Johnson, Fontenot) (more…)
…Or maybe not.
I was trying to post video directly to the page, thereby avoiding linking you to an outside source–BUT, as it turns out, I have no clue how to do that.
So here you go.
CUBS WIN!…SOME MORE…
The team rolled into spring training the way they rolled out of last season–winning( There was no October in 2008. Weird, I know.)
And the team that they beat?
Yep. (more…)
The Cubs and Dodgers kicked off the NLDS on Wednesday night and the Dodgers came away with a 7-2 victory over the Cubs. Now the Dodgers have home field advantage on their side as they need two more wins to win the series and they will play two out of three games at home.
Ryan Dempster took the loss for the Cubs as he was terrible on the mound in his 4 2/3 innings. Dempster was not his usual self as he walked seven batters including there in the fifth inning before he gave up a grand slam to James Loney. The Dodgers also hit solo home runs off of Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall in the game while tacking on another run off of Jeff Samardzija.
The Cubs had nine hits in the game, they just didn’t get the big hits that the Dodgers did. Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez only combined for two hits in the game. Mark DeRosa had both rbi’s for the Cubs when he hit a two-run home run in the second inning. The Cubs need more production and three or more hits in an inning to score some runs if they want to win game two.
Carlos Zambrano will take the mound on game two. Hopefully he comes out and gets ahead of hitters right away and the Cubs even up the series at one game each.
The Chicago Cubs picked up a hige win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night. It was a very big win because the Milwaukee Brewers also won and the Cubs remain 4.5 games on top in the division.
On Wednesday night, the game was all about Ted Lilly who tossed eight innings and only gave up one run. Lilly was awesome down in St. Louis and he improved his record to 14-9.
Kerry Wood had some trouble in the ninth inning as he gave up a two-run home run to Ryan Ludwick but then he retired the next batter to secure the save and the cubs victory. Wood needs to have some 1-2-3 innings out there to take off all this pressure!
At the plate for the cubs, Alfonso Soriano, Felix Pie, and Aramis Ramirez all had one rbi each. The other run for the Cubs came via a Felipe Lopez error in the second inning. The Cubs scored all four of their runs in the second inning and then held on for the victory.
The Cubs and Cardinals play one more game on Thursday night. Hopefully the Cubs can win again and win this series down in St. Louis.
The Chicago Cubs won their eighth straight game on the road as they pounded out a 11-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night. The Cubs once again scored a ton of runs and got to the Braves bullpen early in the ballgame. When you knock the opposing teams pitchers out of the game before the fifth inning three games in a row, good things are going to happen and that is exactly what happened for the Cubs as they swept the Braves.
Ted Lilly didn’t have his best stuff as he was charged with four runs but it was good enough to get the win and improve to 12-6 on the year. Bob Howy had some trouble as he allowed a three run home run that got the Braves back within four runs. Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood then finished up the Braves in the final two innings.
Aramis Ramirez hit a three run home run to lead the Cubbies at the plate with three rbi. Alfonso Soriano added a two run shot of his own as well. Geovany Soto had another great game at the plate as he had three walks and two rbi. Mark DeRosa, Reed Johnson, Daryle Ward, and Ryan Theriot all had one rbi each as well.
The Cubbies will try to make it nine in a row on the road Friday night as they take on the Florida Marlins. Big Z will be taking the mound for the Cubs.
Once again the Chicago Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves in a night game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs beat the Braves 7-2 on Wednesday night behind a complete game by Ryan Dempster. It was the first complete game by a Cubs pitcher this season as he threw 119 pitches to finish the game.
However any celebrating the Cubs wanted to do, they won’t be doing it tonight as Alfonso Soriano was hit on the left hand and actually broke a finger on his hand. Soriano will miss atleast two weeks but expect it to be three or four weeks. Micah Hoofpauir would be our guess to be called up to take Soriano’s spot on the roster.
Kosuke Fukudome had three rbi all on a three run home run in the first inning to lead the Cubs at the plate. Ryan Theriot and Jim Edmonds both had two rbi each in the game as well for the Cubbies.
The Cubs will go for the three game sweep of the Braves on Thursday afternoon from Wrigley Field.
The Chicago Cubs used the long ball to win their ninth straight game as they beat the San Diego Padres 9-6 at Petco Park. Petco is not a park where you usually see home runs hits, but the Cubs hit three long balls in the game.
Alfonso Soriano had a three run shot in the eighth inning, Mark DeRosa hit a two run shot in the fifth inning, and earlier in the fifth inning Geovany Soto connected for his tenth home run as he went deep to center field. Soto would have had another home run in the game as well in any other ball park but it was caughty right at the wall in deep center field.
Soriano led the Cubs with three rbi while DeRosa had two rbi. Soto, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez all had one rbi in the game.
On the mound it was Jason Marquis pitching five innings and picking up the win. Marquis sure didn’t have his best stuff, and I think he was glad he was pitching in the big park as he got hit kind of hard. Four hits and three runs were charged to Marquis as he improved his record to 3-3.
The Cubs used six relief pitchers for the final four innings of the game as Piniella is trying to not have each pitcher throw to many pitchers as they have been used a lot lately. Kevin Hart who had just been called up threw the worst as he gave up two hits and three runs while walking two. Hopefully it was just a case of nerves after being called back up to the big league team.
Michael Wuertz, Scott Eyre, Neal Cotts, Bob Howry, and Kerry Wood all seen action out of the bullpen. Wood recorded his 16th save of the season in the game. It would be great to see the Cubs starting throw a complete game or atleast seven or eight innings so the bullpen can get some rest…
As we mentioned Kevin Hart was called up and Micah Hoffpauir was sent down. It was simply the case of the Cubs needing a fresh arm in the bullpen. Hoffpauir will more then likely be called up when the Cubs travel to Toronto.
The Chicago Cubs won their eighth straight game as they beat the San Diego Padres 7-6 in San Diego on Monday night. It was a great start to a West coast road trip for the Cubs. The Cubs are now 3.5 games up on the St. Louis Cardinals in the division as well.
Big Z – Carlos Zambrano did a little bit of everything against the Padres. Zambrano went 3-3 at the plate including a triple and rbi. On the mound, Zambrano only threw five innings but it was enough to get his eighth win of the season.
Everything was going good for Cubs pitchers until the ninth inning when Carlos Marmol gave up a three run home run to Adrian Gonzalez. Marmol was then taken out of the game and Kerry Wood was brough in to record his 15th save of the season.
At the plate the Cubs were led by ex-Padre Jim Edmonds who had two doubles and two rbi. Zambrano, Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Theriot, and Kosuke Fukudome all had one rbi in the game as well.
The Cubs will be going for their ninth straight win on Tuesday night when Jason Marquis takes the mound.
Cubs Blog
The Chicago Cubs score two runs in the seventh inning and then three more in the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4. That is a great way to start a four game series against the Rockies! Good teams find ways to win and that is just what the Cubs did on Thursday night.
Geovany Soto had the winning hit for the Cubs in the seventh inning when he hit a sac fly to right field and Ryan Theriot scored. From there on, it was all Cubs as the scored three more times in the eighth inning. It was awesome to see Micah Hoffpauir get a rbi in the eighth inning as well.
Alfonso Soriano led the Cubs with two rbi while a slew of players had one rbi each. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Soto, Reed Johnson, and Hoffpauir all had one rbi in the game.
Jason Marquis pitched pretty good until the but ran into a tough jam in the sixth inning. Marquis got a no decision after throwing 5 1/3 innings and allowing seven hits and three runs. Neal Cotts came in and two runs score that were charged to Marquis. Michael Wuertz also gave up a run out of the bullpen before Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood finished off the Rockies in the eighth and ninth innings.
The Chicago Cubs couldn’t score in the first eight innings, but they were able to push across a run in the ninth inning to tie the game, and then another run in the tenth inning as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 at Wrigley Field.
Geovany Soto hit a sacrafice fly to right field with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning to tie the game. Mike Fontenot then hit a double in the tenth inning, and Alfonso Soriano signled to left field to score Fontentot for the winning run. Now that was a great comeback for the Cubs as they swept the Dodgers in the three game series.
Starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano got a no decision on the game. Zambrano was a little wild but did pitch eight innings. He allowed six hits, one run, four walks, and struckout three batters.
Jose Ascanio pitched a scoreless ninth inning before Bob Howry ended up picking up the win as he pitched the tenth inning. Howry is now 1-2 on the season.
The Cubs will now play the Colorado Rockies in a four game series starting on Thursday.
