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.

Cubs Baseball Blog

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.

Cubs Blog

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.

Cubs Blog

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.

Cubs Blog

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.

Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs scored early and often against San Diego Padres starting pitcher Jake Peavy on Wednesday night.  The Cubs knocked Peavy out of the game after four innings as they scored four quick runs off the Padres ace.  The Cubs went onto beat the Padres 8-5 in the game.

Ted Lilly pitched six innings while he struckout eleven batters to get the win for the Cubs.  Lilly has pitched pretty well his last couple of starts and looks to be back into form.

Carlos Marmol pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Lilly.  Marmol had no problems getting six outs as he struckout the side in the seventh inning and then pitched a quick eight innings.

Kerry Wood had some problems in the ninth inning, as he loaded the bases and the Padres scored one run before he was able to get the final out of the game.

Alfonso Soriano once again led off the game with a home run.  Soriano is really swinging the bat well as he hit his sixth home run of the season.  Geovany Soto also connected for a two run home run which was his seventh of the season.  Soriano and Soto both finished the game with three rbi.  Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson both had one rbi as well.

Cubs Homeplate is currently seeking a Cubs fan that would like to write game recaps for the games.  Recaps can be done right after the game is over or the next morning.  If you are interested be us the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.  Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs got out to a 3-0 lead but then Jason Marquis gave up a two run home run and a two run double in the fourth inning as the San Diego Padres scored four runs and made those four runs holdup as they beat the Cubs 4-3.  It was a rainy night at Wrigley Field and the the Cubs saw their four game winning streak come to a stop.

Marquis lost again and is now 1-3 on the season.  Marquis gave up nine hits and four runs in only 5 2/3 innings of action.  Marquis just might see his spot in the rotation get skipped once again the way he pitched tonight.

Alfonso Soriano continues to heat up as he led off the game with a solo home run.  Reed Johnson then had a two run double in the second inning that gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.  That was all the scoring the Cubs would do however as they didn’t get another run in the game.

The Cubs and Padres will battle once again on Wednesday night.  Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs capitalized on a error by the San Diego Padres as they opened up the flood gates and put up 12 runs on the board as they beat the Padres 12-3.  Great win for the Cubs as they are off to a 4-0 start on their current homestand and have moved a game up in the division on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cubs put up six runs in the fifth inning, and then another five runs in the sixth inning as they pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the Padres.  Alfonso Soriano had a two run home run, Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa also both had two rbi in the game.  Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, and Reed Johnson all had one rbi in the game.

Carlos Zambrano picked up his sixth win of the season as he improved his record to 6-1 with the win.  Zambrano tossed seven innings and gave up six hits and three runs.  Zambrano’s pitch count was down, but with that big of lead Lou Piniella decided to take him out after seven innings.

Scott Eyre and Bob Howry closed out the game after Zambrano excited.

The Cubs are playing good ball once again, and they will try to keep it up tomorrow when they play another night game against the Padres.  Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds in Dusty Baker’s return to Chicago by the score of 9-5 on Tuesday evening.  The Cubs used three long balls by Derrek Lee, Mark DeRosa, and Ryan Theriot to get by the Reds.  The wind was blowing out and the Cubs sure took advantage of it.

Lee and Derosa both finished with three RBI while Theriot had two RBI.  Aramis Ramirez also had one RBI in the game.  I just have to laugh everytime Aramis is at the plate, the guy just swings for the fences everytime, and I’ll predict that he hurts himself sometime this year swinging the bat the way he is swinginig right now.

Ryan Dempster picked up the win for the Cubs even though he didn’t pitch like he is capable of.  He was a little wild but kept the score close and ended up picking up the win as he pitched six innings of four run baseball.  Carlos Marmol, Michael Wuertz, and Kerry Wood and seen in action to close the game out.  Wuertz sucked it up, Marmol was able to get out of a bases loaded jam, and Wood looked great.

Alfonso Soriano was placed on the disabled list with a calf injury and Eric Patterson has been called up to take his spot on the roster.  Most Cubs fans thought it would be Matt Murton getting called up, but for some reason Jim Hendry choose Eric Patterson.