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.

Two big mistakes by the Chicago Cubs in the 8th inning proved to be too much for them to overcome.  An error to lead off the inning my Mark DeRosa, and then a misplay in left field by Alfonso Soriano allowed the Astros to score two runs in the 8th inning and go on for the the 4-3 win.

The team isn’t hitting the ball that much, so they can’t be making these kind of mistakes on the defensive side of the ball.  They need to make these easy plays that are routine.

On the offensive side, the Cubs struggled for the most part. Geovany Soto did have a two RBI single in the 7th inning and Mark DeRosa hit a solo homerun in the 9th inning.  If the Cubs want to win these games however, they need to score some runs earlier in the ballgame and get into the opposing teams bullpen sooner.

Starting pitcher Rich Hill pitched pretty good for the most part on Friday.  Hill did make a  mistake with two outs in the 4th inning when he walked a batter and then gave up a homerun.  All Hill needs to do is finish off batters, and he would be a very good pitcher.  I look for him to have a good outing in his next performance.

The Cubs record is now 1-3 and will play the Houston Astros again on Saturday.

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella is going to bat Alfonso Soriano in the #2 spot here towards the end of Spring Training and see how he does.  Piniella’s reason is because Soriano is only 80-85% healthy and he doesn’t want Soriano thinking he has to run as much as he would if he were in the lead off spot.

Ryan Theriot would bat leadoff and Kosuke Fukudome would be moved down to the #5 spot in the batting order if this  idea happens in the regular season.

To be honest, I don’t like it one bit.  We all know Soriano is a better player when he is a routine, and he has been batting leadoff since last season, so keep him there in my opinion.  I also dont’ agree with batting Theriot #1 and Fukudome in the #5 spots.  I think both of those players are better in other spots in the batting order.

What do you think Cubs fans? Was Lou drunk when he thought this up? lol!

There was some rumblings between Jason Marquis and Lou Piniella over the weekend to go along with a broken finger for Alfonso Soriano out of Cubs spring training in Mesa, Arizona.

Marquis said that he is a starter in the big leagues and that he should be in the starting rotation with the Cubs or even another team.  Piniella then came back and said that maybe he should be pitching for another team then.  After both of them cooled down, Piniella said that everything was ok between the two of them.   I wonder if Marquis could possibly be included in the trade for Brian Roberts if that ever happens?

The Cubs will have to do without Alfonso Soriano for five to seven days as well as he suffered a broken middle finger while taking flyballs in practice.  Reports are saying that it isn’t too serious, and he just can’t use the finger for a little while.  Soriano can keep up with his running / conditioning so he will just have to put in some extra time in the batting cages to catch up.

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