The Chicago Cubs played a piss poor game on Thursday as they lost to the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 11-4.  The Cubs pitching straff threw the ball terribly as they gave up 11 runs.  I can’t but much fault on the offense for losing this game, it all goes on the pitching staff.

Jason Marquis took the loss and is now 6-4 on the season.  Marquis was hammered for seven runs in only four innings of action.  It sucked to see Marquis throw the ball so badly as he was going for his fifth straight win.  The relief pitchers really weren’t much better than Marquis as Jon Lieber gave up a run, Scott Eyre two runs, and Michael Wuertz one run.  Bob Howry and Neal Cotts each pitched an inning as well but they did not give up any runs.

The Cubs got a little rally going in the sixth inning when they scored three runs.  Henry Blanco, Daryle Ward, and Eric Patterson all had rbi singles in sixth inning.  In the eighth inning, Patterson also added a rbi sac fly.

The Cubs will now go down to the south side and take on the White Sox in a weekend series at U.S. Cellular. Hopefully the Cubs can take two of three atleast against the White Sox.

Cubs Blog

So that was the player Jim Hendry was trying to trade for all off season.  Brian Roberts led the Orioles with three hits and a rbi and as the Orioles defeated the Cubs 7-5 and snapped the Cubs 14 home game winnings streak.

The Cubs attempted a ninth inning rally and had the bases loaded with zero outs but Ronny Cedeno, Kosukue Fukudome, and Henry Blanco all struckout to end the game.  They were swinging at some very bad pitches for some reason.  You have to be more patient at the plate in that situation.

Jim Edmonds was the guy that got the Cubs back into the game as they were down 7-1 until he hit a three run home run in the seventh inning.  Aramis Ramirez then followed that with a two run single in the eighth inning to put the Cubs within striking distance but that was as close as they would get.  Fukudome did hit his sixth home run in the season as well.

Starting pitcher Sean Marshall struggled on the mound in the fourth and fifth innings as he only lasted 4 2/3 innings after giving up seven hits and four runs.  Marshall did strikeout seven batters but the fourt and fifth inning really hurt up.  Michael Wuertz wasn’t much better as he allowed two hits and three runs to score in only one inning of action.

The Cubs will now try to start another winning streak on Wednesday night.  Hopefully they can tie the series up at 1-1 with Ted Lilly on the mound.

Cubs Blog

The Chicago Cubs were not able to complete the sweep against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday as Ted Lilly lost his third game in a row this season.  Lilly’s record is now 0-3 on the season and he really needs to turn things around quickly.  The Cubs still don’t have a win by a left handed pitcher this year.

Lilly pitched six innings and gave up six hits and five earned runs.  He kept the ball up and the Reds hitters really made him pay.  Especially Joey Votto who had five RBI in the game.

Jon Leiber came in and pitched after Lilly and served up a three run home run to Ken Griffey Jr.  so he didn’t fare much better then Lilly.  Bob Howry also let one run score in the game.  Sean Marshall and Michael Wuertz pitched the final 1.1 innings and did not allow a hit.

Reed Johnson led the Cubs at the plate as he went 4-4.  I think it is safe to say that Johnson is going to start getting a lot more playing time in the outfield as he is hitting the ball pretty good.  Henry Blanco and Lilly had one RBI each for the Cubs.  The Cubs could have done a lot more damage in the middle innings had Blanco not missed some signs and was able to actually do something with the bat.  It’s too bad Geovany Soto can’t play everyday.

Cubs Blog