At least the Cubs own Chicago these days. And even at four games below .500, the Cubs have moved back up to the top of the scrap heap and while second place is still far away from the first place Brewers, there’s no riff raff between the Cubs and the Brew Crew. It’s just unfortunate that the Brewers caught fire and the Cubs needed three straight wins over the White Sox just to keep pace.
Pitching was the name of the game for the Cubs this weekend as their hurlers allowed just two runs over three games. My brother is pretty annoyed but that’s always a good thing because the Cubs scored just ten runs in their three games to pull off the sweep. The best outing was yesterday with Sean Marshall and three relievers combining to throw a shutout. Marshall has been a solid call up and he’s now 4-2 with a 2.44 ERA. Good stuff from a guy who struggled last year after he was forced into the musical chairs rotation the Cubs had going.
Alfonso Soriano is also starting to really heat up. His batting average is now comfortably above .300 and he’s hit homeruns in his last three games as well as four of his last five. All solo shots, but what do you expect from a guy who they have leading off. Soriano would easily have 40 RBIs if they’d just push down in the lineup. Good stuff from the leftfielder though.
Carlos Zambrano had possibly his best start of the season on Friday and he remains red hot. He struck out a season high twelve batters and he gave up just three hits and one walk. That’s three straight starts he’s gone at least eight innings and given up just one run and his last bad start is a distant memory way back on June 1.
Next up is three against a hot Rockies team who have take people by surprise. Jason Marquis will go up against a tough left hander in Jeff Francis. I like the pitching matchups in the other two games though so I wouldn’t be too sore if we lost the first one but took the final two. The Brewers play the Astros, who have been struggling so the Cubs will probably have to take two just to keep up.
