Can This Count For October?

Alfonso Soriano entered today's game hitting under .200... No one, myself included, would've thought that he would have a four hit game. Soriano is really working to prove that his bat is still essential to this Cubs offense. Soriano's only couple of blemishes were his slow running resulting in two very close calls at the plate, in Soraino's defense, he did manage to get in safely both times, but his speed is evidently not 100% since his recent trip to the DL.

The Cubs couldn't figure out rookie pitcher Max Scherzer. Scherzer had only one run charged against him, and he truly pitched great ball. Dempster pitched great as well, and he only gave up 2 runs, both pitchers were lifted in the 7th inning. The Cubs certainly didn't mind.

The Cubs scored 6 runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Ward, Soriano, Ramirez, and Fukudome all driving in runs. Fukudome did his in style, he belted his second homer of the year into the right center field bleachers.

In a series that the Cubs could easily sweep with their ace, Carlos Zambrano, taking the mound tomorrow, I'm sure the team and Chicago fans everywhere are thinking, can this count for October? I'll admit, I'm still a little upset about the Cubs getting swept by such a young D'Backs team in the NLDS, but one has to admit, with this series conclusion pointing towards a sweep of the hottest team in MLB, revenge tastes so sweet...

Big Win

1st inning, Lilly had gotten out the first two, and just like that Chris Young hits his ninth home run of the season... It felt like it was Lieber's outing all over again, we had already let them get ahead, and it was only the first inning, are we just supposed to never win the opening game of a series ever again? All these things crossed my mind, and then I heard Pat Hughes say that Jackson popped out to center and the inning was over. Thank God. Both pitchers pitched shut out ball from that moment on until the bottom of the fifth inning.

With 2 outs, Mark DeRosa stepped up to the plate. DeRosa had really been struggling. To give you an idea of how badly he struggled, he had ONE hit on the Cubs road trip. He had a hit in his last at bat, but it was one he really had to run for, just barely getting an infield single. So, when he drilled a ball for a double to deep left, no one had a bigger grin on his face than De-Ro, he just hoped that it would pay off. Pay off it did, Reed Johnson was intentionally walked to get to the pitcher Ted Lilly who hit an RBI single driving in DeRosa and tying the game at one apiece. Another struggling hitter: Alfonso Soriano then stepped up to the plate and he also hit an RBI double giving the Cubs the lead, a lead that they would not relinquish.

Ted Lilly pitched up until the 7th inning, and ended his day by only giving up three hits and striking out 10... Carlos Marmol then pitched a 1 hit shout out 8th. Derrek Lee padded the Cubs lead with his 9th home run of the season, and then Kerry Wood pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the deal.

This was a huge win for the Cubs for a few reasons, they needed to slow down the best team in the National League, a team that had swept them and ended their playoff run last October. They needed it themselves regardless of if it was the best team in the NL, or the worst, the Cubs hadn't won the opening game of a series in practically two weeks. This makes it much more likely that they will win this series.

Tomorrow, the converted starter from closer, Ryan Dempster (4-1) will take the mound against Max Scherzer (0-1).

For my non-existenet readers, sorry for not blogging these past couple weeks, it's been a tough stretch of games since my last post.

The Cubs after today's win are 20-15, and are currently a game and a half behind St. Louis in the Central... The Cardinals play later today, and if they lose the Cubs will only be a game back, if they lose, they'll stay 2 back...