The Cubs swept the Arizona Diamondbacks to kick off the 2nd half of the season with a bang.  The Cubs 12 wins since June 25th is tops in the majors.  Granted they are still way out of it with a 36-52 record, but at least they seem to be putting things together on a more consistent basis.

Paul Maholm earned the Cubs win in Friday’s 8-1 romp.  Maholm worked 7 innings of 1-run ball to pace the club.  He scattered 6 hits and struck out 5 to improve to 7-6 on the season.  Alfonso Soriano was the hitting star — 2 home runs, 2 doubles and 5 RBI’s! Anthony Rizzo also had 2 hits and 2 runs scored.

Ryan Dempster continued to help his trade value with 6 shutout innings in Saturday’s 4-1 win.  He improved to 5-3 scattering 4 hits and 3 walks in the win.  He now has a 1.02 WHIP and 1.86 ERA and his 33 consecutive scoreless innings streak      . Reed Johnson, Geovany Soto and Luis Valubuena each had 2 hits in the win. Carlos Marmol notched his 9th save of the season.

Matt Garza worked 7 scoreless innings in Sunday’s 3-1 series finale win to improve to 5-7.  He struck out 7 and only allowed 5 hits.  Rizzo gave the Cubs an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning with an RBI single.  And Darwin Barney added a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning that increased the Cubs lead to 3-0.  That would be all that Garza needed in one of his better outings of the season.  Marmol recorded the game’s final 2 outs to pick up save #10.

The Cubs open up a 3-game series against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.