Randy Wells tossed his 1st career complete game shutout in the Cubs 7-0 win over the Giants in San Francisco on Monday night.  Wells has turned his season around with some good pitching of late. In his last 4 starts, he has given up just 7 ER on 16 hits in 27 2/3 innings pitched.  He is 3-0 in those 4 starts.  While his ERA is still over 5.00 at 5.06, he has lowered his WHIP to 1.38 and he has re-gained the confidence that deserted him after he went on the DL after just 1 start to kick off the 2011 campaign.

Wells faced only 4 batters over the minimum in the game – 2 hits and 2 walks allowed.  He allowed only 2 runners to reach base 2nd base.

Alfonso Soriano gave the Cubs the 1st lead of the game with a solo HR of Tim Lincecum in the 5th inning.  Then the Cubs blew the game open with 2 more HR’s against Lincecum in the 7th inning.  Geovany Soto hit a solo shot and Blake DeWitt’s 3-run bomb to right field finally chased Lincecum from the game with the Cubs leading 5-0.  Carlos Pena added a solo shot later in the inning and Marlon Byrd singled home DeWitt in the 9th to cap the scoring.

Matt Garza squares off against Ryan Vogelsong in Game 2 of the series Tuesday night.

Ryan Dempster shocked me as he matched 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum pitch-for-pitch in a remarkable pitching duel.  Dempster worked 8 scoreless innings and had a 1-run lead as he stepped onto the bump in the top of the 9th at 78 pitches. But when he allowed a lead-off double to Pat Burrell, Manager Mike Quade made the shocking move to “pull” Dempster from the 1-0 game after he had just pitched one of the best games of his career.  Come on, Quade – you are 11.5 games out of 1st place.  It’s not like this win is that important in the grand scheme of things.  Dempster earned the right to pitch out the game and try to get out of the 1-on, nobody out jam in the 9th.  But Quade made the move to go with closer Carlos Marmol to “save” the all-important game for the Cubs.  And the move totally back-fired.  After a strikeout, Marmol allowed an RBI single that tied the game at 1.  He then gave up a walk and a hit to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with only 1 out and luckily got Cody Ross to hit into an inning-ending double play to preserve the 1-1 tie.  But by then, the excitement over a big 1-0 win over Lincecum was long gone.

That being said, the Cubs showed some grit when Tony Campana singled to lead off the 9th inning and and Reed Johnson sacrificed him over to 2nd base to put the speedster in scoring position with only 1 out.  Geovany Soto grounded out, but pinch-hitter Aramis Ramirez came through with the clutch game-winning hit to drive in Campana with the winning run.

After 6+ scoreless innings, the Cubs finally broke through off of Lincecum in the 7th inning.  Blake DeWitt’s single drove in Carlos Pena who had doubled to lead off the inning.  It was nice to see some clutch hitting there.

The Cubs are 33-48 and they trail the Brewers by 10.5 games in the NL Central race.

The Cubs dropped the rubber game of the 3-game weekend series to the Royals in Kansas City by a 6-3 deficit.  Randy Wells’ 2011 struggles continued as he allowed 4 1st inning runs to put the Cubs in an immediate hole.  Wells ended up lasting 6 innings, but he allowed all 6 ER on 10 hits and 2 walks.

Geovany Soto had 3 hits in the loss, including his 7th HR of the season, but he is only hitting ,225 on the year.  Soto had 2 of the Cubs 3 RBI’s.  Blake Dewitt had 2 hits and drove in the other Cubs run.  Starlin Castro went 1 for 4 to keep his hitting streak alive – now at 10 games in a row.  Catsro has a .326 batting average which is good for 3rd best in the National League.

The Cubs played the Rockies today in a make-up of the April 27th game that was postponed due to rain.  The Cubs won 7-3 – more on this in the morning…

The White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-3 to take the opening series of the 2011 Crosstown Classic.  Jake Peavy outdueled Doug Davis, although the Cubs did have plenty of opportunities to tack on some runs against a rusty Peavy who was coming off the DL.  Peavy allowed 10 hitters to reach base in only 5+ innings, but the Cubs only managed to push across 3 runs against him. Not good at all.  Carlos Pena hit a home run for the 3rd straight game, while Starlin Castro continued his hot hitting with 2 more hits.  He is now hitting .322 with 36 RBI’s and 42 runs scored.  Kosuke Fukudome and Blake DeWitt also each had 2 hits in the loss.

For the 3rd straight night, the White Sox jumped out to an early lead – 3-0 in the 4th on A.J. Pierzynski’s 2-run triple and Brent Lillibridge’s great bunt single that scored Pierzynski.  Doug Davis struggled with his command again, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks in just 5 innings.  The game-winning run that scored in the 5th inning, however, was unearned because of DeWitt’s fielding error that would have ended the threat.  Instead, it allowed the Sox to load the bases and Davis ended up plunking Lillibridge to force in the go-ahead run.

The Cubs can take some solace in playing 3 “OK” games, but the bottom line is wins.  And the Cubs just aren’t doing enough of that this season.

The Cubs have a day off before traveling to Kansas City to take on the Royals in more inter-league play this weekend.

Carlos Zambrano struggled for the 2nd straight start since calling out closer Carlos Marmol for blowing a save in which Big Z stood to get the win back on June 5th against the Cardinals.  Since then, Zambrano has given up 12 ER on 16 hits and 9 walks to the Phillies and Brewers, both games which the Cubs have lost.  After having some impressive outings earlier this season, Big Z has been a mess of late with his ERA rising to 4.59. So much for trading him when the iron was hot.

On a side note – maybe we’ll see Prince Fielder in a Cubs uni next year?!?!

Jeff Baker homered in the 1st to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead and Reed Johnson cut the Brewers 5-1 lead to 5-4 with his 3-run bomb in the 4th inning, but it wasn’t enough.  Johnson, Blake DeWitt and DJ Lemahieu each had 2 hits in the loss.  The Cubs committed an error for what seems like the 50th game in a row.  It led to 2 unearned runs off of James Russell in the 7th inning that increased the Brewers lead to 7-4.

News Flash – Cubs defeated the Brewers today 12-7 to take 3 of 4 from the Brewers this week at Wrigley…

Another day, another loss as the Cubs fell to the Reds 8-2 for a 2nd straight night.  The line was eerily similar, as each team racked up 10 hits apiece, but it was the Reds who came through with more clutch hits en route to an easy 8-2 win for a 2nd straight game.

It was all down hill for the Cubs after Blake DeWitt staked the Cubs to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning on an RBI double.  Doug Davis lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing 4 ER on 7 hits and 3 walks.  He has lost all 5 of his starts for the Cubs in 2011 and his ERA sits at a lofty 6.38. John Grabow took it on the chin in the 7th inning by allowing 4 ER on a grand slam to Miguel Cairo.  Nice.

Blake DeWitt and Darwin Barney collected 3 hits apiece in the loss.  DeWitt now leads the team with a .316 batting average after starting the season in a miserable slump.

The Cubs are now 23-36 and they trails the Cards by 12.5 games.

Good news, although I don’t want to celebrate prematurely — the Cubs lead the Reds 4-1 through 7 innings today.  They have it perfectly set up for a Sean Marshall/Carlos Marmol finish (Ryan Dempster worked 6 innings and Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 7th inning) to end the losing streak at 8 games.  Keep your fingers crossed…

Matt Garza returned from the disabled list, but was largely ineffective in the Cubs 8-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.  Garza labored through 4 innings and left after 81 pitches on a hot, muggy night.  Garza allowed 4 ER on 6 hits and 3 walks during his outing and his record fell to 2-5.

Gotta love these stats:

Through 5 innings against Reds starter Matt Leake – the Cubs had 10 hitters reach base, but scored just 2 runs and trailed 7-2.

The Cubs and Reds each had 10 hits, but the Reds made the most of theirs, scoring 8 runs to just 2 for the Cubs.

Jeff Samardzija has struggled of late.  He allowed 3 ER on 3 hits in 2 innings of work.  Samardzija has now allowed runs in 3 straight appearances and 4 of his last 6 appearances.  Not good.

On a few positive notes, Kosuke Fukudome had 3 hits and his batting average is back up to .310.  Darwin Barney’s 2 hits knocked him back over the .300 mark as well.  And Blake DeWitt has really turned it on of late – he had 3 more hits in the loss and his batting average is now back up to .292.  Maybe it jkust took some time before he got completely comfortable with his new hitting swing.

The Cubs have now lost 7 straight games.  The Cubs are 23-35 – 12 games under .500.  Only the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins have worse records than the Cubs in all of baseball…

The Cubs offense took it to the Mets pitching twice this series – today it was a 17-hit, 9-run attack that paved the way for an easy 9-3 win at Wrigley on Thursday afternoon.  Like Ryan Dempster in Tuesday night’s big win, Carlos Zambrano was the beneficiary of the big day.  Zambrano worked 6+ innings, giving up just 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks in a solid effort.  Big Z picked up his 5th win of the season and also added 3 hits, 1 RBI and 1 run scored.

Kosuke Fukudome broke out of his little mini slump with 3 hits, including a solo home run off of Jason Isringhausen in the 8th inning.  It was his 1st homer of the year and only his 4th RBI on the season.  Tony Campana also added 3 hits in the win and Darwin Barney, Blake DeWitt and Alfonso Soriano each had 2 hits as well.  Carlos Pena clubbed homer #6 on the season in the 4th inning – his 2-run shot gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Kudos to Big Z for not losing his cool in the top of the 3rd inning.  Jose Reyes lined an extra base hit down the right field line.  As Reyes cruised into 2nd base, Fukudome’s errant throw to Darwin Barney got away from him and Reyes was able to move over to 3rd base on the error.  But then Barney made matters worse by trying to throw out Reyes at 3rd base.  Barney’s throw eluded 3rd baseman Blake DeWitt and Reyes was able to race home with the game’s 1st run.  It literally looked like a little league home run, but what else do you expect from this under-achieving Cubs squad in 2011?  Check out the video here — .

The Cubs improved their record to 22-26, but they still trail the Cards by 6.5 games in the NL Central race.

Ryan Dempster finally turned in a good outing and Carlos Pena finally delivered his 1st home run of 2011 as the Cubs rallied late to beat the Dodgers 4-1 in Los Angeles.

Dempster pitched 7 effective innings in his best start of 2011.  Dempster allowed just 1 ER on 6 hits and 2 walks during his outing and although he didn’t factor in the decision, he was thrilled that he finally gave his team a chance to win during one of his starts.

Carlos Pena has struggled all season long and he was still looking for his 1st home run heading into last night’s game.  Pena came through with a clutch game-tying home run in the top of the 7th inning off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley.  Pena also came around to score on Geovany Soto’s game-winning double after he worked a 1-out walk in the top of the 9th inning that moved the winning run over into scoring position.  Soto delivered the big game winning hit with 2 outs and Blake DeWitt followed that up with an RBI single to give the Cubs a 4-1 cushion.

After Dempster left the game, the bullpen did what they’ve been doing for the majority of 2011.  Kerry Wood worked a 1-2-3 8th inning and ended up picking up his 1st win of 2011 when the Cubs scored 3 in the 9th.  Carlos Marmol then notched his 8th save of 2011 with a 1-2-3 9th inning.  Wood and Marmol both have WHIP’s under 1.09 and ERA’s under 1.84.  This gives Manager Mike Quade and the Cubs a TON of confidence when they have the lead in the late innings and they know they can hand the ball over to Wood, Marmol and Sean Marshall.  Cubs sit at 13-16 with 1 more game left against the Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.

Manager Mike Quade announced that Darwin Barney will be the Cubs starting 2nd baseman for the 2011 club on Friday.  Barney will be the first rookie to start on Opening Day since Kosuke Fukudome started in right for the Cubs as a 30-year old rookie back in 2008.  Barney compiled a solid .340 batting average in 21 spring training games.  Jeff Baker put up a good fight with Barney, hitting .360 in 19 Cactus League games, but Quade opted to go with the rookie right off the bat.  Barney is excited to make the start – “No butterflies yet, but I’m excited.  It’s a great opportunity, but there’s one thing on my mind, and that’s trying to win the ballgame.  And I think that’s what this whole team is looking to do.  We’re looking to get off to a good start.”

Blake DeWitt, who was considered the front runner heading into spring training this February for the starting 2nd base job, had a rough spring.  DeWitt hit only .186 in 21 spring games as he continues to work through the mechanics of a new swing with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo.  That being said, Quade also indicated that the left-handed hitting DeWitt will likely start at 2nd base against a right-handed pitcher early on this season – probably in the 1st week.

This is a surprising outcome, but if you go with performance, Barney clearly had the bet showing in spring training this year.  It is also great to see that Quade has control over the team and can make his own decisions without having to worry about GM Jim Hendry trying to influence things too much.  Naming Ryan Dempster the Cubs’ opening day starter instead of Carlos Zambrano is another example of Quade making his own decisions and doing whatever it takes to give his club the best chance to win each day.  I like his attitude and make–up so far.  Now we’ll have to see if it translates consistently into W’s this season…