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.

Believe it or not – yesterday’s 5-4 win in 10 innings gave the Cubs their 1st 3- game winning streak of the 2011 campaign.  The Cubs were the last team to reach that mark this season.  What a joke…

Jeff Samardzija wasted another great outing from Matt Garza.  Garza allowed just 2 ER on 5 hits and 3 walks over 7 impressive innings.  He struck out 9 and lowered his ERA to 3.72 and his WHIP to 1.30.  He left with a 3-2 lead, but when Samardzija served up Carlos Lee’s go-ahead 2-run HR in the 8th inning, he was forced to take another no decision.

Fortunately, 3 straight hits allowed the Cubs to tie the game on Alfono Soriano’s single to start off the 8th inning.

And after Carlos Marmol survived a bases loaded, 1-out jam in the 9th inning, karma seemed to be on the Cubs side when Hunter Pence lost Marlon Byrd’s flyball in the sun to lead off the 10th inning giving Byrd a “gimme” triple.  After Geovany Soto struck out for the 1st out of the inning, the Astros walked the bases loaded intentionally.  And Jeff Baker came through with the clutch game-winning line drive single to left field that plated Byrd with the winning run.

Byrd had 4 hits and 3 runs scored.  Soto had 3 hits, an RBI and a run scored.

The Cubs are now 42-60 and they have opened up a “safe” 8.5 game lead over the Astros to avoid having the worst record in the NL.  Now that’s something to cheer about – Go Cubs Go!!!

The Cubs rallied for a 5-2, 13-inning win over the Giants at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon.  After Aramis Ramirez’ solo home run tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the 9th inning, the Cubs needed to rally again when the Giants Pablo Sandoval hit a home run off of John Grabow in the top of the 13th inning to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.  The Cubs did just that.  Darwin Barney singled in Jeff Baker to tie the game at 2.  Then after a walk to Starlin Castro, Geovany Soto stroked a game-winning, 3-run walk off home run to give the Cubs the 5-2 win.  Hip Hip Hooray!

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…

Could this be the win that turns the Cubs 2011 season around?  Probably not, but you have to like the resolve that the Cubs showed in erasing a 3-0 2nd inning deficit against one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball.  Little by little, the Cubs chipped away at the Phillies lead.  Starlin Castro drove in the Cubs first run with a single in the 6th inning.  Carlos Pena delivered a nice run-scoring double in the top of the 8th inning that brought the Cubs within 1 run.  And Geovany Soto tied it up off of closer Ryan Madsen with a 1-out solo home run in the 9th inning.  And when Tyler Colvin crushed a ball that appeared to be another home run that put the Cubs ahead 4-3, the Cubs thought they might have their first winning streak in a long, long time.  But reply of the “home run” showed that a fan touched the ball before it went over the wall, so the umpires ruled it a ground rule double.  The Cuibs failed to drive Colvin home, so it was off to extra innings.  And Colvin finally got his chance at redemption when he scored the game winning run from 2nd base after Placido Polanco threw Darwin Barney’s groundball away with 2 outs in the 11th inning.  Just like that, the Cubs finally had it in the bags.

Give some credit to the Cubs bullpen who stepped up to the plate after Manager Mike Quade pulled Randy Wells after a long rain delay after just 2 1/3 innings pitched.  Rodrigo Lopez, James Russell, John Grabow, Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol kept the Phillies off the board the rest of the way which enabled the Cubs to make the comeback.  Lopez, Grabow and Marshall each worked at least 2 innings.  Gotta love it.  Marshall got the win – his 3rd of the season – and Marmol picked up his 12th save.

Now I know it’s only 2 wins in a row, but the Cubs need to take it one game at a time.  Now it’s time for Carlos Zambrano to out-pitch Roy Halladay tonight at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark…

The Cubs lost another frustrating 1-run game on Friday afternoon – 5-4 to the Reds.  The Cubs are now 4-6 in 1-run games and this will have to improve if they expect to stay in the NL race in 2011.

The Cubs blew so many scoring chances in the game – this really should have been a blowout Cubs win:

3rd inning – 1st and 3rd with 1 out, Starlin Castro grounded out to 3rd base and a run didn’t score. They did score a run on a passed ball, but it was a blown chance to have a big inning and the Reds answered with Jay Bruce’s 3-run home run in the top of the 4th inning to take a 3-1 lead.  It was a HUGE momentum swing…

4th inning – Bases loaded with nobody out and Geovany Soto grounds into a double-play.  Sure the Cubs got a run, but with the pitcher coming up, they only got 1.

5th inning – 3 singles in a row scored Darwin Barney, but then another costly double-play erases a 2 on, 1 out rally.

6th inning – Geovany Soto singles home a run with nobody out.  That knocks Edinson Volquez out of the 5-4 game.  Reed Johnson enters the game and is promptly hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.  But Kosuke Fukudome struck out, Barney popped out to the catcher and Castro weakly grounded out to shortstop as the Cubs blow another golden opportunity to blow the game wide open.

The Cubs did score a single run in 4 consecutive innings, but they should have scored about 8 or 9 runs given the chances.  If the Cubs continue to fail to come through with the clutch hit with runners in scoring position, it is going to be a LONG season for the north siders.

Matt Garza was the tough-luck recipient of the Cubs lack of hitting, but he did not pitch the game the Cubs needed against the Reds.  Garza gave up 5 ER on 6 hits and 2 walks and he suffered his 4th loss because of it.

The Cubs fell to 14-17 on the season and trail the 1st place Cards by 4 games in the NL Central.

Casey Coleman looks to help the Cubs rally for a win against the Reds today at Wrigley.  Coleman has been downright bad of late – 11 ER on 12 walks and 14 hits in his last 3 starts – a streak spanning 13 1/3 innings pitched.  Coleman is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA and 1.96 WHIP.  Please please – let’s get Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner back in the starting rotation!

Carlos Zambrano had his best start of the 2011 MLB campaign as the Cubs defeated the Dodgers 5-1 to take 2 out of 3 in L.A.  Zambrano worked 8 amazing innings, allowing just 1 ER on 5 hits and 1 walk with 4 K’s.  Big Z is now 4-1 with a 4.23 ERA and a nifty little 1.19 WHIP.  Gotta love Big Z bringing his “A” game early in the season.

The Cubs scored all of their runs via the long ball – Geovany Soto gave the Cubs a -1-0 lead in the 5th inning with his 3rd HR of the season.  Carlos Pena hit his 2nd HR in as many days to increase the Cubs lead to 2-0 in the 6th inning.  Later that inning, Marlon Byrd broke the game open with his 1st HR of the season.  His 3-run shot gave Big Z a 5-run cushion.

The Cubs need to get Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner back in a hurry. I’m sick of seeing Casey Coleman and James Russell on the bump – it’s almost an automatic loss. This NL Central is completely up for grabs right now and with our 5 starters going, the Cubs have a good shot at staying in the thick of the race this summer.  At 14-16, the Cubs trail the Cards by 2.5 games and they have 6 big games coming up against the Reds this weekend and the Cards next week.  This is a HUGE 6-game stretch for the north siders…

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.

The Cubs fell just short of getting a series win for the 1st time since they took 2 of 3 from the Padres at Wrigley Field back on April 20th.

Casey Coleman suffered another loss giving up 4 ER on 4 hits and 5 walks in just 5 innings of work. Coleman is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA and a 1.96 WHIP.  In 18 1/3 innings pitched in 4 starts, Coleman has given up 15 ER on 23 hits and 13 walks.  Why is this guy still in the rotation?  Isn’t there someone else in the minors that can give the Cubs more meaningful innings?

Geovany Soto, Darwin Barney and Marlon Byrd each had 2 hits in the Cubs loss.  Soto had 2 doubles in the game, the 2nd of which cut the DBacks lead from 4-1 to 4-3 in the top of the 7th inning.  The Cubs then stranded Soto at 2nd base in the 7th.  After stranding the tying run in scoring position in the 8th inning too, Carlos Pena almost put the Cubs ahead in the top of the 9th with a deep drive to right field that Upton caught right at the wall.  Marlon Byrd had doubled to lead off the inning and moved over to 3rd base with only 1 out.  The DBacks then walked to Geovany Soto to get to a pinch-hitter.  Jeff Baker only needed to hit a fly ball to tie the game but instead he swung at J.J. Putz’s first pitch and grounded into a game-ending double play.  Not good.

The Cubs have only won 3 series all season long and have a 12-15 record.  Lucky for them that no one else in the NL Central has put together a good stretch of baseball to try to gain a little space between the rest of the pack.  Despite the slow start, the Cubs trail the 1st place Cards by only 3.5 games.  Every time Casey Coleman and James Russell take the mound, you know the Cubs are likely going to lose, so knowing that Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner are both on the mend and hopefully back in the mix in the next few weeks can only mean improved play for the club.  After these 3 final road games against the Dodgers in L.A., the Cubs open up a critical 9-game homestand against the Cincinnati Reds, Cardinals and San Francisco Giants which could leave them still right in the thick of things or getting ready for 2012…

Carlos Zambrano didn’t get the win, but he put the Cubs in a perfect position to win the game in 10th inning.  Big Z tossed 8 scoreless innings, scattering just 3 hits during his outing while striking out 10.  He allowed just 1 walk.  He lowered his ERA from 6.11 to 4.21 and retired the last 13 batters that he faced.  Sean Marshall retired 2 batters in the 9th inning before handing the ball off to closer Carlos Marmol with 1 on.  Marmol recorded the final 4 outs of the game with 2 K’s and picked up the win when Tyler Colvin’s 2-out pinch-hit double scored Geovany Soto all the way from 1st base in the bottom of the 10th.  After Kosuke Fukudome’s walk with 1 out in the 10th, Soto grounded into a fielder’s choice but kept the inning alive by not being doubled-up.  He showed some speed on Colvin’s hit – one of the few times that you’ll see Soto score in that fashion.

The Cubs got back to .500 with the win at 8-8 and trail the Reds by just 1 game in the NL Central.  The Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals and Pirates are all 8-8.  James Russell goes for the Cubs tonight as he looks to rebound from a bad start last week in Houston when he didn’t even make it out of the 2nd inning.