The Cubs come out of the All Star break by winning the first two games. They won today behind Ted Lilly and last night with Ryan Dempster.
The main attraction was Aramis Ramirez. He went 3-4 with a game winning home run and a double for a total of 3 RBI. Last night he went 2-5 and 4 RBI with a pair of doubles.
Monday night the Cubs came out swinging with the wind blowing out they had 16 hits including 3 home runs, 4 doubles and a triple. I don’t remember the last time the Cubs scored 12 runs.
Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly each pitched strong games. Ryan Dempster going into the 7th inning giving up just 2 runs and had 9 strikeouts. Ted Lilly went 7 innings giving up 3 runs on just 4 hits while striking out 10. Both nights it was Ryan Howard hitting 3 home runs and that was basically most of the Phillies offense.
The Cubs looked good both nights. Marlon Bryd, Geovany Soto, Aramis Ramirez and Alsonso Soriano are swinging the bats well. The pitching is good and Carlos Marmol struck out the side to today’s win and he couldn’t have looked better.
So we are off to a good second half. Can the Cubs keep it going? What is Jim Hendry going to do? At one point it looked like the Cubs were calling it a season and backing up the truck.
This home stand will tell alot. The Cubs have the Phillies for the weekend The Houston Astros for come in for 3 games MTW followed by the St. Louis Cardinals for the weekend. That will be 10 home games to start the second half of the season.
If the Cubs show some life and put together nice winning streak then who knows what Jim Hendry will do. If this is just a flash in the pan then I would say the Cubs and Jim Hendry will be looking to dump some payroll.
Saturday afternoon Randy Wells will go against Coley Hamels. Hope the bats continue as Randy Wells has pitched very well of late but has had not run support.
Sunday the Cubs get another ESPN game. Next Sunday against St. Louis is another ESPN game.
