Okay... so as you may have seen, the site was a disaster. It blacked out, and apparently it was happening to many people with this template. Why the Thigh was just fine, I don't know. Anyway, Justin did some work in the HTML to fix it, so we're good to go again, but late on this. So I'm going to skip all of the usual pregame stuff as it's already 2-0 in the first inning...

Top of the 1st

Soriano doubles to left.

Theriot flies to center, mediium deep, Soriano tags up to my surprise and makes it easily. His knee looked bad on the double, but not too bad there.

Fukudome double down the right field line, 1-0 Cubs.

Lee singles into right-center to score Fukudome, 2-0 Cubs!

Bradley strikes out looking.

Fontenot singles into center, Lee to 3rd.

Soto singles into left, 3-0 Cubs!

0-2 on Andres Blanco. Lines a single into center, Fontenot sent understandably with the pitcher up next, Michael Bourn guns him down. Inning over. Everybody getting good swings though.

Bottom of the 1st

Bourn strikes out looking on a high strike on a full count. He's not too thrilled with that call, argues with the umpire.

Tejada hits a groundball to Fontenot who ranges far to his left to make the play, throws to Lee, 2 down.

Hunter Pence drills one off the wall into left-center for a 2-out double.

Carlos Lee grounds out to Fontenot, inning over.

Top of the 2nd

Cubs are on the clock in the draft!

3-1 on Lilly, now a fastball strike. Lilly smokes one into the gap, stumbles around 1st, still makes it to 3rd with a triple, headfirst slide.

Cubs select Brett Jackson, OF, Cal

Harold Reynolds says it's his favorite player in the draft.

Jon Hart loves the pick: "He's a hitter, he's an athlete, he competes." "The power's gonna come." "12-20 homers, but he is a hitter, he's an athlete, he's a gamer." "Players like him usually reach their ceiling."

Soriano grounds out to 3rd, no advance for Lilly.

Theriot walks.

Full count on Fukudome. Fouls it off. Slow roller to 2nd, Maysonet doesn't know where to throw it, finally chooses 1st, throws it away, goes into the dugout. 4-0 Cubs, runners on 2nd and 3rd.

They intentionally walk Lee to load the bases.

0-1 on Bradley. 0-2 as he swings and misses at a high and inside fastball. Fastball just misses hitting him, 1-2. Next pitch just misses outside, and another one even closer, called a ball. Full count. Bradley bounces it to 2nd, 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Bottom of the 2nd

60 pitches for Moehler already.

Lilly is covered in dirt out there, after sliding headfirst into 3rd.

2-0 pitch to Berkman, flies out weakly to Bradley in right.

Pudge grounds down the 3rd base line, nice play by Fontenot, 2 outs.

2-0 on Keppinger. On a 2-2 pitch, Lilly throws a fastball down and inside, very close, and he thinks it's strike 3, starts walking to the dugout. Umpire calls it a ball. Full count, Keppinger flies out to Fukudome in center.

Top of the 3rd

Fontenot drives the ball to left field like he did so much last year, leaves the yard. Not a cheapie. 5-0 Cubs!

Blanco fouls one off his knee I believe, in pain, stays up there though, strikes out swinging.

Aaron Miles is there, and he'll be activated from the DL tomorrow. Probably Bobby Scales down you'd think. Blanco's glove has been tremendous and that's something the Cubs could use in the middle infield.

0-2 on Lilly. He changed jerseys, as his other one was all dirt. May have been asked to as the pitcher. Either that, or they got quite the cleaning job done on that jersey fast. He tries to bunt for a hit on 0-2, misses.

Bottom of the 3rd

1-1 on Maysonet. Maysonet struck out.

Lilly indeed did changed his jersey as Len and Bob are talking about.

Pitcher Brandon Backe pinch-hitting for Moehler, walks.

Michael Bourn strikes out swinging.

1-2 on Tejada. Shallow flyout to Bradley.

More on Jackson...

Brenly knows him. His son Michael, who is a catcher in the Cubs system, played with Jackson in a summer league. Brenly also saw him play at Cal a few times. Likes him a lot, says how he's a great athlete, big strong kid, plays the game hard, etc. Strikes out a bit more than you'd like. Thinks he can be a very good player.

Len added Baseball America had him ranked as the 2nd best athlete in the draft. He's 6'2", 210, bats left, throws right. Seems like he'll be able to play all of the outfield spots. I like the pick.

Top of the 4th

Backe in to pitch now. It's rare that you see a pitcher pinch-hit for the last pitcher, then come into pitch the inning after. Backe's a very good hitter though.

0-2 on Soriano, goes down swinging on a slider way outside as is the case way too much.

It's Fontenot's birthday by the way, so he got himself a birthday home run.

1-2 on Theriot. Slider misses outside, 2-2.

Fukudome singles to right. Good to see him swinging the bat well tonight after being in a bit of a slump.

Lee rips one down the line for a double. Man is he on fire. The ball dies as it hits a board, so Fukudome can't score.

Bradley with an ugly 1-0 swing, looked like he didn't mean to swing. Now he pops out to Berkman in foul territory to end the inning.

Bottom of the 4th

2-1 on Pence. Flies out to deep center. In other parks, that has a chance to leave, but not when the park is 436 feet to center.

Carlos Lee pops out to Derrek Lee.

Berkman hits a flyball down the right field line into foul territory, Bradley just casually reaches back a couple feet to catch it to end the inning. Funny play.

Top of the 5th

Fontenot pops out to the catcher.

Soto with a 2-2 count. Soto with an infield single, Tejada made a great play getting to it, but no chance.

Aramis! Highlights of him taking groundballs before the game today. Swung with a fungo bat apparently as well. Now he's hanging with Lou in the dugout, talking things over. Great to see.

Blanco walks, bunting situation for Lilly. A couple of failed bunting attempts, 0-2. Now Mike Quadeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee comes up to talk to him. Swinging away, slow roller to 2nd, only play at 1st. So it worked like a sacrifice bunt anyway.

Slider strike taken by Soriano. 1-1 on Soriano, swings through a low and inside fastball. Full count now. I'd throw him a slider still. Hanging slider fouled off. Shockingly Soriano doesn't swing at a slider away. Check swing, almost did, but ball 4.

1-0 to Theriot with 2 outs, bases loaded. 2-1 on Theriot. Pops out to Berkman into foul territory to end the inning.

Bottom of the 5th

1-2 on Rodriguez. Grounds out to Theriot.

Keppinger hits one that looks like it has a chance off the bat, Fukudome catches it near the track in left-center.

Maysonet flies out to fairly deep left to end the inning.

Top of the 6th

Fukudome hits one that I think is gone off the bat. He had the swing, his bat flip, everything. Caught at the track in right-center.

Lee walks on 4 pitches. Lee has reached all 4 times.

0-2 on Bradley. Strikes out swinging, slams his bat down, breaking it.

Fontenot lines a single into right, his 3rd hit of the game.

0-2 on Soto. Lines a single into left, he's 3 for 4. Good thing he's getting the chance to play.

Blanco -drills- one into right down the line, bounces over the wall for a ground-rule double, scoring 2. 7-0 Cubs!

Lilly strikes out looking.

Bottom of the 6th

1-2 on Kata. Full count now. Kata grounds out shortstop.

Bourn flies out to center.

Tejada with a 2-out single into center.

Hunter Pence strikes out swinging.

Justin: Cubs draft LSU shortstop D.J. LeMahieu with their 2nd round pick.

The Cubs love those LSU middle infielders. He is 6'4 with very good numbers. His scouting report says he is a "real baseball player" who plays the game the right way. Clapp's favorite. Some scouts think he may move to 2B or 3B in pro ball.

Top of the 7th

Clapp back. Soriano grounds out to shortstop.

Theriot a slow roller along the 3rd base line that the pitcher Arias fields, low throw but dug out by Berkman, 2 outs.

Fukudome walks.

A bad 2nd strike called on Lee to make the count 1-2 rather than 2-1, then he swings and misses at a breaking ball to end the inning.

Bottom of the 7th

Carlos Lee flies out to Soriano who does his ridiculous hop.

3-2 on Berkman, fouled back. Berkman lines a single into center.

1-0 on Pudge. Deep flyball to left-center, but you have to -crush- it to get it out there. Easy play for Fukudome.

Jeremy Hermida hit a walkoff homer earlier for the Marlins, as they beat the Cardinals. Rockies have comeback to take a 3-2 lead at Milwaukee, I went to that game for a second and Braun just struck out to end the 8th. Looks like the Cubs could be gaining ground on both of those teams again.

Lou comes out to visit Lilly, leaves the left-hander in. 3-0 count now on Keppinger. He looked awkward after the 2nd pitch. 3-1 now, and now a full count. Walks him.

That's it for Lilly, 114 pitches and didn't look quite right that last batter. Don't think he's hurt though. Another outstanding performance by the southpaw. He's responsible for the 2 runners on, hopefully Aaron Heilman can get this out and preserve the shutout effort by Theodore.

0-2. Nasty splitter or change gets Maysonet swinging. Heilman's looked much better lately, throwing strikes. That's the key to his success.

Top of the 8th

Bradley on a full count, pops out to Keppinger near the stands down the left field line.

Fontenot crushes one into right-center for a double, and his 4th hit of the game.

Soto flies out to right.

Blanco with a bouncer up the middle, nice play by Tejada to end the inning.

Bottom of the 8th

Erstad grounds out to Lee. Heilman still in.

3-1 on Bourn. 3-2 now, foul ball. Strikes out, nice comeback by Heilman.

Bouncer gets into left on an 0-1 count for a single for Tejada.

Pence grounds out to Theriot to end the inning.

Top of the 9th

Jake Fox pinch-hitting against lefty Tim Byrdak, rips a double into the left-center field gap.

2-0 on Soriano. On a 2-1 count, breaks his bat, flies out to center.

Theriot grounds out to 2nd, 2 down, runner on 3rd.

1-0 on Fukudome. He walks.

1-0 on Lee. 3-1 on Lee, who has been getting on base at an incredible clip lately. And he gets on again, for the 5th time.

Bradley strikes out looking, he's 0 for 6, with 10 left on base. He looks like he's going to kill somebody. I don't put too much into the first game back from an injury though, remember Lee went 0 for 4 or 5 with like 4 k in his first game back a few weeks ago after being out with an injury. We'll see how Bradley looks tomorrow.

Bottom of the 9th

Sean Marshall in. Carlos Lee with a shallow flyball down the right field line, Bradley makes a terrific diving catch. He needed that.

Berkman goes yard into left over the Crawford boxes to break up the shutout. 7-1 now.

Pudge grounds out to Fontenot.

Keppinger groundball to Theriot, fields cleanly, fires to Lee, CUBS WIN!


Great road trip regardless of the next 2 games, which will be tough against Wandy Rodriguez who owns the Cubs, and the Astros' ace Roy Oswalt who can be as good as anybody in the game when he's on.

Edit: The rotation has been changed back... Mike Hampton will go tomorrow for the Astros. Originally, they had said they were moving him back and Wandy along with Oswalt would be the pitchers in this series. Great news for the Cubs, who have a great shot at winning this series now.

Oh, and the Brewers and Cardinals lose, so the Cubs gained ground on both of them again. Tied now with the Cardinals for 2nd place, and just 2.5 games behind the Brewers. Pretty damn incredible considering how things have been for the Cubs this year. Best baseball is certainly yet to come.

Edit again: CSN just said in the postgame show it's Zambrano/Wandy tomorrow. I don't know who the hell is pitching but we'll see.


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