The return of Aramis Ramirez...

Game: Atlanta Braves(39-42) @ Chicago Cubs(40-39)
Game Time: 6:05 PM CT
TV: CSN, ESPN

Pitching Matchup:

Cubs- Randy Wells (3-3, 2.43 ERA)

Braves- Jair Jurrjens(6-6, 2.73 ERA)

Lineups:

Braves
1. Nate McLouth, CF (.264, 13 HR, 48 RBI, .812 OPS)
2. Martin Prado, 2B (.329, 4 HR, 15 RBI, .916 OPS)
3. Chipper Jones, 3B (.291, 9 HR, 40 RBI, .880 OPS)
4. Brian McCann, C (.304, 8 HR, 33 RBI, .883 OPS)
5. Garret Anderson, LF (.284, 5 HR, 30 RBI, .727 OPS)
6. Yunel Escobar, SS (.293, 7 HR, 42 RBI, .788 OPS)
7. Casey Kotchman, 1B (.272, 3 HR, 30 RBI, .726 OPS)
8. Matt Diaz, RF (.320, 4 HR, 22 RBI, .881 OPS)
9. Jair Jurrjens, P (.156, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .393 OPS)

Cubs
1. Kosuke Fukudome, CF (.263, 6 HR, 25 RBI, .811 OPS)
2. Ryan Theriot, SS (.289, 7 HR, 29 RBI, .757 OPS)
3. Derrek Lee, 1B (.285, 15 HR, 51 RBI, .865 OPS)
4. Milton Bradley, RF (.245, 6 HR, 19 RBI, .758 OPS)

5. Aramis Ramirez, 3B (.364, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 1.008 OPS)
6. Alfonso Soriano, LF (.226, 14 HR, 32 RBI, .702 OPS)
7. Geovany Soto, C (.229, 8 HR, 27 RBI, .726 OPS)
8. Mike Fontenot, 2B (.236, 6 HR, 28 RBI, .687 OPS)
9. Randy Wells, P (.167, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .333 OPS)

With Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, and Angel Guzman back, Cubs fans are pumped up for tonight's game against the Braves at Wrigley Field. However, they're facing Braves' terrific young right-hander Jair Jurrjens, so this is going to be a very difficult matchup. The Cubs have a young right-hander of their own that continues to pitch tremendously in Randy Wells on the mound though tonight.

Top of the 1st

McLouth singles on the 2nd pitch of the game.

What appears to be a strike to Prado is called a ball, now he gets the call, 1-1. Prado flies out to fairly deep left.

Wind blowing across from right to left.

The future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones drills one foul down the right field line. The Braves are wearing their all gray uniforms, Cubs have the blue tops with the white pants. No more red hats for either team with the holiday weekend over. 1-1 count now. Chipper just a .271 career hitter against the Cubs, and over a .300 career hitter. 1-2 count, holds up on a pitch downstairs, even at 2-2. Chipper just a .203 hitter at Wrigley Field in 48 games. Slider at the belt is inside, full count. McLouth will surely be running here. He does run, and a hard-hit groundball back at Wells, Wells does a nice job to knock it down, only play at 1st with McLouth running. 2 outs, great speed on 2nd.

McCann foul tip for strike 1 on a nice splitter or change. 86 mph slider just misses inside. McCann gets a meatball and hits it a mile high in the air in right, he's mad at himself as that one should be on a rooftop on Sheffield Avenue. Instead, it's an easy play for Milton Bradley and that's the inning.

Bottom of the 1st

This is the Cubs' 1st time against the Braves' 2nd year right-hander. He locates his pitches very well with 2 or 3 variations of his fastball in the 91-95 mph range, and a solid slider and change. He's only allowed 6 home runs in 102.1 innings pitched. I'm not expecting the Cubs to get more than a couple runs tonight, but we'll see.

Fastball high and away to Fukudome. Nasty changeup in for a strike. Fastball on the outside corner after a ball, 2-2. Beautiful piece of hitting from Fukudome on a changeup, stays with it, pokes it into left field for a single.

I wanted the Cubs to hit and run with this Theriot/Fukudome combo last night and it worked perfectly. I'd like to see more of that. Force Theriot to go to the right side and make contact and he usually will. They opt for the bunt, and Theriot executes it perfectly. Fukudome on 2nd, 1 out for the red-hot Derrek Lee.

Lee fouls off a 93 mph fastball on the 1st pitch. Changeup just misses, 1-1. Fastball inside, hitter's count at 2-1 now. Fastball just low/outside, could've gone either way in my opinion. 3-1. Big cut by Lee on the 3-1, well located by Jurrjens on the outside corner and Lee can't get it, 3-2. A hanging slider, and Lee -crushes- it into the left field seats. 2-0 Cubs!

Lee is on fire, it's unreal. 0-1 on Bradley, now a strike called in that same spot it was called a ball on Lee. Like I said, it could go either way, but all we want is some consistency, blue. Foul ball, and another. Broken bat lineout to 2nd, 2 outs.

A HUGE standing ovation for Aramis Ramirez as he's been out for over 2 months with a shoulder injury. And he grounds out on the 2nd pitch. He sucks, trade him.

Top of the 2nd

Wells gets one of my favorite players of the last 15 years in Garret Anderson to strikeout on a changeup.

Slider high to Escobar, 1-0. Lines a single into left-center, thought he might have a chance at a double but he's not going to test Fukudome's arm.

Casey Kotchman just missed one, flies out to medium-deep right.

0-1 to Matt Diaz, who is 13 for his last 21. Wow. Slider just missed to even the count. 2-1 now. Be careful to him with the pitcher on deck and 2 outs. Welp, not careful, and Diaz launches it to deep right. I thought it was gone judging by Bradley's reaction to it, but he makes a great catch leaping into the ivy. Inning over.

Bottom of the 2nd

Soriano finally with a good swing, drills it, but a diving catch by Chipper.

Soto flies out to shallow right.

2-0 on Fontenot. Right back up the middle for a single. He's 9 for his last 20, having a great homestand.

Wells fouls off the 1st pitch. And the pitcher lines a single into right! He has a really nice swing for a pitcher.

Fastball high to the Cubs' new leadoff man. Now he rips one down the right field line for a double, scoring Fontenot. 3 hits with 2 outs! 3-0 Cubs!

2nd and 3rd, 2 outs. Theriot hits a groundball into the hole, Escobar doesn't field it cleanly, double-clutch, Theriot beats it out. 4-0 Cubs!

Lee grounds out to short on the 1st pitch, and that's the inning.

Top of the 3rd

1-1 on Jurrjens. Gets a 50/50 call, strike 2, now the worst swing I've ever seen at the major league level, strike 3.

McLouth also strikes out.

Now Prado pops one down the right field line into foul territory, Lee has to run a long way and into the bullpen near the bench, drops it. Not an error and shouldn't be, that's not at all an easy play with all of the obstacles there. Prado bounces out to shortstop on the next pitch to end the inning, so that play didn't matter anyway.

Bottom of the 3rd

Jurrjens had only allowed over 3 earned runs twice on the season, allowed 4 so far tonight through 2 innings.

0-2 on Bradley. Fastball just misses outside. On the next pitch, Jurrjens loses his balance on the mound but is alright, caused him to lose his control as well as he's way high and outside. 2-2, now a pitch in the dirt. Bradley's worked the count back to 3-2. Great at bat as Bradley draws the walk.

Aramis takes a fastball right down the middle. Now his usual big swing, fouls it straight back. Now lines a breaking ball to 3rd, 1 out. Good swings though.

Soriano rips a double into left-center, a line drive that barely got through the infield but was hit so hard it almost rolled to the track. Soriano has crushed the ball both times tonight, awesome to see. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out.

0-2 to Soto as he yells out a very loud f-bomb on a pitch he fouled straight back. Now takes strike 3 twice, called a ball twice. Full count now. Jurrjens is not very happy and I wouldn't be either, he's been screwed this at bat. Now a slider nowhere close, bounced in the infield grass I believe. Ball 4, bases loaded.

Twice in the inning Jurrjens has an 0-2 count, walked the batters. Still, he struck out Soto twice in that at bat so it's hard to throw too many more strikes.

Fontenot swings and misses at a good changeup from Jurrjens, 0-1. Fontenot grounds to Kotchman, Kotchman can't get control, throws home, but no time to get 2.

Randy Wells fouls a pitch off. Braves' bullpen is already up. Wells hits a groundball hard on the left side, diving play by Escobar, fires to 1st and gets the slow Wells by a few steps, what a play.

Top of the 4th

57 pitches for Jurrjens through 3, 42 for Wells.

Chipper lines a single into right-center.

1-2 on McCann. Last fastball from Wells was 93 mph. McCann lines one that the short Fontenot can't quite reach on his leap, hits off his glove, goes into right field. Bradley throws to 2nd and they almost get Chipper on a force out.

Slider down to Anderson is swung on and missed. Prime double play candidate here. Almost get it as Anderson grounds to Lee, who throws to 2nd, Wells covers, but Anderson barely beats it out. 1 out, 1st and 3rd.

The double play still in order, and Escobar has hit into 10 on the year. 50 pitches for Wells. Escober is hitting .405 with runners in scoring position, 2nd best in the NL. And improve that average as he gets an RBI single. 4-1, runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

Fastball low to Kotchman. I'd expect a visit from Rothschild soon. Fastball right down the middle fouled off. A slow bouncer that Wells knocks down but can't pick it up in time. That's an error on him. Bases loaded, 1 out.

The red-hot Diaz has an 0-2 count. He's 13 for his last 22 and just missed a 2-run homer last at bat. 1-2 now. A changeup gets him swinging, 2 outs. Huge strikeout for Wells.

Now to my surprise Jurrjens is batting for himself, bounces out weakly on the 1st pitch. The Braves had the bullpen getting loose as Jurrjens has struggled mightily, down 3 runs, 4th inning already, bases loaded, and you let him bat for himself? Can't agree with that decision.

Bottom of the 4th

2-0 on Fukudome. 3-0 now. They just showed on CSN that the Cubs have players representing 6 different countries last year in the All-Star Game. This year, just 1 player in Ted Lilly. On a 3-1 count, Jurrjens just misses with a fastball and it's ball 4 for Fukudome, on for his 3rd time.

Now let's get some hit and run acting going. And that's apparently the case, but the pitch almost hits Theriot, Theriot couldn't swing, and Fukudome out by a mile. It had to be a hit and run, just the wrong pitch to do it on as Theriot had to watch for his face rather than swing. On a 3-1 count, Theriot hits it hard on a hop, Escobar makes another great play and gets him at 1st. 2 outs.

Lee takes a fastball right down the middle. Now a fastball inside. Lee gets a pitch to hit and just misses it, pops out to center. He's mad at himself for not hitting another bomb on that pitch.

Top of the 5th

1st pitch of the 5th inning is hit a mile by Nate McLouth for a home run, 4-2 now.

Well at least that was a solo shot. 0-2 on Prado. Check swing, 1st base ump says he held up. 2-2 count. Prado pops out to shallow center, caught by Theriot.

3-1 on Chipper, gets jammed on a fastball and flies out weakly to Fukudome in center. 71 pitches for Wells.

92 mph fastball just outside to McCann. Swings over a cutter, 1-1. Lines to deep right-center and Fukudome makes an awesome running catch. I didn't think that ball was going to be caught off the bat.

Bottom of the 5th

Awesome, rain and now hail here and my satellite is out.

Bradley apparently grounded out to 1st, 1 out.

Now Aramis apparently grounds out to short on the 1st pitch, 2 outs.

And Soriano pops out on the 2nd pitch. A 5-pitch inning, super.

Top of the 6th

All of a sudden Jurrjens and Wells have thrown the same amount of pitches at 75.

Still can't see the game. Anderson grounded out to Theriot on the 7th pitch of the at bat.

Escobar flies out to left.

What the hell? I get the game back on and there's about 3,000 seagulls in centerfield all of a sudden. Kotchman apparently singled right by them.

Diaz grounds out to Theriot on the 1st pitch, inning over.

87 pitches through 6 for Wells.

Bottom of the 6th

1-1 on Soto. There's still a few birds circling the outfield, but most of them left. Soto pops one foul down the right field line. Now grounds one just foul down the left field line. Hits it hard but right to Escobar on the ground, 1 down.

2-0 to Fontenot. Fastball called a strike, 2-1. Fouls the next pitch off. 2-2. The Phillies lead the Reds 16-1 in the 4th inning. Fontenot whiffs on a changeup, that's Jurrjens' 1st strikeout of the night.

Wells grounds out to Escobar.

Top of the 7th

I don't have a good feeling about this one. I feel like the Cubs are losing, even though they're up 4-2. Could've had more earlier and the Braves slowly getting back into it. Now they have the top of their order coming up in the 7th. McLouth went yard in his last at bat, Prado was the NL Player of the Week, and Chipper Jones is due to crush one.

Gregor Blanco is announced as the pinch-hitter for Jurrjens, and now Lou is pulling Wells and bringing in Marshall. Now Cox is going to go with Francoeur.

On a 1-2 count, Marshall just misses on a backdoor curveball, now an infield single to Theriot.

McLouth is bunting, bunts in the air, caught by Lee, 1 out.

Nasty curveball to Prado evens the count at 1-1. Another one called a ball, gets some boo birds from the crowd. 2-1, now a foul ball to even the count. Full count now with Chipper on deck, yikes. Groundball in the hole, nice play by Theriot and they get the force, hit too slowly to get 2 though. Francoeur with a big take out slide on Fontenot at 2nd.

Chipper batting from the right side now. 1-0 count. Nowhere close on a curveball, 2-0. 3-0 on Chipper. Ball 4.

1st and 2nd, 2 outs, lefty-lefty matchup here against McCann. Slider looks good to me but called a ball. A belt-high slider a strike, 1-1. Curveball hacked at, grounded to Lee, flips to Marshall, inning over.

The Cubs' pitching has done a good job of escaping trouble tonight.

Bottom of the 7th

Fukudome has a 2-1 count against the sidewinding right-hander Peter Moylan. 3-1 on Fukudome, swings and misses, full count. Grounds out to Escobar.

0-2 on Theriot. Theriot gets out somehow, I'm so caught up in what I'm witnessing with Erik Estrada that I can't concentrate.

Lee laces a double into left-center.

I want to punch this guy in the face right now. I think Len and Bob do as well.

Intentional walk to Bradley.

Standing ovation for Aramis. He grounds out to shortstop.

And that ends the inning and Erik Estrada talking about child pornography and how he wishes he had Ron Jeremy's life. He won't be invited back anytime soon.

Top of the 8th

And the Ron Jeremy talk continues, without Estrada even. Brenly: "I only have one question, what team does Ron Jeremy play for?"

Carlos Marmol the new Cubs pitcher. Strikes out Andreson.

1-1 on Escobar. Walks him. Shocking.

2-0 on Kotchman. 3-1. Slider in for a strike, full count. Next pitch is a 1-hopper to Fontenot, 4-6-3 double play.

Bottom of the 8th

Manny Acosta in to pitch for the Braves.

Soriano pops out.

1-0 on Soto, 1-1 now. Soto smokes one off the left-center field wall. I'm mad because I thought it was gone, just too much top spin.

2-0 count for Mike Fontenot. Micah Hoffpauir on deck. Fontenot ends up striking out looking on a 96 mph fastball.

Hoffpauir grounds out weakly.

Len just wondered aloud if people are going to remember that Estrada interview for the next 40 years.

Top of the 9th

Kevin Gregg in for the save.

1-1 count on Diaz. 2-1 now. Even at 2-2 on a fastball on the corner. Just misses outside, full count. Now a high fastball gets Diaz to strikeout swinging, 1 out.

Some dude named Brooks Conrad pinch-hitting, 2-0 count. Now a strike. Now ball 3. Dammit, do not walk this guy in front of McLouth. There's a fastball strike, full count again. Conrad gets a piece of a fastball to stay alive. And another foul ball. Finally on about the 85th pitch of the at bat, Conrad flies out to Soriano.

McLouth of course crushes one into right for a single.

0-1 on Prado on a nasty curveball from Gregg. Slider knocked down from Soto, 1-1. Prado now takes a hanger on a tee, mad at himself for not swinging. Now he grounds out to Fontenot, Cubs win!

The Cubs' offense died after the 2nd inning, but getting 4 runs off Jair Jurrjens was something I never expected to happen. Derrek Lee had another big day, with a 2-run bomb off Jurrjens and a double.

Randy Wells was superb again, he improves to 4-3 with a 2.48 ERA. Kevin Gregg is also 15 of 18 now in save chances with a 3.52 ERA.


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