Stan Olson’s Blog

Well I’m not sure what is worse: being 30 games under .500 last year or spending 300 million in the off-season and then get swept in the first round of the playoffs. A very frustrating end to a crazy season, that’s all I know. Time to start chanting those famous words yet again… “Maybe Next Year” Ugh… If the Cubs make the playoffs next year, they better cancel all celebrations until they manage to win a playoff series. I doubt the Brewers and Cardinals will suck as bad as they did this year, so the Cubs will need to improve their offensive consistency if they plan on having any chances at the post-season next year. Jeesh, I’m talking about next year already.

Full story from Cubs.com

Down 5-2 in the bottom of the 9th, I figured the game was pretty much over for the NL. Then I realized that Tony LaRussa had left Derrick Lee and Alfonso Soriano in the game. With one man on, Soriano ripped a homerun to right field to cut the deficit to one. The next batter walked and that gave Derrick Lee a chance to win it. With a 3-2 count, Lee was able to check his swing just enough for ball 4. The NL had one guy left on the bench and it was Tony LaRussa’s own Albert Pujols. I figured this would be the spot to bring him in, but he decided not to do it. The guy popped out and that was the game. Major props to Soriano and Lee for representing the Cubs in a positive way and showing all of baseball that they can play. If only Ramirez would have made the team, he could have hit the dramatic game winning walk off home run. :-) What a way to segway into the 2nd half of the season! GO CUBS!!!

After getting beat down on Saturday, the Cubs managed to win the series on Sunday with a 5-1 victory over the Brewers. We finally got a good outing by our starting pitcher (Marquis) who went 7 innings only giving up 1 run and 4 hits. Cubs are now back to .500 with a 40-40 record. The Cubs travel to Washington DC to play the Nationals on Monday and will spend July 4th in the capital city. Go Cubs!

Game summary from Cubs.com

I’ll admit it, after Hill gave up 5 runs in the 1st inning I figured we were doomed. The Cubs fought back though and had it 5-3 in the bottom of the 9th. Lee hit a sacrifice fly to score Soriano and made it a 5-4 game. With 1 on base and 2 outs in the 9th, Ramirez hit a dramatic 2 run shot to give the Cubs the 6-5 victory! 7 wins in a row now, finally back to .500. This is a pretty amazing run and hopefully we can continue throughout the weekend. GO CUBS!! :)

Game summary from Cubs.com

Well the Cubs won their 6th game in a row today and completed their 2nd sweep in a row. Zambrano wasn’t too dominant but it was definitely enough to subdue the Rockies from mounting a serious charge. Hopefully this momentum continues as the Brewers come in to town this weekend for the most anticipated series of the year so far. This is where we will see which team has the stuff to get it done. The Cubs really need to win 2 out of 3 to have any chance at catching the red hot Brewers. It’s getting exciting though as the Cubs are just 1 game under .500 now.

Game summary from Cubs.com