For this team to win, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have to find a way to produce with the bat.

It's not that the team won't score every once in a while without them. Clearly, we have some good hitters elsewhere on the roster. But when Lee and A-Ram are out, that means Xavier Nady and Chad Tracy are in on the corners.

Tracy's bad throw allowed Rickie Weeks to score on the botched rundown, and Nady's high throw into the stands allowed Carlos Gomez to score on the final play of the game.

Ryan Dempster wasn't very good either. Again, a Cub starter walked five Brewers yesterday. Also, Tom Gorzelanny sucks at pitching from out of the bullpen.

Nine walks, three unearned runs, really makes you proud to be a Cubs fan doesn't it!

Laaaaame.

Ryan Dempster (4-5, 3.76) vs. Dave Bush (1-5, 4.97)

Overview
Well, it was nice to see an offensive outburts last night.  Luckily it was the nationally televised game for documentation purposes, because I am pretty sure that no one in Chicago was actually watching that game.  The big story for the day is that the Cubs are marching out the bench, which means wonderfully quirky lineups that include Chad Tracy as a cleanup hitter.  No, I don't get it either.  But hey, we won last night, so for now, Lou is a genius again.

Cubs look to get back on track and get a series win while picking up ground on the recently-swept Cardinals.  With Dave Bush on the rubber, that is a strong possibilty.

Who's Hot
Byrd and Soto:  Both went yard twice last night and the Cubs had a total of 5 HR.  Byrd has been particularly hot and is hitting .481 on the month.

Who's Not
Ryan Theriot's ability to get on base-  He just bugs me.  He swings in situations he shouldn't, he just recently figured out what a walk is, and has averaged 1 extra base hit in the past two months.

Conclusion
Home Run Derby.  Preferably one sided and only including Cubs hitters.

Props to the bats in last night's game. The Cubs can actually hit -- who knew!

In particular, Marlon Byrd and Geovany Soto can hit. Each had two home runs. Derrek Lee added one of his own to give the Cubs five taters against Brewers starter Randy Wolf.

Geovany Soto is now hitting .269/.406/.463 on the season, with seven home runs. He's within striking distance of the .285/.364/.504 he hit in 2008.

Marlon Byrd is leading the NL in batting average, and has 21 doubles and nine home runs. And 34 RBI. And four steals. Very nice, Marlon.

And Derrek Lee's home run last night was a big one -- the 300th of his career. Bravo to that guy. Here's to his continuing to figure out how to get going again this season.

Carlos "The Starter" Zambrano got the win last night, giving up just two hits over five innings. Except actually, he wasn't very dominant: five walks, a HBP, and just two strikeouts. And one of the two hits he gave up was a two-run double to Randy Wolf. Oh well, it was good enough.

Kudos to Andrew Cashner for posting two shut down innings in relief. It's feeling like this team FINALLY has the last three innings of the ball game covered with Cashner, Marshall, and Marmol (all 100% Chicago Cubs products, I might add).

So, yeah: Hooray!

Carlos Zambrano (1-4, 6.14 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (4-5, 4.66 ERA)

Overview
Well, that sucked.  Ted Lilly once again got screwed from a win, this time by someone other than himself.  The Cubs look to even the series up tonight with Big Z, a man very familiar with the comforts of Miller Park.  Including his no-hitter, which wasn't against the Brewers, Z is 4-0 with a 1.96 ERA in his last five starts at Miller Park.  Z faced the Brewers at Wrigley on April 15 and gave up four runs in five innings.  I expect a much more consistent (oxymoron?!) Z tonight than the one we saw in April, or even his last start, for that matter.

As I stated in my Series Preview, Wolf is one of those guys that seems to give us trouble.  Luckily, he's had the affinity to help other teams "clog the bases" this season.  If the Cubs can show a little patience, I think they can see their bats awaken for a few crooked numbers tonight.

Who's Hot
Lou Piniella- This is more a hope than anything.  I'd like to see him light a fire under someone.  Anyone.  I'm kind of tired of his lack of fire and inability to speak cohesively in a press conference.

Who's Cold
The Cubs-  Dropped 6 of the last 8.  Hard to point at one particular person when they whole team is sort of letting you down.

Conclusion
Polish will win the sausage race.  Also, the Cubs will win.

As a former resident of Milwaukee, I came to really enjoy when the Cubs play the Brewers (or at play in Miller Park).  Brewers fans are like a more naive version of Cubs fans with even shorter fuses and tolerence for their players (See: Corey Hart, Mat Gamel, JJ Hardy, anyone that's ever pitched there not named CC Sabbathia).  At 5-1 on the season against the Brewers so far, apparently the Cubs really like playing Milwaukee as well.

The Brewers have been struggling a lot this year, even when compared to our ballclub.  Outside of their ace, Gallardo, the pitching staff lacks an identity.  The team just dumped Jeff Suppan (about 2 years too late...).  The bullpen is even worse, with future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman unable to nail a game down they Crew has turned their hopes to journeyman John Axford to close out games.  The Cubs hope to continue these woes and get themselves back on track as well.

The Matchups

Tuesday, June 8, 2010: Ted Lilly (1-5, 3.61) vs. Yovani Gallardo (6-2, 2.64)
Whenever I think of Yovani Gallardo, all I can think of is the billboard of him near my old place telling me in Spanish to get my swine flu vaccination.  He may not have swine flu, but he is pitching like he's got something lately.  Over his last 10 starts, Gallardo has gone 6-0 with a 1.86 ERA.  Much of this success can be attributed to the fact he is walking fewer batters and staying in the zone.  Gallardo really is an "ace" with good stuff so long as he can control it.  The best way to get at him is by forcing him to come out of the stretch with men on base and by working the count in order to get his pitch count up (and hopefully, him out of the game earlier)

Lilly has been pretty good lately as well, producing five straight quality starts.  His last outing against the Pirates seemed to be smooth sailing until he was bit by a Neil Walker home run in the eighth inning and handed the loss.  Regardless, Lilly has looked better and better in each successive start.  I expect to see more of the same out of him in Milwaukee.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010: Carlos Zambrano (1-4, 6.14) vs. Randy Wolf (4-5, 4.66)
The Wolf Pack has really been off his game this season.  Most of the struggles he has stems from the fact that his walk rate is much higher this year.  Despite only issuing 1.7 free passes a game last year, he has walked at least four batters in three of his last four starts.  While most teams would see a pitcher like Wolf and pounce on the opportunity to face him at this juncture, the crafty lefty is one of those guys that always seems to give Cubs hitters fits.  Hopefully Jaramillo preaches patience Wednesday night.

Big Z likes to pitch in Milwaukee.  Hopefully he can continue his success in the ballpark in his second start since coming out of his bullpen role.  I personally think there are going to be some growing pains, just as there were with Lilly coming back, but that Z will get a little bit better each start.  I guess we will see if my prediction is correct on Wednesday.

Thursday, June 10, 2010: Ryan Dempster (4-5, 3.76) vs. Dave Bush (1-5, 4.97)
Dave Bush makes me smile when I see him as a probable.  He was taken out of the rotation last week, and then put back in it this week after the Suppan DFA.  When I think of Bush, I think of the home run ball.  I think someone is going to win $1000 from the back to back jacks game on Thursday.  Just a prediction.

Dempster is coming off a quality start and some actual run support that finally let him get a W.  It seems that the home run ball is also back to being relevant for Ryan, so it will be key for him to avoid walks during the game.  Honestly, this game has the makings of a home run derby 10-9 type game.

Conclusion
I think the Cubs take 2/3.  I like our pitching over theirs, and their pitching is "good" enough to let us run into a few runs.

Buy Chicago sports tickets for road games and at Wrigley Field at Coast to Coast Tickets!

Randy Wells (1-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Dave Bush (1-0, 2.41 ERA)

Overview

How about that? The Cubs found a way to score some more runs and Ted Lilly tossed six scoreless innings to give the Cubs back-to-back wins. Now the Cubs have a chance to sweep the Brewers once again, which didn't happen a week ago.

Last night the offense was once again powered by Marlon Byrd, who picked up three more hits. Soto picked up two more and even Aramis Ramirez got into the action with a bloop RBI single.

The Cubs are looking better and even the bullpen was effectively wild last night. John Grabow had a chance to blow up, but managed a way out of it with the help of Carlos Zambrano.

What was really nice was the top of the 8th inning when the Cubs tacked on three extra runs, including Big Z's Sac-Fly. On the mound, Z did give up a run but got the job done as the Cubs held on to the 5-1.

Randy Wells looks for his second win of the year, after being denied against New York on Tuesday.

Who's Hot
Marlon Byrd - He's only hitting .338 on the season so far with 14 RBI.

Who's Not
Derrek Lee - He's only 3 for 24 in his last seven days. It might be a nice day to give Lee a day off.

Conclusions

The Cubs are starting to play better and hopefully are bout to run off like 7 in a row. Enjoy this great Sunday and go Cubs.

Ted Lilly (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Doug Davis (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

Overview

The Cubs are 7-10 after last night's win, which isn't good. The way the starters have thrown it should be much better, but we all know that. Today marks the return of Ted Roosevelt Lilly and the Carlos Zambrano bullpen tour begins, probably.

It was a curious choice to move Big Z to the pen, but the way the starters have thrown it makes a little sense. I figure it is a short term move that ends up with somebody getting traded from the rotation.

The Cubs actually looked good last night when they were pounding out clutch hits as they went to an 8-1 victory.

Tonight the Cubs face another lefty, so the lineup should look a little different. We will probably see Alfonso Soriano and Xavier Nady in the outfield with Aramis Ramirez and Jeff Baker making returns to the infield.

The Cubs beat Davis last week in the home opener with a similar lineup.

Who's Hot

Marlon Byrd - This guy is raking at the plate. In his last seven games, Bryd has 13 hits and a .433 average. He's on fire.

Ryan Dempster - It's odd to see how Jim Hendry makes some deals, but the Dempster one has worked. Dempster has 26 K's in 27 2/3 innings.

Who's Not

Jeff Baker and Aramis Ramirez - these guys could hit a little bit more to say the least. I've never seen Ramirez struggle this much, and hopefully it will end tonight against Davis.

Conclusions

The Cubs could use a winning streak and it might as well get going in Milwaukee.

We got a pretty good overview of what happened in last night's game from Wait Til This Year's entry: Demp was strong, offense was on, game wasn't close, Cubs win.

Instead of highlighting the box score, I wanna talk a little strategy.

Ryan Dempster pitched 7.2 innings last night, and I'm raising my eyebrow at the .2 part of that number. Demp had thrown 96 pitches over seven quality innings at that point, which I guess isn't really a whole lot. But after a few more Brewers came to the plate, all of a sudden we had two runners on and just one out, which motivated Lou to bring out Carlos Marmol for another four-out non-save.

Admittedly, the game wasn't close. Even if the runners Marmol inherited scored, the Cubs would have a comfortable lead. And with Braun and Fielder already on base, there weren't many real threats in the Milwaukee line-up left.

But for the sake of whining, I'm going to argue with Lou's approach on principle. This is what he did the last time Dempster started, and the team ended up losing -- and I attributed the loss to Marmol having to get four outs, and Marshall having to pitch the tenth inning instead of the eighth. Even last night, Marmol's ninth inning performance wasn't his sharpest ever.

In close games, I hope to see Cubs relievers getting a shot at their own innings, instead of having to clean up after starters left in too long by a crazy old guy manager.

Anyways, Cubs win. Super!

Three of the Cubs' seven victories in 2010 have come over the Brewers. But there's no need to feel bad about that; after all, Milwaukee is a divisional foe and you have to win games in your division in order to have a good season.

Ryan Dempster had his fourth strong start of the season (out of four), going 7.2 innings for the second straight start. He has left all of his starts with the lead, though he only has two wins to show for his efforts. (Hopefully Carlos Zambrano was able to get a good view of Dempster's efficient outing from his new perch in the bullpen. Speaking of Zambrano, Cubs fans saw a very unfamiliar sight when he warmed up in the bullpen in the eighth inning. No doubt it was a stimulating sight for some fans but a rather agitating one for others.)

The Cubs brought a balanced offensive attack to Miller Park--they've now scored at least six runs in all four of their games against the Brewers this season; they've only scored that many in two others games this year! Every starter had at least one hit, and Dempster joined the party with two sacrifice bunts. Chad Tracy was just barely able to make his first start of the season before Ted Lilly did, and he had a single and played very well defensively at third. Also, Tyler Colvin hit a ball 10,000 feet.

This is the second time the Cubs have roughed up Jeff Suppan in less than two weeks, and they'll have the chance to do the same to lefty Doug Davis tomorrow (he was touched up for six runs in just 3.1 innings in the Cubs home opener). Soriano, Soto and Ramirez should all be fresh after having a day off on Friday.

Perhaps the Cubs benefited from the favorable road crowd--a good friend of mine attended Friday's game and said it was at least a 50/50 split in terms of Cubs/Brewers fans in attendance, and he said it felt like 75/25 in Chicago's favor as the Cubs fans were able to cheer unabated given that the team scored early and dominated throughout. Hopefully Miller Park will be transformed into Wrigley North over the weekend as well.

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Ryan Dempster (1-0, 3.15 ERA) vs. Jeff Suppan (0-0, 7.20)

Overview

I knew this season probably wasn't a banner year, but I had hope that the Cubs might actually play some decent baseball for a few months.

Well, after a few weeks it sure looks like that is not going to happen. The Cubs have found a way to lose every series so far except against the Brewers.

The offense has hit, but it has failed to score runs and find a way to come through in the clutch.

On the other hand, the starters have looked great. There really isn't much to say right now that already hasn't been said, so we can see what can happen in the next week or so.

Who's Hot

Teams playing the Cubs - The Mets were regarded as a team that was going to struggle this year. Well, soembody forgot to tell them this week as they took 3 of 4 from the Cubs.

Who's Not

Aramis Ramirez - He had a chance last night to make up for some early season struggles, but it didn't happen. I know one thing for sure: he probably will not opt out of his deal this time.

Conclusions

The Cubs and Brewers usually have fun a series. I just hope Ryan Braun doesn't make us look silly with six HR in the series (or tonight).