9 games left (up by one and a half on the Brewers)

My Chicago Cubs are going to give me a heart attack...

I thought the Pirates were only going to send two lefties against the North Siders but now I have found out they will pitch left handers in all three games in the final home series.

The Cubs are 1-0 in this series in an absolute slug fest as the final went 13-8. It was a hazy day at Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out and Jason Marquis (named as the pitcher in a tie breaker with the Brewers at home if it should occur) was absolutely 'rocked' giving up 7 earned runs on eight hits, pitching only 2 2/3 innings. The bullpen brigade of Ohman, Hart, Eyre, Marmol and Wood pitch the rest of the game into the eighth holding the Bucks scoreless and only giving up two hits combined. Dempster came in on the 9th and did give up a solo shot to Xavier Nady but the Cubs already did the damage hitting four homeruns with Aramis Ramirez hitting two of them with three men on base each time.

I was nervous because the Cubs go up big in the first (Soriano hits the first pitch out again for a lead off homerun) and Ramirez hits his first three run homerun of the day. The end of the first the Cubs are up 4-1, then go up 5-1 in the second on Isturiz's error allowing Derrek Lee to score. In the third inning Jason Marquis absolutely lost it (hadn't looked good all day) allowing the Pirates to score five before he was chased away. Ohman comes in and the first batter he faces bunts over the pitchers mound to allow their seventh run of the day. The Cubs answer in the bottom of the frame with two runs of their own tying the game at 7. Three innings have been played and 14 runs already have been scored.

The Cubs bullpen this year (yes, even with the late addition of Kerry Wood) has been stellar this year and really picked it up for the Cubs this year. That's why their in this National League race going up two games on the Brewers. The boys from Milwaukee have their work cut out for them as they face the Braves and Tim Hudson tonight which is no easy task.

The Cubs wrap up the game with a five run inning of their own in the bottom of the sixth as Aramis goes 'tape measure' deep (another 3-run homerun) and then Soto, the surprise rookie catcher with an arm, goes deep for his third of the year.

The Cubs still have their work out for them playing their last six game of the year on the road but their against the Florida Marlins (66-87) and then finish against the "Griffeyless" Reds (70-83) Their schedule favors them to do something but it seems as if the Cubs come up big against teams with winning records and then falter with teams with losing records. Only eight games left and the Cubs need to continue to take care of business.

I'm Clay Koenig and the Chicago Cubs have eight games left and lead the Brewers by 2.