Boxscore

The Cubs came back against the Marlins and Jason Marquis’ incompetency yesterday, to return to sole possession of first place before heading to Milwaukee.

Marquis de Suck lived up to his nickname, allowing 6 runs in 6 innings. However, the Cubs showed their first signs of offensive life in the last week or so when they dropped a 4-spot on the board in the 7th to take their first lead of the game. Mike Fontenot provided the bulk of that, with a pinch-hit 3-run double.

Newcomer Jeff Samardzija got his first career save, ably filling in for a disabled Kerry Wood.

Now the Cubs head to Milwaukee for a series I hope to catch a few games of. The Brewers are about the only team playing exciting baseball in the Central right now, and it would be nice to watch a baseball game that wasn’t over after the starters were announced (I’m looking at you, Josh Fogg).

Boxscore

Apparently, Joey Votto was sending a message to the Reds managerial staff last week when he hit a line drive off of Josh Fogg’s face that resulted in him missing a start. Fogg had recovered enough to put in his usual “pitching” yesterday, allowing 7 runs over 3 2/3 innings. Now that’s the way to make your former team miss you.

It’s also the Reds way of attempting to not be swept by a team worse than them.

There were no offensive highlights and no pitching ones, either, although Francisco Cordero pitched a scoreless inning. When the Reds started the Rockies series, there were pie-in-the-sky rumblings about how a sweep would get the Reds back to .500.

Hopefully, that pathetic showing will prompt owner Bob Castellini and GM Walt Jocketty to use the trading deadline to load up for the future. Of course, perhaps the best way to do that would be to fire Dusty Baker.

Boxscore

I thought the Cardinals had this one and that the Brewers would fall to 2 games back of Chicago thanks to the Cubs earlier win. But now, I underestimated the mediocrity of Ryan Franklin.

Having watched Franklin with the Reds, you would think I would have been prepared for the homer Ryan Braun launched off him in the 9th. I guess LaRussa’s bullpen voodoo magic is wearing off.

The win was the Brewers 8th in a row and gave them the sweep of the 4-game series against St. Louis. This is the longest winning streak this century for Milwaukee, the hottest team in the Majors right now. And with pitchers like Sheets and Sabathia in the rotation, it’d be hard not to look over your shoulder if you’re a Cubbie.

The Cardinals look a little tired. At least, the pitchers do. LaRussa wants a trade, but now would be a bad time to trade away the future. Bullpen help is needed, but the best solution might be a starting pitcher who can go more than 5 innings on a regular basis. With Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper, the Cardinals have to use their bullpen for 8 innings every 5 days. That’s rough. If they can address that, they might hang in the race.

Boxscore

The Pirates took no time at all jumping to a lead against one of baseball’s worst teams. I know! I thought the Pirates would be one of those too, but they’ve won 10 more games than the Padres.

Pittsburgh also took the time to show off their players who are leading the trade rumors. Both Jason Bay and Xavier Nady homered, contributing 1/3 of the Pirates’ run total. Sure, it was only against the Padres, but don’t let that dissuade you, potential suitors. These players could totally hit homers against good teams to lead you to the playoffs.

Totally.

The Pirates also got a good outing from Yoslan Herrera, who pitched 6 shutout innings, with 4 strikeouts. That effort halved Herrera’s ERA. That’s right. Before the game, his ERA was 19.50 and now stands at 9.75. Sigh. Poor Pirates.

Boxscore

Apparently, C.C. Sabathia is rockin’ it old school. He tossed his third straight complete game yesterday to defeat the Cardinals. It’s his 6th complete game of the year and his 3rd complete game shut-out.

Sabathia’s been scary good since coming to the Brewers, and this most recent complete game was his best outing yet, as it took him only 106 pitches to clinch the series win against the Cardinals. Milwaukee has now won 7 in a row and are only 1 game behind the Cubs. This is shaping up to be one excellent race.