The ARam and Maddog Show

Cubs 4 Astros 1

What a difference 24 hours makes..where has this Greg Maddux been all season. His past 2 starts have been AMAZING to watch, it is like we all went back in time when he was with the Braves and kept thinking he should be doing this with the Cubs, and now he is. One earned on 3 hits over 7, with a very low pitch count...WOW!! And look who called the game. The last time he pitched this well, the young guns got going again...continue to follow the leader boys.

O.K. it is official, I am now on the Kerry Wood for closer bandwagon. He looked like he wanted to be there. I really like Ryan Dempster, but Woody seems to have the hitters scared and guessing. He recorded 3 outs on 9 pitches and made those hitters look little leaguers.
UNBELIEVABLE!!

Ramirez came through with a 3 for 4 night. 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and a home run. Not only did he bring the lumber, he also brought the glove. Several great plays at third, including the game ending 5-4-3 double-play. ARam and DLee have to keep hitting in order for Cubs to have any chance at the post season. Nomar is starting to pick it up, what about hitting him second? He went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, while Lawton and Perez went 1 for 10 combined, without any runs scored. I really think Walker in the 5th spot would suit him a little better and might allow Lee to have runners on base in front of him...just a thought...

I also forgot last night to mention Matt Murton hit his first big league home run. And followed up tonight going 1 for 3 against Andy Pettitte. Message to Dusty, 'Keep playing this Kid'. Red has something special and he seems to always be on base. CPat did fine again tonight, couple of k's and one big mental error running the bases. Did anyone notice that Maddux and Patterson's batting average is very similar? Great game guys...

Wednesday - Carlos Zambrano(9-5/3.17) vs. Roy Oswalt(14-9/2.57)

Get this win and hopes are still alive. Oswalt is a number 1 pitcher on every other team in this league that does not have Roger Clemens on it. He always beats up on the Cubs, so Zambrano will have to have his A+ game tomorrow. A win of this series, against the team in the NL win the best home record, would be a huge lift going into the off day, before heading to Colorado. The Astros are starting to question their offense now. Biggio said before the game he was expecting yesterday's result after what the Pirates had just done to them over the weekend. He said it was today's game the was very important to them to keep the offense going. Well the Cubs staff just held them to 1 run on 4 hits...the doubts are there...the Cubs have to turn their doubts into reality. Time to return the favor from last year...and just win!!!