The Chicago Cubs defeated the Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday afternoon from Wrigley Field thanks to some solid pitching & a couple of long balls.

The Cubs immediately flashed some great defense when Alfonso Soriano caught Carlos Lee’s fly ball in left field & fired a 1 bounce hop to Henry Blanco at home plate to nail Michael Bourn in the top of the 1st inning, who started off the game with a single to right field. That play would end up paying huge dividends as you’ll see later.

Chicago got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd inning on Carlos Zambrano’s sacrifice groundout, which scored Mark DeRosa to make it 1-0 Cubs.

Houston tied it in the top of the 3rd inning on Darrin Erstad’s RBI single. Brandon Backe hit a leadoff double to left field that Kosume Fukudome misplayed, allowing Backe to reach 2nd base.

Fukudome also displayed his rocket arm in right field, as he fired a ball quickly back to the infield which held Brandon Backe momentarily at 3rd base after catching Hunter Pence’s fly ball.

It remained 1-1 until the bottom of the 5th inning, when Alfonso Soriano connected for his 1st homer of the season off Brandon Backe. Soriano is in a 2 for 26 slump (.077) to start the season, but both of his hits have produced 2 of his 3 RBI’s.

Houston would again tie the game in the top of the 7th inning on Miguel Tejada’s solo homer (1st of season) off Carlos Zambrano.

The Cubs would take the lead for good on Derrek Lee’s mammoth solo homer to left center off Astros reliever Oscar Villarreal for Chicago’s 3rd & final run of the game.

With a 1 run lead in the 8th inning, Cubs skipper Lou Piniella went to Carlos Marmol over a struggling Bob Howry (16.88 ERA in 3 apperances, opposing batters are hitting .571 against him).

The move worked, as Marmol got Astros pinch-hitter Jose Cruz Jr. to fly out to Kosuke Fukudome in right field & then got back-to-back strikeouts against Michael Bourn & Hunter Pence.

For the 2nd consecutive day, Kerry Wood worked a perfect 9th inning for his 3rd save of the season.

The Cubs win their 1st series of the season & finish their 6 game homestand at 3-3.

Carlos Zambrano is the winning pitcher (1-0), as Zambrano pitched 7 innings & allowed 7 hits, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts & no walks.

Oscar Villarreal takes the loss (0-1) for Houston, as he served up the go-ahead homer to Derrek Lee in the 7th inning.

The Cubs will now travel to Pittsburgh & hope to play spoiler in the Pirates’ home opener tomorrow afternoon at PNC Park. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 PM CST.

It will be a battle of lefties on the mound, as the Cubs’ Ted Lilly (0-1, 7.71 ERA) will start against the Pirates’ Tom Gorzelanny (0-1, 4.50). This will be the first left-handed starter that the Cubs will face this season & should provide an early test on whether or not Lou Piniella’s team can succesfully hit southpaws.

Lilly beat the Pirates in his last PNC Park appearance on July 7th, 2007 as he pitched over 7 innings & allowed 8 hits, 1 run, walked one & struck out six. (Cubs won 7-1)

Gorzelanny beat the Cubs in his last apperance against them at PNC Park on September 7th, 2007 as he pitched 7 innings & allowed 6 hits, 1 run, walked two & struck out three. (Pirates won 6-1)

Signing off for now,