The previous 2 times that Kerry Wood blew a save this season, the Cubs came back to win both games.

They couldn’t duplicate that success on Thursday.

Milwaukee roughed up Wood for a three-run 9th inning, beating Chicago 4-3 at Wrigley Field & have now won 4 of the 6 head-to-head meetings of the 2008 season.

Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano helped his own cause today by hitting a solo homer in the bottom of the 3rd inning (1st of season) off Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo to give Chicago a 1-o lead.

It would remain 1-0 Cubs until the top of the 6th inning, when Ryan Bruan hit a solo homer (4th of season) off Zambrano to tie it 1-1. It remained tied thanks to a great defensive play by Kosuke Fukudome, who fielded a Bill Hall single & fired a 1-bounce strike to Geovany Soto at home to nail Prince Fielder, who collided with the Cubs’ rookie catcher but was still called out at the plate.

The Cubs re-took the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning, but may have also blown chances to score some extra insurance runs as well.

Ryan Theriot led off the inning with a single, but tried to advance to 3rd base on Derrek Lee’s infield grounder after Craig Counsell overthrew Rickie Weeks at 2nd base, causing the ball to go into short right center field.

Prince Fielder backed up the play & gunned down Theriot at 3rd base, while Lee alertly advanced to 2nd base.

3 batters later, Mark DeRosa hit a sac fly to centerfield which scored Lee from 3rd base & gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Geovany Soto then hit an RBI double which scored Aramis Ramirez (who drew a 1-out walk) from 2nd base, but Kosuke Fukudome was gunned down at the plate trying to score the Cubs’ 4th run of the game.

For the 2nd time in as many apperances this season against the Brewers, Kerry Wood would continue to struggle with his control.

Wood hit Craig Counsell with the 1st pitch that he threw to open the 9th inning before allowing a pinch-hit double by Gabe Kapler to put runners at 2nd & 3rd with nobody out.

Jason Kendall then hit an RBI infield single, making it a 3-2 Cub lead.

After Wood walked Rickie Weeks to load the bases, he got Mike Cameron to strike out swinging for the 1st out of the inning.

Ryan Braun then delivered the game’s biggest hit with a 2-run double that scored both Kendall & Kapler, which gave Wood his 3rd blown save of the season & Milwaukee a 4-3 lead. Rickie Weeks got gunned down at the plate while trying to score an insurance run for the Brewers.

Ronny Cedeno drew a lead-off walk from Brewers closer Eric Gagne to start the bottom of the 9th inning, but a Geovany Soto strikeout & Felix Pie doubleplay ended the rally & gave the Cubs their most frustrating loss to date of the 2008 season.

Brian Shouse (1-0) gets the win for Milwaukee after succesfully picking off Kosuke Fukudome at 1st base in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Kerry Wood (2-1) takes the loss & the blown save for Chicago after allowing 3 runs & 3 hits in the 9th inning, which allowed Milwaukee to take the lead for good.

The Cubs will now travel to Busch Stadium & face the rival St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-game series beginning tomorrow evening at 7:15 PM CST, as lefty Rich Hill (1-0, 3.79) will be opposed by Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright (3-1, 2.79).

Hill beat the Cardinals in his last start against them on August 17th, 2007 at Wrigley Field as he allowed just 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings pitched during the Cubs’ 2-1 win.

Wainwright has never beaten the Cubs in 4 career starts & has an ERA of 7.50 against them.

Signing off for now,