Hello everyone! Back from Florida & ready once again to recap each game for our beloved Cubs!

After a struggling road trip which left the Cubs with 9 losses in their last 11 games, Chicago is quickly making a statement to the team with baseball’s best record & the team who ended the Cubs’ postseason run last October with a 7-2 win today over Arizona.

Chicago was mired into a baserunning gaffe in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Aramis Ramirez hit a lead-off double against Arizona starter Max Scherzer.

2 batters later, Geovany Soto hit an infield single which Augie Ojeda fielded at 2nd base. Ojeda then fired to home plate to easily nail down Aramis Ramirez, who appeared to hestitate after Soto’s grounder was hit.

The Cubs would end up scoring first in the bottom of the 3rd inning after Alfonso Soriano’s 1 -out single off Scherzer.

Theriot then hit a single to right field which was misplayed by Justin Upton in right field. This allowed Soriano to advance from 1st to 3rd, but Soriano aggressively tried to score on the play & did after Chris Snyder dropped the relay throw at home plate to make it 1-0 Cubs.

It remained 1-0 until the top of the 6th inning, when Cubs starter Ryan Dempster pitched himself into trouble.

After giving up back-to-back singles to Augie Ojeda & Stephen Drew, Dempster got Chris Young to pop out to shortstop for the 1st out of the inning.

Dempster then gave up back-to-back walks to Conor Jackson & Justin Upton, with Upton’s walk forcing in the game-tying run to tie it 1-1.

Arizona then took a 2-1 lead on Mark Reynolds’ RBI groundout to shortstop, scoring Stephen Drew from 3rd base.

Chicago would then erupt for a huge 7th inning against an Arizona team who entered today’s action with the 4th best ERA (3.54) in baseball.

After Mark DeRosa hit a lead-off single against Diamondbacks reliever Chad Qualls, Reed Johnson then laid down a sac bunt to advance DeRosa to 2nd base with just 1 out for pinch-hitter Daryle Ward.

Ward delivered his 1st hit of the 2008 season with an RBI single, scoring DeRosa from 2nd base which tied it 2-2.

After a wild pitch by Qualls that advanced pinch-runner Jason Marquis to 2nd base, Alfonso Soriano then delivered with an RBI double (Soriano finishes with 1st four-hit game of the season) to score Marquis from 2nd & give the Cubs a 3-2 lead.

Ryan Theriot immediately followed with a RBI single, which scored a hustling Soriano from 2nd base, who was able to beat out the tag from Snyder at home plate to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead.

2 batters later, Aramis Ramirez hit an RBI single off Diamondbacks reliever Brandon Medders, scoring Theriot from 2nd base (Theriot advanced to 2nd on Lee’s infield groundout) to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead.

Kosuke Fukudome finally capped off the big inning by hitting a 2-run homer (2nd of season & 1st since Opening Day), which broke the game open & gave Chicago a 7-2 lead.

That would end up being the final score as Scott Eyre (1-0) picks up the win in his 2008 regular season debut, pitching 1 scoreless inning out of the bullpen.

Chad Qualls (0-4) takes the loss for Arizona after serving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning which allowed Chicago to take the lead for good.

The Cubs can now go for the 3 game sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1:20 PM CST from Wrigley Field, as ace Carlos Zambrano (5-1, 1.80) will square off against Diamondbacks lefty Randy Johnson (2-1, 5.06).

Zambrano is a perfect 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 5 starts this season at Wrigley Field, but has not beaten the Diamondbacks since August 22nd, 2003.

Johnson has never lost to the Cubs (12-0) in 13 career starts & will face Chicago on Sunday for the 1st time since April 26th, 2004.

Signing off for now,