If anyone was wondering how well the Cubs stack up next to top-notch competition, their questions were answered this weekend.

Chicago completed an impressive 3 game sweep of Arizona (who had baseball’s best record entering today’s action) on Sunday afternoon, scoring 4 runs in their final two at-bats to win 6-4.

The dream matchup of Randy Johnson against Carlos Zambrano never materialized thanks to bad weather, which delayed the start of the game for 58 minutes.

The rain delay gave Sean Gallagher a chance to start the 1st game of his brief 2 year career, as he was opposed against Arizona’s Edgar Gonzalez. Gonzalez made his 1st start since April 29th, when he got pulled in 2+ innings after allowing 8 hits & 6 runs against Houston.

Gallagher’s 1st walk produced Arizona’s 1st run of the game, as he allowed a 2-out base on balls to Chris Young in the 1st inning.

Conor Jackson followed with an RBI triple to make it 1-o Diamondbacks in the top of the 1st inning, but Mark DeRosa nearly gunned Jackson down at 3rd base on a close play after a nice relay throw by Felix Pie.

The Cubs tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Gonzalez’s wild pitch allowed Mark DeRosa (who hit a 1-out single) to score from 3rd base.

Chicago took their 1st lead of the game on Derrek Lee’s 3rd inning solo homer (1oth of season) to make it 2-1.

Sean Gallagher got into big trouble in the top of the 5th inning after allowing a lead-off double to Miguel Montero.

After Gonzalez was able to lay down a sac bunt, Gallagher gave up an RBI single to Augie Ojeda which tied the game 2-2.

Eric Byrnes immediately followed with a double, which put runners at 2nd & 3rd with only 1 out.

Gallagher then intentionally walked Chris Young to load the bases, which ended his afternoon & brought in reliever Chad Fox.

Fox surrended back-to-back bases loaded walks to Conor Jackson & Justin Upton, which forced in 2 runs & gave Arizona a 4-2 lead.

It would remain a 4-2 game until the bottom of the 7th inning, when Mike Fontenot delivered a 1-out walk off Diamondbacks reliever & former Cub Juan Cruz.

Reed Johnson then delivered his biggest hit of the 2008 season, a game-tying 2-run homer (1st of season) to tie the game 4-4.

The Cubs started another rally against Diamondbacks reliever Tony Pena in the bottom of the 8th inning after Aramis Ramirez hit a lead-off single.

After Ramirez stole 2nd base, Kosuke Fukudome laid down a perfect bunt single which also advanced Ramirez to 3rd base.

2 batters later, Alfonso Soriano came up to bat as a pinch-hitter, but was intentionally walked for Daryle Ward.

Ward then delivered his biggest hit to date of the 2008 season with a go-ahead 2-run double, which scored both Ramirez & Fukudome, giving the Cubs a 6-4 lead.

Kerry Wood made things interesting by hitting Justin Salazar with 1 out in the top of the 9th inning which brought Augie Ojeda to the plate as the game-tying run.

However, Wood got Ojeda to hit into a game-ending doubleplay for his 7th save of the season & closed out a fantastic 3-game weekend sweep.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) gets his 1st win after pitching a scoreless 8th inning.

Tony Pena (0-1) takes the loss for Arizona after allowing Ward’s game-inning 2-run double in the 8th inning.

The Cubs will now shoot for their 4th straight win tomorrow evening at 7:05 pm CST, as they welcome the San Diego Padres to town for a 4 game series.

San Diego currently sports baseball’s worst record at 14-24 & is tied for the major league lead with 14 road losses.

Just in case you were wondering, the Cubs will not see Chris Young during this 4-game series. Derrek Lee brawled with Young on June 16th, 2007 after the two had words as Lee was walking to 1st base after being hit by a pitch.

Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano (5-1, 1.93) will get the start on Monday, as he will be opposed by Padres southpaw Randy Wolf (2-2, 4.14).

Zambrano’s last start against San Diego was mostly a memorable one, as he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning on June 16th before giving up a solo homer to Russell Branyan in the 9th for the game’s only run.

Zambrano has not beaten the Padres since June 5th, 2005.

Wolf has not beaten the Cubs since July 23, 2003. (Wolf was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies)

One final thing before i sign off, i was at today’s game & saw the fan that was on the field during the 7th inning. I didn’t see when he jumped from the bleachers, but he was running in place until security got to him.

One of the security guards tackled him from the waist up which brought loud cheers from the crowd as he was being escorted out of Wrigley Field in handcuffs. All that i can tell you is that this unknown male had a white hooded sweatshirt on & will most likely regret his stupid decision which will most likely prevent him from ever attending another Cubs home game in person.

Signing off for now,