If tonight’s game was any indication, then Carlos Zambrano proved that he’s ready for a dominating 2nd half of the Cubs’ 2008 season.

Zambrano gave up just 1 hit (which was a solo homer by Adam Dunn) to ruin his chances for a perfect game, but put in 8 strong innings while Kerry Wood got out of a 9th inning bases-loaded, 2-out jam to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday evening from Wrigley Field.

The Cubs had a chance to take an early lead in the bottom of the 1st inning after Kosuke Fukudome drew a 1-out walk off Reds starter Johnny Cueto.

Derrek Lee then drew a walk, which put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Aramis Ramirez.

Ramirez then hit into an inning-ending doubleplay to kill the scoring threat.

Carlos Zambrano made only 1 mistake for the entire game, which happened in the top of the 2nd inning. Carlos appeared to hang a slider at the middle of the plate, which Adam Dunn hammered for a solo homer (23rd of season, tied for 3rd in NL) to give the Reds a 1- 0 lead.

The Cubs were able to put together a rally in the bottom of the 2nd inning, which started with a lead-off double from Geovany Soto against Cueto.

2 batters later, Mark DeRosa reached 1st base safely on a ball that was booted into shallow left field by Reds shortstop Jeff Keppinger.

Geovany Soto was able to score on the play from 2nd base, which tied the game 1-1.

Chicago had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning after Ryan Theriot hit a lead-off single against Cueto.

Theriot then took 2nd base on a wild pitch from Cueto during Kosuke Fukudome’s at-bat, who struck out swinging.

Derrek Lee then flied out to Jay Bruce in right center for the 2nd out of the inning.

After Aramis Ramirez drew a 2-out walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd, Geovany Soto ended the scoring threat by grounding into a fielder’s choice.

The Cubs finally took the lead for good in the bottom of the 6th inning on Aramis Ramirez’s go-ahead solo homer (16th of season), which gave Chicago a 2-1 lead.

The Cubs then were able to widen their lead in the bottom of the 7th inning, which started with a Reed Johnson lead-off single against Cueto.

Carlos Zambrano then laid down a sac bunt & appeared to beat out Cueto’s throw at 1st base, but was called out by 1st base umpire Jim Joyce.

Ryan Theriot then grounded out to Cueto, but was able to advance Johnson to 3rd base on the play.

The Cubs were then able to make up for the blown call, as Kosuke Fukudome hit an RBI double to score Johnson from 3rd base & give Chicago a 3-1 lead.

Derrek Lee then followed with an RBI single, which scored Fukudome from 2nd base & gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead.

David Weather then entered the game from Cincinnati’s bullpen & gave up an RBI double to Aramis Ramirez, which scored Lee from 1st base & gave Chicago a 5-1 lead.

Geovany Soto then reached 1st base safely on an error from Edwin Encarnacion at 3rd base & Jim Edmonds drew a walk to load the bases for Mark DeRosa, who popped out to Brandon Phillips in shallow center field to end the inning.

The Reds made a final scoring threat in the top of the 9th inning after Jay Bruce hit a 2-out single off Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol.

Marmol then gave up back-to-back walks to Jeff Keppinger & Ken Griffey Jr., which forced Cubs skipper Lou Piniella to turn to his All-Star closer to try & end the game.

Kerry Wood did just that, as he got Brandon Phillips to fly out to Derrek Lee in foul territory which earned Chicago their NL-leading 35th home win of the season.

Carlos Zambrano picks up the win (1o-3) for the Cubs in dominating fashion, as he allowed just 1 run on 1 hit over 8 innings pitched & walked none while striking out 5 batters.

After Dunn’s 2nd inning homer, Zambrano went on to retire the final 20 Reds batters that he faced. In his 2 starts since coming off the 15-day DL, Zambrano has given up just 1 run in 14 innings & is 2-0 during that timespan.

Johnny Cueto (7-9) takes the loss for the Reds after allowing 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Cueto was able to match Zambrano in a great pitcher’s duel until the 7th inning, when Fukudome’s RBI double & Lee’s RBI single knocked him out of the game.

Kerry Wood retired the only batter he faced (Phillips) in the 9th inning to pick up his 23rd save of the season.

The Cubs will now go for the 3-game sweep on Thursday afternoon at 1:20 PM cst from Wrigley Field, as southpaw Ted Lilly (9-5, 4.47) will be opposed by Reds righthander Bronson Arroyo (6-7, 5.82).

Chicago will be looking to win their 8th consecutive home game when Lilly starts, which dates back to April 22nd against the New York Mets.

Lilly is 1-2 in 6 career starts against Cincinnati with a 4.09 ERA & lost to the Reds on April 17th after allowing 5 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings pitched during the Cubs’ 9-2 loss.

Arroyo is 4-3 in 10 road starts this season with a 7.17 ERA & just finished a terrible month of June in which he went 1-3 in 6 starts with a 8.26 ERA.

Arroyo is 4-6 in 13 career starts against Chicago with a 3.13 ERA & will look to beat the Cubs for the first time since September 15th, 2006.

Don’t be surprised if Thursday’s game is a slugfest, as both Lilly (19 homers) & Arroyo (18 homers) rank among the NL’s top 10 pitchers in home runs allowed.

Lou Piniella did confirm after tonight’s game that Rich Harden will make his Cubs debut on Saturday afternoon against San Francisco.

Chad Gaudin was available tonight & did warm up during the bottom of the 8th inning, but Piniella decided to go with Carlos Marmol to start the top of the 9th.

Signing off for now,