Big Z Goes 6 Strong in Win

Final Score: Cubs 5, Seattle 3

Cubs Starting Lineup Hitting:
Soriano: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB
Miles: 0-3
Lee: 1-2
Bradley: 2-3
Ramirez: 1-3
Soto: 0-1, 2 BB, Run
Blanco: 1-4, RBI
Gathright: 0-3
Zambrano: 1-2, Run

Nobody had more than one hit today, but with help from 2 key 2-out RBI's from Soriano, the Cubs won the game.

Cubs Pitchers:
Zambrano: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 6 K
Marmol: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K
Guzman: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K
Wells: 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB

Big Z pitched great today! It's great to see that starters are going 5-6 innings now! Carlos Marmol pitched well, but needs to put up zeros to compete with Kevin Gregg, who still hasn't allowed a run all spring. Randy Wells has pitched well, but will probably be sent to minor league camp sometime this week. Every outing is very important for Angel Guzman who is out of options.

Cubs Off the Bench:

Taguchi: 0-1
Hoffpauir: 0-1
Fuld: 1-1, 2 Runs
Scales: 1-1, Run
Bako: 1-1, RBI
Fontenot: 0-1
R. Johnson: 0-1

A big day off the bench for a few guys who are fighting for spots on the roster. A guy I always wonder about is Sam Fuld. It seems like every year the Cubs don't have a spot for him and he always ends up back in AAA after Spring Training. Bobby Scales is an interesting guy who might get called up at some point in 2009.

Game Highlight: Cubs score 3 runs to take the lead in the 6th.

My Player of the Game: Zambrano for his 6 strong innings. He went 1-2 at the plate, but his average actually fell from .750 to .667.

Up Next: Cubs VS OAK today at 3:05 CT.

Other Cubs Notes:

• Mike Fontenot and Micah Hoffpauir will appear on an episode of "My Boys" on TBS. Shooting will take place tomorrow and Wednesday.
• Jeff Samardzija has made it clear that he wants to play in the big leagues, not head back to AAA.
• The Cubs are expected to make about 10 cuts tomorrow.
• Lou and Larry want to see how Marmol and Gregg do pitching in back-to-back games before they announce the closer.
• Geovany Soto might catch for Rich Harden in minor league camp on Wednesday so the two can get work in together.

I'll have a recap of today's game and hopefully a few radio recaps later.