Chicago Cubs Blast New York Mets 7-1

The MVP of Monday evening's New York Mets-Chicago Cubs game never even drove in a run.

Kosuke Fukudome's marathon at bat in the eighth inning that resulted in an opposite field single off of Mets' reliever Aaron Heilman wore the right-hander down enough to surrender a two-run single to light-hitting Ronny Cedeno to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead.

Heilman thought he had worked around the bases loaded, no out jam after getting Mark DeRosa to strikeout and Geovany Soto to pop up to second baseman Luis Castillo.

Things only got worse after Heilman was removed, as Jorge Sosa, another struggling Mets' reliever, surrendered a three-run homer to yougn Felix Pie, giving the outfielder his first Wrigley Field home run.

Fukudome produced a marathon at bat earlier in the game against Mets' starter John Maine, limiting the right-hander to six innings of work.  Maine labored the entire night, but kept is team in the game with his lone mistake being the two-run homerun he surrender to Aramis Ramirez.

Fukudome leads the majors in pitches per at bat (4.58 going into Monday evening's contest).  His Ichiro-like mechanics allow him to foul off outside pitches even though the left-hander's body weight shifts him towards first base.

There were few bright spots for the not-so-Amazin's other than Duaner Sanchez's scoreless seventh inning -- a positive sign for the right-hander who is attempting to regain his dominance from his last Major League campaign in 2006.

The Mets' best chance to do any damage came in the sixth inning when Endy Chavez hit a lead-off double against Cubs' ace Carlos Zambrano.  Maine then followed with a sacrafic bunt attempt that was fielded by Soto and thrown too late to third, leaving runners at the corners and nobody out for Jose Reyes.

Reyes, however, grounded into a double play allowing Chavez to score, but erasing the Mets' chances for a big rally.  Replays show that Reyes may have beaten the throw to first, but there was no argument from any of the Mets. 

Tuesday afternoon's action features a struggling Ted Lilly going for the Cubs and a resurgent Nelson Figueroa for the Mets.