Chicago Cubs Complete Sweep of Cross-town Rival White Sox

Cubs fans must be loving life right now.  Their team has the best record in baseball right (48-28) and a 32-8 record at home.  Sunday night they notched their latest home win, 7-1 at Wrigley Field, over their crosstown rival, the White Sox, as they completed a sweep of the Sox.

The Cubs swept the White Sox in a series for the third time since Inter-league play originated in 1997.

Derrek Lee singled home Kosuke Fukudome and Eric Patterson on a high line drive through the middle in the first inning to open up an early two-run lead for the Cubs.  Patterson scored because Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera mishandled center-fielder DeWayne Wise's relay throw. 

Later, in the fourth inning, White Sox starter Javier Vazquez beaned Fukudome.  Patterson, the next batter, homered to right field.  After Lee struck out one batter later, third baseman Aramis Ramirez launched the ball into the left field stands, stretching the lead to five.

The Cubbies added one more run in the seventh and eighth innings. 

In the seventh, Lee drew a walk and scored on Ramirez's double to right field.

In the eighth, Patterson hit a single to the shortstop and scored on Lee's double to right field. 

The White Sox' only run came on third baseman Joe Crede's RBI single to center-field that scored right-fielder Jermaine Dye. 

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster (9-2, 2.63 ERA) pitched into the ninth and struck out four, registering the win. He also gave up ten hits and a walk but only one earned run.

Dempster has won nine in a row at home, the longest streak by a Cub since Jon Lieber won 11 consecutive contests in 2001.

White Sox starter Javier Vazquez (7-6, 4.24 ERA) threw six innings and fanned four in the loss.  Vazquez allowed five runs (4 ER) on five hits—two of which were big flies—and five walks. 

The Cubs' next series is against the Orioles, and it will start on Tuesday at 7:05 CST.  The probable starter for Baltimore is Jeremy Guthrie (3-7, 3.51 ERA) and for Chicago is Sean Marshall (0-0, 4.15 ERA).   

Sources: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080622&content_id=2986968&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc