Cubs Sweep Sox—Champions of Chicago

The Chicago Cubs left little doubt who the winner of the Crosstown Classic was this weekend after finishing off a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox Sunday night. 

Coming into the series, the clubs were heading in opposite directions.  The Sox had just destroyed the Pittsburgh Pirates, scoring 37 runs in a three-game series sweep. 

Meanwhile, the Cubs were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, and suffered their first three-game losing streak of the year, and more importantly, were waiting for MRI results for ace pitcher Carlos Zambrano.  Luckily Zambrano just has a mild shoulder strain and will miss just a couple of starts.

The series opener on Friday was the best and most exciting game of the series.  In the seventh inning, the Cubs were trailing 3-1 and Sox manager Ozzie Guillen curiously pulled starter John Danks, who had shut down the Cubs throughout the game. 

Octavio Dotel came in to the game and surrendered back-to-back home runs to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez (the first two batters he faced) to tie the game.  Ramirez saved his biggest hit for the ninth inning, when he launched a game-winning, walk-off home run off of Scott Linebrink. 

It appeared that the second game of the series might get away from the Cubs when they were trailing 4-1 in the fourth inning and not getting very good swings off of Jose Contreras. 

I’m not sure what happened in the fourth inning, but when the smoke had cleared, the Cubs had taken a 10-4 lead. 

The bottom of the fourth started off with back-to-back home runs from Mike Fontenot and Jim Edmonds, and Aramis Ramirez would join the party also, by hitting a three-run shot to left. 

Edmonds was the real story however, as he become just the third Cub in franchise history to hit two home runs in the same inning, by hitting another solo shot, the final run the Cubs scored in the nine-run fourth. 

The final score was 11-7 after the Sox tacked on a couple of late runs, and the Cubs had won their 13th straight at home, while Jason Marquis won his sixth game of the year.

The Sunday night game was a showcase for Ryan Dempster, who has emerged as the Cubs' most consistent pitcher so far this year. 

The Cubs jumped early on the Sox by scoring twice in the first, and that would be all that Dempster would need.  He went eight strong innings and was really helped out by three early double play balls that the White Sox hit into. 

The offense was again led by Aramis Ramirez, who hit his fourth home run of the series, and I’m sure the White Sox will be happy to not see him again until Friday when the teams meet on the South side. 

Eric Patterson also had a strong series and hit his first major league home run off of Javier Vazquez. 

Cub manager Lou Piniella tried to get Dempster his second complete game of the year, but after the first two hitters reached in the ninth for the Sox, the Cubs went to Bob Howry, who quickly got the next three out, and the Cubs finished off the sweep winning 7-1.

There was a lot of excitement going into the series at Wrigley this weekend, and all of the Cub fans are really excited to see how the team rebounded after getting swept in Tampa. 

The Cubs have now won 14 in a row at home and have baseball’s best home record (32-8) and best record overall (48-28).  There is still plenty of baseball to be played this year, but it’s great to finally see the Cubs playing great at home. 

The Orioles visit Wrigley on Tuesday for a three-game set, and then it’s off to the South side to face the Sox again.