Cubs defeat Peavy, Padres 6-2 to start homestand

The Cubs got off to a good start on their six game homestand vs the lowly San Diego Padres. Rich Harden gave the Cubs another strong outing: 6IP, 2ER, 4H, 5Ks to improve his record to 4-1. Harden has been the ace of this staff so far this season, he has been the rock in this rotation without Carlos Zambrano. Harden is off to a great start this season and his arm appears to be healthy, Harden could be the key for the Cubs post-season hopes this season. If he keeps pitching this well and stays healthy, he should win a lot of games for the Cubs.

The Cubs were able to score six runs off of Future-Cub, Jake Peavy. Peavy was cruising along until the 5th inning when Alfonso Soriano hit an RBI double to score Geovany Soto (who was actually on base!). In the bottom of the 6th, Milton Bradley hit a very long 2R-HR to straight away center field, clearing the bottom part of the center field bleachers. This was after he was booed in the 4th inning. Bradley stuck it to all the clowns at Wrigley who thinks he sucks. I have been confident all along that he will hit eventually and the fans will love him when he does. Bradley is just too good of a hitter to stay in this slump to long. Bradley's HR put the Cubs ahead for good.

We added insurance runs in the 7th when pinch-hitter, Bobby Scales, hit his first Major League HR, good for you Bobby! This guy continues to produce: he is hitting .429! I ask Lou Piniella this question: How in the world can you continue to play that loser Aaron Miles, who is hitting .208 every day? The guy flat out can not hit. Lou continues to play Miles despite having a hungry lefty who can actually hit, sitting on the bench. This just does not make any sense.

Soriano drove in another run in the 8th inning, he was 3 for 5 on the day with 2 2B and 2 RBI's. The last run we scored was when Micah Hoffpauir scored on a wild pitch, after reaching base on a pinch-hit single. Which brings me to my next question: Why wasn't Hoffpauir in the starting line-up? He played much better than Derrek Lee while Lee was injured, heck he even got base hits! Last night we faced a right-handed pitcher in Peavy, so why would Lou not play the lefty, especially since Lou is obsessed with lefties! By the way Peavy dominated Lee who was 0-3 BB, 3K's and was one strikeout away from the "Golden Sombrero" (going 0-4 with 4Ks). I'm really not sure what Lee was doing in the line-up last night. Maybe it was to get him back on track, but what track are we talking about here? The guy is hitting a woeful .202 and has an equally bad .280 OBP. These numbers are unacceptable for our #3 hitter. The only regular on the Cubs with a lower OBP is Miles, who sucks. By comparison Bradley is at .329 and Soto is at .305, despite both of them having a batting average under .200 most of the season, they at least draw walks. Lee is striking out way too much. He should not have been in the line-up last night and his numbers reflect this. I'm still waiting for the Cubs brain-trust to figure out he does not belong in the starting line-up. If you look really close at the stats Hoffpauir has equalled Lee this season in all important categories in 30 less at-bats and is hitting more than 100 points higher. The Padres starter tonight is Chris Young, maybe he can bean Lee again, and these two can fight again. That seemed to light a spark under Lee a couple of years ago and at the very least he could be suspended for a few games.

In other news, the Cubs bullpen was effective, with Aaron Heilman, Carlos Marmol, and Kevin Gregg combining for three scoreless innings to finish the game. This was good to see, especially after Heilman's efforts last weekend in Milwaukee. Ted Lilly starts for the Cubs tonight for the Cubs.