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Thursday, March 28

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Cubs Wed Jul 21 2010

Cubs Ramirez Slugs His Way to Cubs 14-7 Win

If there was any doubt if Aramis Ramirez was completely healthy he most certainly put the critics to rest tonight. Ramirez for the first time since 2004 hit three home runs in one game. The Cubs trailed six to nothing at one point before Aramis Ramirez and company turned this one into a laugher.

Ramirez began his offensive onslaught in the fourth inning with a solo homer off Astros starter Wesley Wright. He would hit a three-run homer in the fifth and he wasn't done there. That brought the Cubs with one run of the lead. Geovany Soto would hit a solo home run to tie it seven all.

They would grab the lead for good in the seventh after Starlin Castro hit a one-out double and would eventually score on a Derrek Lee double. Alfonso Soriano hit a single in that same inning to drive in Lee and Ramirez would put game out of reach in the eighth after he hit his second three-run homer of the evening. Cubs reliever Andrew Cashner earned his first major league win in relief.

Ramirez's last three homer game came on September 14, 2004 against the Reds in Cincinnati. When it was all said and done Ramirez had seven RBI, which matched a career high.
He has been hitting the cover off the ball sporting a .383 average in the month of July. That includes five doubles, a triple, nine homers and 24 RBIs.

With his performance he took the spotlight somewhat off of Lou Piniella who announced at the end of the season he is retiring. With his announcement comes the task of finding a new manager. Several names have been thrown out there from Ryne Sandberg to Bob Brenly to current Yankee manager Joe Girardi. Whoever it is they will have a tall order in front of them. Bringing a franchise a World Series winner is most certainly not going to be easy, but then again if it was easy it wouldn't be the Cubs. Wouldn't it be nice if somehow they pulled it together and won it all as one last hoorah for Piniella?

Back to the game though this is what the Cubs should've been doing to the Pittsburgh's and Houston's of the world. Flexing their offensive muscle and scoring at will. Perhaps if Aramis Ramirez was healthier earlier on the Cubs wouldn't have to be fighting so hard to get back into contention. Either way they just need to keep winning series and playing good baseball. They've been averaging about six runs per game since they returned from the All-Star break. They wrap up this series tomorrow afternoon with Houston then they welcome their favorite team in the whole world the St. Louis Cardinals into town Friday for a weekend series.

Ted Lilly (3-8, ERA 4.07) who has been the subject of trade rumors will take on Houston's Brett Meyers (7-6 ERA 3.35 ). Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on WGN TV and heard on WGN Radio 720 AM.

 
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