The Cubs had nine runs in a wild record-setting fourth inning to rip the Sox, 11-7.
Jim Edmonds had two homers, Mike Fontenot one and Aramis Ramirez had a three-run dong in the fourth, the team's biggest inning of the year.
The Cubs have won 13 in a row at Wrigley Field and are 31-8 at the friendly confines.
Kosuke Fukudome had two hits and an RBI, Eric Patterson three hits and and RBI, Derek Lee two hits and an RBI, Ramirez two hits and four RBIs and even starter Jason Marquis had a couple of hits. The Cubs had 15 hits.
The Cubs' pitching was nothing special. Marquis allowed five runs in seven innings, and Carlos Marmol walked three and allowed a run before settling down to get the Sox out. Bob Howry allowed three hits and a run, and Kerry Wood came in to get the last out. He's been great, but I still say the jury's out on the rest of the bullpen. We'll find out more later.
The White Sox must look at this game as one of missed chances. They had seven runs and 11 hits, but it was one of those Wrigley Field slugfests where you need every run you can get. They left seven on base.
The Cubs are a great home team. I still want to see them beat a quality opponent on the road before we start handing them the National League crown. They had trouble with the Rays -- though they were in all three games, with the first two one-run games.
And if you compare the Red Sox with the Cubs, you'd say their lineups are both excellent but Boston has more pitching. (Well, they have more pitching than everyone.) If you're looking ahead to the playoffs, do you make a deal if you're the Cubs? This is probably their best team since ... well, since a long time before I was born. They have a shot at winning the World Series, you have to say.
If you watched the Dodgers-Indians game on Fox on Saturday, you might think that C.C. Sabathia would be great in the National League. He hit a 440-foot homer all the way out of the bullpen. Why waste a guy who can hit like that in the American League?
The Indians are sinking fast and might be out of the AL Central race soon. You'd think they'll be ready to deal Sabathia, who will be gone next year. Would the Cubs make that deal?
For the White Sox, Jermaine Dye is just killing the ball. He hit another homer Saturday and had two hits overall. Carlos Quentin had three hits for the Sox, who have been pounding the ball lately.
Speaking of pounding, starter Jose Contreras took one Saturday, allowing nine runs in three and a third innings. Ouch.
The Cubs-White Sox tilt Sunday is the night game on ESPN, and it's Ryan Dempster vs. Javier Vazquez.
The latest on Carlos Zambrano is that he'll miss two starts. One more thing about Zambrano: He had White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen over for dinner. Both are from Venezuela.
The Cubs play at the White Sox next week. We'll find out even more about the two teams then.
