No Aramis Ramirez? No problem. Fill-in third baseman Mark DeRosa had a game for the ages, hitting two homers and driving in six RBIs as Chicago beat the Giants 9-2.
Ted Lilly pitched a strong game, allowing two runs in eight innings. He outdueled Barry Zito, who allowed four earned runs in five innings and fell to 3-12. His ERA is 5.99. Ouch.
The Cubs needed a strong bounceback game. They were swept by the White Sox -- and only one of the three games was even close.
Aside from DeRosa, Matt Murton had two hits and Geovany Soto had two hits and three runs.
The Cubs are now two and a half games ahead of the Cardinals and five and a half ahead of the Brewers. Everyone keeps thinking the Cards will fall like a house of cards, but it hasn't happened yet.
The Cubs have a crucial series looming against the Cardinals in St. Louis.
Strange though it may seem, the Giants are not out of the NL West race. They're only six games behind Arizona, which is all of one game over .500.
Tuesday's game pits Jason Marquis vs. Matt Cain.
Carlos Zambrano is ready to pitch again. Ramirez will miss the next two games in San Francisco to deal with a personal matter in the Dominican Republic.
