Cubs 6, Marlins 3; Cue that music

And fly that flag. The Cubs got back to their winning ways at Wrigley last night - their first game there in nearly two weeks - beating the Florida Marlins 6-3. It was their second win in a row, and allowed them to continue to stay ahead of the surging Brewers, who got a late home run from Ryan Braun to beat the Cardinals 4-3.
Was there something in the air last night at Wrigley? Just about every pitcher labored through the game. And I do mean labored. Even Carlos Zambrano, who picked up his 11th win of the season, toiled through his seven innings of work. Falling behind hitters, plenty of foul balls, and just really extended himself overall. It was not his finest hour, and frankly I was a bit surprised when Lou Piniella chose to leave him in for the seventh; even more surprised when he left him in to face Hanley Ramirez with two out, Carlos over 120 pitches at the time, and a man on second. Ramirez flied out to deep center to end the inning, but it was an off move, in my opinion. Z looked gassed, the bullpen was ready - or so we thought - and Ramirez had already homered earlier in the game. Odd.
The good news was that the Cubs had given him a 6-2 lead by that time, getting to Marlins starter Scott Olsen for four runs in the fifth inning, with even Carlos himself getting in on the act. Zambrano hit a double to left that scored Mark DeRosa. Then with the bases loaded, Aramis Ramirez hit a double to right that scores two, before Alfredo Almezaga completes a relay through to gun down Derrek Lee at home, and end the inning.
The bullpen continued their streak of shaky work though, with four relievers working to complete the last two innings for the win. Chad Gaudin and Neal Cotts combined in the 8th to literally load the bases, while getting no one out between them. They gave way to Bob Howry, who got the next two outs relatively unscathed, mostly from a highlight grab of a hard-hit line drive by Mark DeRosa. Marmol, closed out the inning, and finished in the 9th. Marmol loaded the bases, before finally striking out Wes Helms to end the inning. I'm not going to worry too much for now, although with Kerry Wood making his annual trip to the DL, this could be a very taxing weekend for the bullpen. Word is that we may have a Jeff Samardzija sighting in the next few days, to which I say great. He can't be any more ineffective than the other middle relievers have been lately.