Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Let's Hope It Continues.

Sammy steps up to lead off the bottom of the ninth with the score knotted up at 4-4 against the hated Houston Astros. First pitch is hit hard to left field - a home run!

Cubs win 5 - 4

They were up 4 - 1 when Mark Prior left the game, but thanks to two homers from Carlos Beltran the Astros clawed their way back into this game. Prior did not pitch particularly well. Only struck out 4 in the 7.1 innings, and even though he left the game with the score 4 - 1, he eventually has credited with allowing 3 of Houston's 4 runs.

The Cubs have not been too impressive of late. They are hanging on in the Central division, but I feel like they could lose it at any second. Hopefully they can put together a good stand against the Sox at Wrigley this weekend before they go on the road next week against Milwaukee and St. Louis. They play both of these teams a number of times in July - plus Cincinnati once. If the Cubs don't take a number of 2 of 3 series from these teams, the Cubs will undoubtly drop from contention. I mean take a look at the standings:

With the NL Central as tight as it is this year, the Cubs can't afford to lose games right now. They need to assert themselves as the leader of the division.