Yesterday, I sat watching a taut pitcher's duel, huddled up in sweatshirt and balaclava over my head.

Today, in the sunshine, with the wind blowing out to RF and the temperature in the 70's (officially 67 at game time, but when I got back to my car the thermometer inside said it was 77), we saw six home runs leave the yard, four of them by the Cubs, and they hung on for a 7-4 win over the Pirates, despite an implosion by Bob Howry that allowed the Bucs a three-run eighth and made an appearance by Kerry Wood necessary for his ninth save of the season. More on that in a moment.

During the 2006 football season, then-Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green said in a memorable postgame news conference, regarding the Bears' comeback against his team, "They are what we thought they were!", and then angrily left the podium. We don't have to be angry, but the fact is -- Alfonso Soriano is what we thought he was. He's a maddening player. There are times when he doesn't even look like he should be in a major league uniform... and other times when he gets hot and can carry a team. He appears to be in the latter mode this week; in this homestand he is now 15-for-32 (.469) with 5 HR and 12 RBI in the eight games so far on the stand. He's got 22 RBI for the season despite missing two weeks; after 42 team games in 2007, during which he missed a similar amount of time, he had 9 RBI.

So we have to take the bad with the good. The Cubs wouldn't have won the NL Central last year without Soriano's hot September; it'd have been nice if he carried that over into last October, but that's Soriano. Maddening. Let's hope his hot streak continues for the... well, for a while, anyway.

Sean Gallagher picked up his first major league win today. He struck out only three and during his appearance at the postgame news conference, that I heard on the radio driving home, said that after he got the big lead he could concentrate on throwing strikes and putting the ball in play and letting his fielders catch the ball, which they did. The Pirates did hit Gallagher pretty hard, but virtually everything was right at somebody -- kudos to Mark DeRosa for a tumbling catch on the warning track in right field to end the fifth inning. It won't be the last win for Gallagher, either. I like the way he approaches the game. He'll need to develop a good changeup to go with the good curveball, though.

Bob Howry was... bad. He slogged his way through a mediocre 7th inning and then the Pirates teed off on him in the 8th, hitting two home runs, including one by Doug Mientkiewicz, who had come into the game hitting .237 with no homers at all this year. Howry threw an alarmingly large number of pitches -- 39 -- and this made the score 7-4 and necessitated a save-situation appearance by Kerry Wood.

Wood, like Gallagher, realized that he didn't have to blow hitters away, especially since the first two hitters he was facing were light-hitting PH Luis Rivas and Jason Michaels, and he got Rivas to fly to right and Michaels to pop up, and then Freddy Sanchez lined right to Aramis Ramirez to end the game -- Kerry threw only ten pitches, so he should be available tomorrow if needed for the third day in a row.

Say, I've been complaining about the schedule-makers a lot, but could they arrange it so the Cubs could play the Pirates every day? Now 7-0 for the season against Pittsburgh, the Cubs have Carlos Zambrano ready to go tomorrow, to make it a good shot at 8-0. Z got a chance to pinch-hit today, and as I predicted to our group when he was announced, to a loud ovation, he'd probably try to hit a 900-foot home run. He did just that on the first two pitches, then hit a comebacker to Tom Gorzelanny to end the sixth inning.

Gorzelanny -- who can explain it? He has now thrown three times against the Cubs this year, 11 total innings, 21 earned runs allowed for an ERA of 17.18 against them. His ERA in his other five starts is 2.73.

In any case, revel in this. The Cubs are 18-7 at home, at this moment the majors' best home record (Arizona is 17-7 pending their game tonight at home vs. Detroit). They're two games in first place, pending Houston's game vs. Texas -- yes, the Astros muscled their way into second place yesterday ahead of the Cardinals... and St. Louis lost Jason Isringhausen today when he suffered a cut on his hand when he hit a TV in Tony LaRussa's office. I'll be keeping an eye on their series with Tampa Bay this weekend, because that ought to give us a good idea about the futures of both those teams (and remember, the Cubs have to play the suddenly-hot Rays in Tampa next month).

We were joined today by BCB reader sparkles721 -- who hasn't posted much here lately because she's been busy with school, but is now home for the summer. And Crane Kenney, who spent the day in the bleachers talking to people, stopped by to say hi and explained a little more about the fan lunches that will begin next month. He told me that they'll select 30 people at random from season ticket holders for each session, and that he feels really strongly about listening to fans, particularly season ticket holders, who are the Cubs' best customers. Incidentally, today's attendance of 40,537 pushed the season total to 1,000,892, an average of 40,036 and the earliest ever that the Cubs have passed the million mark in attendance (25 dates).

This franchise is turning around before your very eyes. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Until tomorrow.

Section 438 in the upper deck during the rain delay

The water seen here being swept by the ground crew was completely gone by game time, a tribute to the crew and the new drainage system

Sean Gallagher lays down a perfect bunt in the second inning. Check out Miguel Montero's pink catching gear. The chest protector looks like a life vest.

Another lesson learned Sunday: don't do this!

Daryle Ward celebrates his game-winning double

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

And just what did we learn today from today's 6-4 Cub win over the Diamondbacks, their second come-from-behind win in a row, completing a sweep over a team that came into Chicago with the best record in baseball?

First, mea culpa to everyone I was talking to in the game thread saying "CALL THIS GAME NOW!" I figured there was no way they'd play this afternoon, given the horrendous weather all morning -- pouring rain, strong winds, feeling like it was 2003 again; so I stayed home during the morning hours (had lunch, did the Sunday Tribune crossword, kept track of weather radars) instead of going to claim my bleacher seat. Watching the webcams (thanks, ballhawk!) we saw that the seats were claimed by about 12:30, so when I arrived Mike, Phil & I sat with, appropriately, I thought, on Mother's Day, some longtime bleacher season ticket holders who are moms, Judy & Colleen, in their seats in right-center field next to the concession stand. Judy's daughter is in her 20's and married, but Colleen had her three young kids in tow. They spent most of their time slopping hot dogs, cokes and cotton candy all over the place, calling each other "idiot", and racing in and out so many times it made my head spin. (The oldest, to her credit, at least attempted to keep score.) Mike said it was "almost as good entertaiment as what was on the field, and free!"

Well, at least before the Cubs mounted their two comebacks, it might have been the best entertainment of the day (No, I'm not including the idiot who ran onto the field, jumping out of the bleachers -- the last guy who tried that broke both his ankles -- who was tackled by security and the off-duty cops who patrol for those sorts of things). But the Cubs, who had given the lead to Arizona in the first inning after two were out and no one on base (I hate those!), took it back with some small ball in the second -- a walk, a single, a sacrifice by Sean Gallagher, and a wild pitch.

The long-ball gave them the lead in the third, in the form of Derrek Lee's opposite-field HR, his tenth.

The lead was coughed up in the fifth, with yet another lesson learned: here was a textbook example of how certain statistics mean absolutely nothing, in this case pitcher ERA's. Sean Gallagher, who I thought threw pretty well before running out of gas in the 5th, gave up hits to three of the first four batters he faced in that inning (after allowing only two hits and two walks through four), and then intentionally walked Chris Young to load the bases while Chad Fox finished his warmup tosses.

Fox shouldn't have bothered. He walked the first two hitters he faced, Conor Jackson and Justin Upton, forcing in two runs. After that Fox settled down and retired the next two hitters, and threw a scoreless sixth, even while issuing another walk.

Thus Fox's ERA goes down, and Gallagher's goes up through no fault of his own. Fox, I think, really doesn't belong on this roster. He's a feel-good story, but that's about it. And I was beginning to be of the mind that Lou didn't know what he was doing, NOT using Fox in a five-run blowout in the 9th inning yesterday, then using him in a key situation today.

Which leads to another lesson learned, and this one was taught both to me and D'backs manager Bob Melvin. After Reed Johnson tied the game with his first Cub HR (hit into the teeth of a 25-MPH wind blowing in from LF), Lou brought in Carlos Marmol yet again (I thought he could have stuck with Michael Wuertz in the 8th; Wuertz threw exactly four pitches in dispatching the D'backs in the 7th) -- I swear, Marmol's arm is going to fall off if Lou keeps this up -- Marmol took care of Arizona easily, and the Cubs came up in the last of the 8th down by two runs.

After Aramis Ramirez singled... well, something happened, and I'm not sure what. Did someone miss a sign? Or did someone not give a sign? Aramis took off for second base and surprised everyone in the ballpark, most of all Arizona catcher Miguel Montero, who nearly flung the ball into the center field ivy; Ramirez was safe for only his 12th career SB, his first since 2006 (and only his fourth since becoming a Cub nearly five years ago).

That's when the fun began. Kosuke Fukudome laid down a perfect bunt that hugged the wet grass down the 3B line (hey! a use for rainy days after all!), which put Ramirez on third with nobody out. After Geovany Soto's "swinging bunt" advanced Dome to second, Lou schooled all of us. Daryle Ward had been on deck to pinch-hit for Marmol, the seemingly "obvious" PH move, but instead, Lou sent up Alfonso Soriano (who got a huge ovation; I suppose, for yesterday's 4-for-5).

Bob Melvin ordered Soriano intentionally walked to load the bases. Then, Ward batted for Felix Pie. Melvin either forgot to have a lefthander up or doesn't trust his bullpen lefties, because Ward slammed Tony Pena's second pitch in the gap right in front of my Sunday perch, winning the game. Sometimes Lou appears to be not-so-slick because, well, some of his postgame comments may not seem as articulate or funny or pithy as some other managers. But oh, he's smart, thinking two steps ahead of the other guy. Bob Melvin and the rest of us: lesson learned.

Kerry Wood hit another batter (didn't he do this a lot as a starter, too?), but got out of the inning with a slick DP turned by Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Derrek Lee.

Learned my lessons today: never question Chicago weather, because there was no typhoon today; after it stopped raining it wasn't too cold, though quite windy. And never question Lou Piniella. He's the right guy for this job.

Finally, maybe a lesson learned for some of you who questioned me when I picked the Diamondbacks to finish fourth in the NL West. Yes, they're a good team with good young talent. But they sure didn't impress me this weekend. Savor this sweep; the Cubs just gave notice that they will need to be reckoned with as this season continues what is beginning as a fascinating one.

Click here for my scorecard from today's game

Shake this one off.

What else can you do after a loss like this one, 9-0 to the Reds, a game that was over after the second inning?

The Reds slammed seven home runs off the Cubs, including four in that second inning. The last time the Cubs gave up four home runs in an inning was nearly eight years ago, on August 8, 2000 in Los Angeles, which also happens to be the last time a pitcher -- Darren Dreifort, if you must know -- hit two home runs in a game. The four homers in the fourth inning that night were off Phil Norton, who -- and if I'm a regular ol' writer I'm supposed to say "ironically", but it really isn't -- eventually wound up pitching a couple of years of mediocre middle relief for... the Reds.

There's nothing to say about this game. The Cubs never really had any chance of getting back into it, despite drawing seven walks and leaving twelve (!) men on base; their six hits were all harmless singles, and despite having RISP in the third, fourth, fifth and ninth innings, the Cubs never got a man past second base.

I'm not worried about Jon Lieber. Sometimes you just get hit, and he did today. I'm not really worried about Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher or Michael Wuertz, either, and all but Wuertz were touched for at least one home run. Joey Votto hit three of them, one each off Lieber, Marshall and Gallagher, and now has four HR in six games against the Cubs this season, and five of his eleven career HR against the Cubs.

Maybe it's a good thing the Cubs don't see the Reds again till July.

I hesitate to write this, because of the way such things are often viewed, but my copy of Sports Illustrated with Kosuke Fukudome on the cover arrived in the mail last Wednesday. You know, this one:

via i.timeinc.net

The Cubs won 19-5 that day, but since then -- starting Thursday, the day the magazine went on general sale on the newsstands, the Cubs are 2-5, and Dome is hitting .296 in those seven games with only one walk, after hitting .327 with 19 walks in the 26 previous games.

So it can't hurt to say this: Hey, SI. Could you keep the Cubs off the cover? Say, like, forever? Or until after they win the World Series?

It won't be a fun plane ride home for Lou, the coaching staff and the ballplayers this afternoon, but you can bet Lou and Jim will be discussing potential roster and/or lineup moves for the important 10-game homestand (the longest of the season) starting Friday against the Diamondbacks. At 19-15 the Cubs are three games better than they were after 34 games in 2007. But there is still much work to do.

Everybody take a deep breath, blow the stench of this game out of you, and enjoy the day off tomorrow.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Cubs go out to an early lead, then cough it up because the other guys got ONE key hit, and then the Cubs have numerous chances to get back in the game, but can't get that one key hit themselves, stranding runners all over creation.

You didn't stop me, but that's pretty much the summary of last night's frustrating 5-3 Cub loss to the Cardinals. This photo from cubs.com pretty much sums it up:

via chicago.cubs.mlb.com

A look of determination on Jason Marquis' face, probably just before he gave up the critical two-out, two-run double to Albert Pujols that broke the 2-2 tie in the fourth inning. For the rest of the night, it was play-catchup time. And in the seventh inning, the score now 5-2 Cardinals, the Cubs could have and should have gotten back into it -- loading the bases with nobody out and having the middle of the batting order up. Even Alfonso Soriano contributed, singling after Ronny Cedeno reached on a HBP. Ryan Theriot worked the count full and then sliced a single through the infield.

But D-Lee flied out, too shallow to score a run. Kosuke Fukudome's fly ball was deep enough to score Cedeno, but that's all the Cubs could muster against Tony LaRussa's two pitching changes -- got to give the Cardinals credit, so far rookie RHP Kyle McClellan has been lights-out. It's too early to know whether McClellan can keep this up all year, but he is one of the biggest reasons the Cardinals find themselves in first place. I'm still not convinced Todd Wellemeyer is going to be an effective starting pitcher for a full season, but last night, he did the job they needed him to do, and unlike Friday night, St. Louis' bullpen did its job.

And that's all the Cubs got, despite drawing six more walks and having runners all over the place. They really missed having Aramis Ramirez in the middle of the order last night.

Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other guys. Jason Marquis was shaky again, and perhaps the key play of the game was the walk he issued to Adam Kennedy just before Pujols' two-out double. Kennedy is not an easy player to walk -- his lifetime OBA coming into last night's game was only .329 -- and those two runs were the difference. The Cardinals came through in a critical situation and the Cubs didn't. Those things are going to happen in a long season.

Positive sign: Sean Gallagher threw the last two innings, worked fast, threw strikes (and only 19 pitches total), and kept the game close. He looked far more confident than the scared-looking 22-year-old kid who put up an 8.59 ERA in eight appearances in 2007. If he keeps that up he may wind up in the rotation, if guys like Marquis continue to struggle.

That's enough. Let's move on to Cincinnati to face a team that's really having trouble and beat up on them, starting tonight.