Finally!

The Cubs finally get one in Houston after a rocky start to the second half of the season. Better still, Dempster got a victory at home. Dempster pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball, striking out 7 and walking one on his way to his first win away from Wrigley this year and his first since June 2, 2006.

At the plate, the Cubs put up 9 runs, a big improvement over the anemic offense in the first two games of the series (2 runs total). Theriot went 3 for 5 with a run and 2 RBIs. Fontenot went 3 for 4 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. It was also good to see Fukudome do a little damage with two doubles and two runs scored.

I would like to see them follow this up by tagging Randy Johnson (12-0 in 13 starts against the Cubs) with a loss out in Arizona tonight, notching consecutive road wins for the fist time since June 14-15 against the Blue Jays, and getting Rich Harden his first Cubbie win after the debacle in his last start.

On the injury front, Soriano is going to start a rehab stint tonight in Arizona. I don't expect him to play tonight for the big club as Piniella was musing and maybe not even on Tuesday. He will surely be ready to go on Wednesday with lefty Doug Davis scheduled to start for Arizona. Eyre is not going to the minors, but will stay and throw bullpen sessions until the team removes him from the DL. Kerry Wood's blister remains an issue and he should go on the DL; however, he hasn't pitched since July 11 and his DL stint would be back-dated, allowing his return as early as Sunday.

This could be the perfect opportunity to have Marmol regain some confidence in a brief stint at closer while Kerry sorts out his finger problem. I'm always more of a fan of sink-or-swim approaches and I think the All-Star performance by Marmol definitely put him back on track. A brief role as closer could be just the thing he needs to keep that going. Not to mention there is very little pressure, since Wood will be right back and Marmol would just be filling in for a set time.

With the division race getting tighter (Cards 2 games back, Milwaukee 3 back), the Cubs can't afford to stumble in the July-August doldrums. The Brewers are riding high with Sabathia (3-0 for the Brewers and singing a mean bat to boot!) and just added veteran second baseman Ray Durham. And don't expect the Cards to stand down, especially with a potential return for Carpenter at some point and a happy clubhouse. The two teams duke it out for a 4-game set starting today in St. Louis. Let's hope they wear each other out.