MIB and I enjoyed an absolute pitching gem last night between the Cubs and Dodgers. Both teams were one-hit by the starters, Carlos Zambrano and Brad Penny. Luckily, and uncharacteristically, the Cubs' bullpen and late-inning hitting came through in the end, to win a 2-1 game in the 10th.

Zambrano probably should have had a no-hitter. The one hit was a garbage bloop into left field, where not one, not two, but THREE Cubs (DuBois, Perez, and Patterson) misplayed what should have been an absolute routine play. This is Z's second one-hitter in the past two weeks or so, yet it was his first win in SEVEN starts.

However, this put the Cubs two games over .500, and extended their winning streak to five. It also moved them within 6.5 games of the first-place Cardinals, and only 3 games back of the Wild Card. The offense is coming around, and the bullpen is too--particularly Ryan Dempster, who just may have found himself a permanent home. He has been pretty filthy--last night, he had one base runner because he hit someone (in the head!), but that batter never advanced second. Two nights ago, he gave up a home run, but it was hardly even a save situation. He has saved six straight.

Another glaring positive: Aramis Ramirez's bat is coming around. He has raised his batting average over 40 points in less than a week, and has sharply raised his home run and RBI totals in that span, as well. With him and Derek Lee going, all of a sudden, you have one of the top 2 or 3 top of the lineups in the NL. I mean, who do you pitch to? I see some BIG numbers coming out of those two the rest of the year.