Afternoon Box Score: Cubs Shutout Cards

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 23, 2010 9:40PM

Yeah, it was hot at Wrigley today, but Randy Wells was scorching as the Cubs opened up a weekend series against the rival Cardinals with a nice 5-0 win. Wells scattered five hits and struck out seven over seven innings in one of his sharper outings this season, earning the win and moving to 5-7 on the year, only his second win since April 30. On the offensive end, the Cubs rode three homers to an early lead as Tyler Colvin belted a solo shot in the first and Geovany Soto added one in the fourth. Alfonso Soriano piled on with a two-run shot in the fifth to extend the Cubs lead to 4-0. Another run courtesy of Starlin Castro in the sixth would put the lead at 5-0 for good.

The Cubs are still a distant 10 games back of the Cards in the NL Central but - putting our wishful thinking caps on - a sweep would cut that lead down to eight games and, well, not that we're deluding ourselves into thinking the Cubs could put together some kind of magical Sox-like winning streak, especially with players like D-Lee and Ted Lilly sure to be shipped out by the time the trading deadline rolls around. Still, there's reason for optimism: Colvin's homer was his 14th of the year, the most by a left-handed Cubs rookie since Rafael Palmeiro did it in 1987. So as long as Jim Hendry doesn't trade him for some magic beans and David Eckstein, there's hope for a Cubs youth movement in the near future.