Cool finish for Cubs

It turned out to be a hitter's day after all.

The particular hitter being Aramis Ramirez, of course.

What began as a potentially sweltering, wind-blowing-out day at Wrigley Field ended with Ramirez hitting his latest clutch, late-inning homer.

The all-star lined a 3-run shot into a stiff breeze in the eighth inning to snap a scoreless tie and propel the Cubs to a 3-1 win over San Francisco on Friday before a raucous crowd of 41,605.

Kerry Wood survived a shaky ninth to record his 24th save, as the Cubs (56-37) improved to 36-11 at Wrigley.

"The wind was blowing in during BP and we were having fun watching Carlos (Zambrano) hit balls out of the stadium," Cubs starting pitcher Jason Marquis said. "I was inside watching some TV and a couple of guys came in and were like, 'It's 15 degrees cooler and the wind's blowing in.' Everybody thought they were joking."

Marquis and Giants starter Matt Cain dominated. No joke.

Making his first start since July 1, when he threw 7 quality innings at San Francisco, Marquis duplicated the effort. He pitched 7 strong again, allowing no runs and only 3 hits while striking out four and walking two. He had a no-hitter through four.

"We rested his arm pretty good, and it pays dividends," manager Lou Piniella said.

Like Marquis, Cain received a no-decision. The hard-throwing righty also fired 7 scoreless innings, striking out nine and walking three. A first-inning Cain pitch plunked Ramirez above the left elbow, but the Cubs slugger shrugged it off.

"The wind turned around and started blowing in before the ballgame, and it became more of a pitcher's ballpark," Piniella said. "But Jason really, really pitched well and so did their guy, Cain."

Facing reliever Tyler Walker in the eighth, the Cubs got a leadoff single by Ryan Theriot. After Mike Fontenot's sacrifice bunt, the Giants intentionally walked Derrek Lee to set up a double play.

Up stepped Ramirez, who launched the first pitch he saw from Walker down the left-field line, onto Waveland Avenue, for his team-leading 17th homer.

Ramirez understood the Giants' decision to walk Lee.

"I would do that too," he said. "D-Lee is hitting .300 and he's one of the best hitters in the game. He's been one of the best hitters in the game the last five years."

Ramirez's recent clutch homers have included a walk-off shot against the White Sox at Wrigley last month and an eighth-inning, tiebreaking blast at St. Louis last Saturday.

"Ramirez is a professional hitter," Piniella said. "He gives you a professional at-bat. He's got an idea of what he wants to do when he goes up there. He makes adjustments, and this particular time he got a good fastball to hit, and he hit it really well."

Ray Durham led off the Giants' ninth against Wood with a double over the head of Mark DeRosa in left and scored two batters later on a single by Bengie Molina. With runners on second and third with one out, Wood got a flyout and groundball to avoid a repeat of last Saturday, when he surrendered 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth at St. Louis, blowing the save in a crushing 5-4 loss.

"We just battled," Marquis said. "We've been able to do that all year."