'OK' Lilly helps Cubs move 20 games above .500

TORONTO -- Little by little, Ted Lilly is getting there.

Sunday's 7-4 victory over his former team, the Toronto Blue Jays, upped Lilly's own record to 7-5, giving him 12 decisions in 15 starts.

Not all of Lilly's starts are pretty. Sunday's certainly wasn't. But somehow, he's finding a way, which comes as no surprise to one teammate.

"To me, that's attitude," said outfielder Reed Johnson, a teammate of Lilly's in Toronto from 2004-06. "Whether he's got his best stuff or not, he's going to have the same attitude of going out there and trying to beat you every day.

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"I think when you've got a guy like that on your team, there's no better feeling for the eight guys who are playing behind him because he's a competitor, and you can see how bad he wants it."

Lilly looked to have good stuff, as his 6 innings of 1-hit shutout ball would attest. It's just that it was a little all over the place as he walked five and struck out six.

"I was throwing the ball OK," said Lilly, who had problems with his arm strength early this year but said he's "pretty close" now. "I got erratic, especially in the fourth inning. But for the most part, I felt pretty good out there."

With the victory, the Cubs accomplished what they had hoped in Phase I of this tough stretch of interleague play, with today's Hall of Fame game mixed in.

They took two of three from the Jays to move to 20 games over .500 at 45-25. They beat Jays ace Roy Halladay on Saturday and knocked off Jesse Litsch on Sunday.

"It was a good series for us," said manager Lou Piniella. "We lost a close first game on Friday. We beat two darn good pitchers. Halladay's an ace of any staff. This kid today, you can see why he's won some ballgames."

The Cubs jumped on Litsch (7-3) with 3 runs in the third inning on 5 hits. Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee and Jim Edmonds each contributed RBI singles.

Lilly gave up his only hit, a single up the middle to Brad Wilkerson, with two outs in the fourth.

The offense effectively put it away in the seventh, scoring 4 to chase Litsch.

Lee hit a 2-run single, and Aramis Ramirez hit a 2-run homer, his 10th. The Cubs are 3-1 since left fielder Alfonso Soriano went on the disabled list with a broken hand.

"We're feeling pretty good, the team," said Ramirez. "Everybody's doing their job, and that's why we're winning games.

"We've got a good enough team to get by. We're playing great. I think we should have won all three games here. We left a lot of guys on base the first night. But I guess you can't win every game. We can get by without Sori."

Lilly was the second former Jay in two days to help beat his old team. Johnson homered Saturday and had a single and a double Sunday.

"I tried to not let myself get too emotional about it," said Lilly, who left Toronto for the Cubs before last season. "It's fun being able to pitch against those guys. Once the game starts, it's comes down to making pitches."

Cubs 7, Blue Jays 4

At the plate: Derrek Lee had a pair of singles and 3 RBI. Aramis Ramirez extended his hitting streak to seven games with a 2-run homer in the seventh.

On the mound: Ted Lilly worked hard over 6 innings, but he pitched shutout ball, giving up only 1 hit. He threw 110 pitches, including 68 strikes, while walking five and striking out six. Scott Eyre saw his club-record streak of scoreless appearances end at 33. He gave up a run in the seventh and had to be bailed out by Carlos Marmol.