Zambrano brilliant in win over Sheets, Brewers

MILWAUKEE - After two games, the only ace left standing on the Miller Park field is the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano.

Before Tuesday night's 7-1 victory over the Brewers, Cubs manager Lou Piniella offered that both CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets were aces for the Brewers.

The Cubs didn't exactly trump Sabathia in Monday night's 6-4 victory, but they thumped Sheets on Tuesday.

After grabbing a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, the Cubs sent 10 men to the plate in the sixth, scoring 5 runs and chasing Sheets from the game.

The victory gave the Cubs (63-44) a 3-game lead over Milwaukee in the National League Central, meaning that no matter what happens tonight and Thursday, they'll go home in first place.

"When you see guys like Sheets, (Roy) Oswalt, (Brandon) Webb, you have to be almost perfect," said Zambrano, who improved to 12-4 with a 2.80 ERA. "Not only him, but the lineup they have is a pretty good lineup. You have to go with your 'A' game and with a good game plan, and that's what I did today."

Zambrano (12-4) faced little real trouble. He put the first two batters on in the second inning but struck out Russell Branyan and Mike Cameron before getting Jason Kendall on a forceout to end that threat.

Although the Brewers can boast of a pair of aces, Piniella said he feels the Cubs a few in their deck, as well.

"Put it this way," he said. "Our two guys, (Ted) Lilly and Zambrano, aren't exactly chopped liver. They're pretty good pitchers. Two good pitching matchups. We respect, obviously, the two guys that we beat. Anytime we run Lilly and Zambrano out there - we've got (Ryan) Dempster, we've got (Rich) Harden - we're throwing some darn good pitching out there ourselves.

"We're pleased that we won the first two. Let's not relax now. We've got two more important games to play, and hopefully they go our way."

The Cubs put together 7 hits in a row off Sheets (10-4) in the fateful sixth. Derrek Lee led off with a single and went to third on the second of 3 doubles by Aramis Ramirez.

Kosuke Fukudome lined a ball into left field. Ryan Braun attempted a sprawling catch, but the ball got by him and rolled all the way to the wall for a triple.

The Cubs picked up RBI singles from Mark DeRosa and Zambrano before Alfonso Soriano finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly to deep center.

Less than a week ago, the big concern about the Cubs was hitting. But they've now won three in a row, scoring a total of 22 runs.

"It goes up and down," said catcher Geovany Soto, who had 2 hits. "You've got to keep it as consistent as you can, but you go through ups and downs. The offensive right now is looking pretty good."

So is Zambrano, and Soto got an up-close look at him all night.

"After the first couple innings, he managed to settle down," Soto said. "He went in strong, and that's what you look for. That's his game, and he goes big in big games, too."

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