Cubs take series from Cards, still lose ground to Brewers

The Cubs managed to take two of three games from the Cardinals in an electrified Wrigley Field over the weekend. However, with the Brewers sweeping four games from the Washington Generals, err, Nationals, the Crew actually sliced 1.5 games off the Cubs lead in the NL Central. The Brewers are now 3.5 back, while the Cards are 6.5 out after beating Florida on Monday. The Cubs, with an NL-best record of 71-47, enjoyed a day off.

Notes from the weekend: Jim Edmonds stuck it to his old club, pounding two homers in Friday's 3-2 win. It took 11 innings and a Henry Blanco RBI single to put away the Cards. ... On Saturday, Carlos Zambrano endured his worst outing of the season, as the Cards hammered four home runs, including a pair by Troy Glaus, on the way to a 12-3 win. Sunday night before the ESPN cameras, Ryan Dempster earned his team-best 13th win, pitching into the 7th inning. The Cubs broke the game open with 5 runs in the sixth thanks in part to some uncharacteristically poor Cards' defense. That came in part off Chris Carpenter, who left the game with yet more arm trouble.

Up next: Cubs at Atlanta tonight at 6:05. Atlanta had been struggling mightily before taking 2 of 3 at Arizona last weekend. Rich Harden takes the mound for the Cubs, opposing Atlanta's Charlie Morton.