What a great run! After scoring some runs late again, the Cubs have now won five straight and are one win from sweeping the Astros in a four-game series in Houston for the first time since... ever.

Maddux was great (again) last night, bringing his ERA under 4.00 for the first time this season. Greg is really starting to settle down, it appears. He's kept the ball in the park over his last three starts (he hadn't even had back-to-back starts without giving up a homer before the current streak), his strikeout-rate (6.42/9 innings) is up significantly over the past two seasons, and his ERA in June is now 2.21. And then there's the control: Maddux has now walked a total of three batters (3!) in his last 65 1/3 innings. Repeat. 3 walks. 65.3 innings.

Also, a quick shout out to Corey for that nice grab in centerfield.

In some other news, Carlos Zambrano is due for a spanking from Larry Rothschild for his rage against the night (and, apparently, Todd Walker) after the Cubs missed an opportunity to double up an Astro a couple games ago. I'm not really worked up about either side on this: I can understand Zambrano's frustration, but I can also see Walker's side. As Baker said, "If I'm tagging up at third, he's got to throw me out at home. Walker made the right play. Somebody might have been hollering, 'Second base,' but that doesn't mean he heard it." What I don't understand is why article after article is being written about the incident. So before I become hypocritical here, I'll shut up about it.

Oh, and finally, you can now eat hot dogs that sport some Kerry Wood branding. This is something I'm sure kids across America have been waiting for. The dogs are named, "Kerry Wood's Fast Ball Franks", a completely bizarre name. What, they couldn't go with "Woody's Weiners"?

Last game of the road trip tonight.

Cubs vs. Oswalt:

Patterson 10/28, 357/357/643, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
Alou 5/22, 227/320/409, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Ramirez 6/29, 207/200/448, 0 BB, 12 K, 2 HR
Walker 6/30, 200/200/267, 0 BB, 8 K
Lee 0/15, 6 K

Astros vs. Rusch:

Bagwell 7/24, 292/469/667, 8 BB, 3 HR
Hidalgo 5/20, 250/375/650, 2 2B, 2 HR
Kent 6/13, 462/533/846, 1 HR
Vizcaino 4/14, 286/333/286
Berkman 3/14, 214/389/286, 4 BB
Biggio 6/25, 240/345/240, 3 BB
Ausmus 3/17, 176/222/412, 5 K, 1 HR

Jason Lane also has a homerun and a double in five at-bats against Rusch.

UPDATE (6/7, 12:45pm ET): Well, I guess Rusch needn't worry about Hidalgo; he's just been shipped to the Mets for David Weathers (!)