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Cubs attempt to improve on home success

Jul 25, 2008 - 10:06 AM Florida (53-49) at Chi Cubs (60-42) 2:20 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Despite their struggles away from home, the Chicago Cubs have been able to count on the "friendly confines" of Wrigley Field to remain atop the National League Central.

The Cubs put their NL-best home record to the test again on Friday when they face the Florida Marlins.

Chicago, which has been in sole possession of first place in its division since May 26, is 38-12 at Wrigley.

After returning from a 2-4 road trip through Houston and Arizona, the Cubs appeared unfazed by the recent struggles during a series-opening 6-3 win over Florida on Thursday, getting an RBI double and seven strong innings from ace Carlos Zambrano.

Their NL-best offense has been paramount in that success at Wrigley, where they have scored a major league-best 314 runs and are hitting .305, the top home batting average in baseball.

Another large part of their incredible success at Wrigley is Ryan Dempster (11-4, 3.05 ERA), who is 10-1 with a 2.81 ERA in 12 home starts. The righthander posted his first road win in his last outing, allowing six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over eight frames in Sunday's 9-0 rout of Houston.

He'll be opposed by Josh Johnson (0-0, 3.86), who will be eyeing his first win since August 2006 when he makes his third start since returning from reconstructive elbow surgery. The righthander pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs and seven hits in Sunday's 3-2 win over Philadelphia.