CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano said he won’t miss a start after X-rays on his stiff neck were negative.

Zambrano, who earned his fifth win of the season by beating the New York Mets 9-3 on Thursday, complained of a stiff neck after the game. After undergoing an X-ray, Zambrano was told by Dr. Steven Gryzlo that the discomfort was coming from a knot in his neck and is mostly muscular.

“I usually sleep with my head turned that way like when I’m watching TV,” said Zambrano, who has been experiencing stiffness in his neck for the past three or four starts. “So I guess I’ll have to turn it the other way.”

Zambrano said he will have massage therapy and will not miss a start.

“Nothing to worry about,” Zambrano said. “The doctor said just to keep doing my exercises and massage treatment. it will be OK.”

That’s good news for the Cubs, who have three-fifths of their rotation on the disabled list.

Matt Garza was put on the DL on Monday with a sore elbow. Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner went on the disabled list April 8, but Wells is scheduled to return Saturday after straining his right forearm April 4.

Zambrano allowed two runs — one earned — in six innings against the Mets and went 3-for-3 with a double and RBI.

Bruce Levine covers baseball for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

CHICAGO — Ryan Dempster is once again one of the favorites at Wrigley Field.

Dempster pitched seven effective innings, Starlin Castro had three hits and two RBIs and the Chicago Cubs pounded the stumbling New York Mets 11-1 on Tuesday night.

Alfonso Soriano, Darwin Barney and Lou Montanez each had two hits for Chicago, which kicked off a nine-game homestand with its 11th victory in its past 12 games against NL East teams.

Montanez started in right field hours after he was promoted from Triple-A Iowa when the Cubs put right-hander Matt Garza on the 15-day disabled list with elbow stiffness.

“It’s a relief. You want to do something positive right from the get-go so you calm down a little bit,” Montanez said. “Surprisingly I was pretty calm, which also surprised me. I thought I was gonna be a little more antsy, but I was a little reserved.”

Dempster (3-4) allowed one run and seven hits, improving to 10-5 in 26 career appearances against the Mets. He struck out five and walked one.

He has won his past two home starts after dropping six consecutive decisions over seven starts dating to last season.

“It was just nice for us,” he said. “We scored some runs, we took advantage of a big error there, scored a bunch, like four runs after that. A good victory for us.”

The Mets dropped their first game since a pair of magazine articles about owner Fred Wilpon raised questions about the state of the franchise. Wilpon first made a couple of chilly comments about three of the team’s biggest stars in an interview with The New Yorker, then told Sports Illustrated the club is “bleeding cash” and could lose up to $70 million this year.

“We’re going to move on. Just chalk it up as a game we didn’t play very good,” manager Terry Collins said. “We didn’t catch the ball as well as we can. We didn’t pitch as well as we can.”

Backup catcher Ronny Paulino made two errors, leading to five unearned runs. Pat Misch issued consecutive walks to force in a run and give the Cubs an 8-1 lead. Fernando Martinez booted Reed Johnson’s single in the seventh for New York’s third error, setting a season high.

Quade had starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano hit for Dempster in the seventh and he delivered a two-run single into center field.

“I like to let Z hit when he wants,” Quade said. “He was down there stretching forever, doing whatever he does. I didn’t want there to be a delay. We’ve got a comfortable lead, so I didn’t think twice about it.”

New York (22-25) has dropped three straight after winning three in a row. Left fielder Jason Bay left with a stiff right calf in the seventh inning, but he said he was fine.

Dempster got all the support he needed in the second inning. Montanez’s one-out RBI double off Jonathon Niese (3-5) put runners on second and third for Koyie Hill, who hit a bouncer to first. Daniel Murphy threw home but Paulino dropped it, allowing Soriano to score.

Barney singled in a pair of runs and Castro added an RBI single that extended the lead to 5-0.

“I’m just trying to do my part,” Barney said. “I’m trying to stay productive and keep it simple.”

Paulino also made a throwing error while trying to pick Dempster off first in the sixth, allowing Hill to score from second.

Niese gave up six runs, two earned, and seven hits in five innings. He had won his previous two starts.

Jose Reyes had two hits and drove in a run one day after he was one of three players panned by Wilpon in an article posted on The New Yorker website. Wilpon said the oft-injured Reyes has “had everything wrong with him.” He also said outfielder Carlos Beltran was “65 to 70 percent of what he was” and third baseman David Wright was “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”

NOTES
Garza was diagnosed with an elbow bone contusion. The DL stint is retroactive to May 18, and he could return when Chicago travels to St. Louis for a weekend series on June 3-5. … Cubs C Geovany Soto (left groin strain) is scheduled to play in an extended spring training game in Arizona on Wednesday, then make two rehab appearances with Double-A Tennessee. He could be back in Chicago this weekend. … Cubs OF Marlon Byrd, who was hit in the face by a fastball Saturday against Boston, saw a specialist at Northwestern and general manager Jim Hendry said the bruising in his left eye had subsided a bit. … The gametime temperature was 45 degrees.

CHICAGO —
Ryan Dempster pitched seven effective innings, Starlin Castro had three hits and three RBIs and the Chicago Cubs pounded the stumbling New York Mets 11-1 on Tuesday night.

Alfonso Soriano, Darwin Barney and Lou Montanez each had two hits for Chicago, which kicked off a nine-game homestand with its 11th victory in its past 12 games against NL East teams. Montanez started in right field hours after he was promoted from Triple-A Iowa when the Cubs put right-hander Matt Garza on the 15-day disabled list with elbow stiffness.

The Mets dropped their first game since a pair of magazine articles about owner Fred Wilpon. Wilpon first made a couple of chilly comments about three of the team’s biggest stars in an interview with The New Yorker, then told Sports Illustrated the club is “bleeding cash” and could lose up to $70 million this year.

Manager Terry Collins held a pregame meeting and urged his team to focus on its play on the field. The Mets all said they got the message, but it was hard to tell on an unseasonably cool night in Chicago.

Backup catcher Ronny Paulino made two errors, leading to five unearned runs. Pat Misch issued consecutive walks to force in a run and give the Cubs an 8-1 lead. Fernando Martinez booted Reed Johnson’s single in the seventh for New York’s third error, setting a season high.

Cubs manager Mike Quade had starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano hit for Dempster in the seventh and he delivered a two-run single into center field.

New York (22-25) has dropped three straight after winning three in a row. It also lost left fielder Jason Bay to a stiff right calf in the seventh inning.

Dempster (3-4) allowed one run and seven hits, improving to 10-5 in 26 career appearances against the Mets. He struck out five and walked one.

Dempster got all the support he needed in the second inning.

Montanez’s one-out RBI double off Jonathon Niese (3-5) put runners on second and third for Koyie Hill, who hit a bouncer to first.

Daniel Murphy threw home but Paulino dropped it, allowing Soriano to score.

Barney singled in Montanez and Castro added a two-run single that extended the lead to 5-0.

Paulino also made a throwing error while trying to pick Dempster off first in the sixth, allowing Hill to score from second.

Niese gave up six runs, two earned, and seven hits in five innings. He had won his previous two starts.

Jose Reyes had two hits and drove in a run one day after he was one of three players panned by Wilpon in an article posted on The New Yorker website. Wilpon said the oft-injured Reyes has “had everything wrong with him.” He also said outfielder Carlos Beltran was “65 to 70 percent of what he was” and third baseman David Wright was “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.”

NOTES: Cubs C Geovany Soto (left groin strain) is scheduled to play in an extended spring training game in Arizona on Wednesday, then make two rehab appearances with Double-A Tennessee. He could be back in Chicago this weekend. … Mets OF Angel Pagan (strained left oblique) went 1 for 3 and walked twice in a rehab game with Class A St. Lucie. He is expected to play for St. Lucie again on Wednesday, then make an appearance with Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday. … Cubs OF Marlon Byrd, who was hit in the face by a fastball Saturday against Boston, saw a specialist at Northwestern and general manager Jim Hendry said the bruising in his left eye had subsided a bit. … The gametime temperature was 45 degrees.

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(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

CUBS 9 ASTROS 5

Pitcher Carlos Zambrano extended a franchise record with his 22nd career homer and ran his winning streak to 10 games. Alfonso Soriano’s home run capped a five-run first for the Cubs. Zambrano’s homer made it 6-0 in the sixth. Zambrano pitched five scoreless innings before the Astros jumped on him for five runs in the sixth.

E—W.Lopez (1). LOB—Cubs 6, Astros 5. 2B—Barney (1), Je.Baker (2), M.Downs (3). HR—A.Soriano (4), off W.Rodriguez; Zambrano (1), off Abad; M.Downs (1), off Zambrano. RBIs—Barney (4), Ar.Ramirez (6), Je.Baker 2 (6), A.Soriano 3 (10), Zambrano (1), Ca.Lee (7), Wallace (6), Hall (4), M.Downs 2 (5). SB—S.Castro (2). S—W.Rodriguez. DP—Astros 2 (M.Downs, Towles, Wallace), (Ca.Lee, Ang.Sanchez, Hall).

T—2:54. A—20,987 (40,963).

When: 11:20 a.m. Monday | Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago
TV: FSAZ | Radio: KTAR-AM (620), KBMB-AM (710)

Pitching preview

Diamondbacks LHP Joe Saunders (9-17, 4.47) vs. Cubs RHP Randy Wells (8-14, 4.26) – stats from 2010

With his scheduled start on Sunday at Coors Field snowed out, Joe Saunders will instead face the Cubs. Saunders had a 12.46 ERA in six starts in the Cactus League, including his most-recent outing Tuesday, when he gave up eight runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings vs. the Cubs. He allowed 27 runs (24 earned) in 15 2/3 innings in spring training. He has pitched at Wrigley only once before, giving up eight runs (five earned) in 2 2/3 innings in a start last season.

Randy Wells, a sinkerballer, had a 4.26 ERA in 194 1/3 innings last season. He faced the Diamondbacks once last season, giving up five runs in six innings.

Scouting the Chicago Cubs

The Cubs dropped two of three games to the Pirates this weekend after closer Carlos Marmol could not preserve a one-run lead Sunday. The Cubs this season will be counting on bounce-back years from veterans Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano and from free-agent Carlos Pena. Their big off-season acquisition, Matt Garza, pitched well in his debut Sunday but took a no decision. Starlin Castro had an excellent opening series, going 8 for 13 with a double and two triples.

CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano left Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh inning with cramping in his right hand.

Zambrano, who had just given up a home run to the Pirates’ Garrett Jones, threw 99 pitches, allowing three earned runs, five hits and three walks while striking out four.

Kerry Wood came in to relieve Zambrano.

Zambrano, who underwent anger management counseling last season after he was suspended following a dugout tirade on June 25 at U.S. Cellular Field, was 8-0 over his final 11 starts last season.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs for ESPNChicago.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.