Come to Think of it...Cincy leaves Cubs Red-Faced

It's not so bad when you can't beat the good teams as a quick review of the Cubs record against winning teams will tell you this year.

But it's another thing entirely when you start losing to the bad teams. And right now, the Cincinnati Reds are one of the "bad" teams. As in major disappointment thus far. And yet the Cubs continued their losing ways, falling to the Reds on Monday.

It's embarrassing.

I still think the hitting is going to be OK, though hitting in clutch situations needs to get better. Hello, Derrek Lee.

And the defense is what it is, which is not great but capable enough.

It's the starting pitching that must get better if the Cubs are going to do anything in the playoffs. I mean, the team as currently comprised can probably contend for the division, though they are no shoo-ins. But if advancing in the playoffs is the goal, and it should be, they'll need a better rotation than currently assembled.

Zambrano is their only sure thing at this point. And that's not good. Even the mid-1940s Boston Braves had "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." The Cubs have Zambrano and the rhyme ends there.

Even if Lilly returns to form, as he has been starting to do in recent outings, they're still at least one starting pitcher short for the playoffs. Last year, Rich Hill won 11 games with poor run support and was expected to make that jump to the next level this year. Instead, he's riding buses in AAA. Dempster had his first rough outing and certainly doesn't have the history to be counted on. Marquis has already been left off of the past two playoff rosters, and Lieber is old and cranky.

So that means Hendry needs to make a trade for a proven starting pitcher. Well, good luck with that one. Everyone will be looking for that same pitcher and the Cubs farm isn't exactly overflowing with talent. Remember, they couldn't even land Brian Roberts.

In the meantime, it would be nice of they could at least beat the Nationals and Reds to stay in contention long enough to make a trade worthwhile. Come to think of it, let's start today. The Cubs just don't look good in red.