Don't Count Out Cubs Quite Yet

After losing seven of their last nine games to the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates, many Cub fans have been left scratching their heads. Now, payroll does not necessarily translate into wins, any baseball fan knows this. However, when your starting pitcher - turned middle-reliever - turned starter and your hot and cold, defensively challenged left-fielder make about the same as an entire organization and you can only scratch across two wins against them...well, something isn't quite right.

Run support has been the major culprit. The Cubs rank 10^th in the NL in batting average and 13^th in runs scored. The bullpen has been horrendous as well, with Marmol being the only dependable reliever. Yet the Cubs aren't out of the race in the NL Central quite yet.

A habitually underachieving division, this year is no different in the Central. As of June 2^nd the Cubs are seven games out of first place. It seems like a lot of ground to make up, but St. Louis is inconsistent, Milwaukee has one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, and I can't see Cincinnati holding their pace. And oh yeah, its only June 2^nd! There is plenty of baseball left to be played.

Another thing to keep in mind is the weaknesses that the Cubs have shown in the first two months of the season. Their 3 and 4 hitters, Lee and Ramirez, have been nothing short of terrible. Their season long slumps can't continue much longer and both are traditionally slow starters anyway. Significant contributions from Soriano, Soto, Byrd, and newly called up short-stop Starlin Castro have given this team hope because once the big boys get going there is no telling how many runs this team can score.

The pitching staff has also been better than years past. A team ERA of 4.10 is nothing to be ashamed of and that includes Zambrano's ghastly 6.12 and Randy Wells' recent struggles. If the Cubs can start scoring runs like they are capable of with contributions from their historically most consistent players than it won't be much of a surprise to see them at the top of the standings in September. Remember, they play 162 games for a reason.