A "Cubbie Occurrence": A Day Off, a Small Victory Earned

The Chicago Cubs had Monday off, but they still gained ground in their division.

The Brewers lost a heartbreaking game to the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 in Milwaukee, moving the Cubs' magic number to clinch the NL Central to 15 and their division lead to 4.5 games.

The Cubs will begin a critical three-game series in St. Louis Tuesday night.

All of this being said, are the Cubs going to turn things around and clinch the division with a blistering final three weeks, or are they going to limp into the playoffs like a wounded hyena and be devoured by a hungry lion?

If the Cubs' players and manager are any indication, things will soon turn around.

After the team's 4-3 loss to the Reds on Sunday, it would have been easy for any player to shun the media. Hell, even Lou Piniella didn't address the press after the game. But what spoke most to me was that the one person who had the most right to ignore media requests (outside of maybe Ronny Cedeno) was Kerry Wood, who blew the save.

In his interview after the game, he admitted that the team was not playing well, but he also said that the team should have won the game. This tells me two things.

One, it tells me that Kerry Wood is a real ballplayer who is willing to stand up and tell it like it is. He admitted freely that the Cubs weren't playing well instead of providing a "aw shucks, the ball just isn't bouncing our way" kind of excuse.

Two, he also recognizes that the team let one get away, and he didn't spend any time giving answers like "we'll get 'em tomorrow." He sees what is going on, and his quiet resolve is something that the team should rally behind.

Derrek Lee also chimed in and provided insight into the Cubs' psyche right now. "We still can't panic. We're still in good shape," Lee said. "We need to be better. We're a better team than this, and we would like to play better. You don't ever want to play under your talent level, and that's what we're doing right now."

His response shows a confidence in the team that a manager like Lou Piniella always pushes for. The statement also recognizes that the team is playing subpar baseball, and he didn't try to make excuses for it.

These are the kind of statements that you want leaders on your team making. Kerry Wood and Derrek Lee both showed in their postgame statements that they are not going to let all the history, all the pain, and all the "curses" to get into their heads.

This is the talk of a team confident in itself, and if their words are any indication, the failures of the past are about to be forgotten in a big way come October.