The Cubs got back to the .500 mark this past Saturday but their time at .500 didn’t last long because since then they’ve lost three straight. They finished up with a loss against the Dodgers then dropped two straight against the Rockies before yesterday’s game was rained out. They’re in fifth place at 10-13 but the good news is the top team barely has a winning record so the Cubs sit just 2 1/2 games back. There’s still plenty of ball left to play so the Cubs can get themselves back into this.
While his batting average isn’t much to write home about, it’s nice to see Alfonso Soriano hitting the ball out of the park again. His seven home runs and sixteen RBIs leads the team. Darwin Barney is off to a nice start with a .329 average and thirteen RBIs while Starlin Castro is hitting .350 with 17 runs. The Cubs team batting average is nice at .280 but they’re closer to the middle in slugging and down near the bottom in home runs.
Of course the pitching has been downright horrible. The big trade guy, Matt Garza, leads the team in ERA but it’s just 4.11 and he’s 0-4. Still, I like the 41 strikeouts and only nine walks. Carlos Zambrano is 2-1 despite a 5.28 ERA and Ryan Dempster has been downright awful.
The Cubs head out west to Arizona for a four game set and hopefully Dempster can right the ship tonight. Any wins at this point can help push them up that NL Central ladder. You wonder if the Cubs keep this up, whether it’ll be easier or not to get Cubs tickets later in the season. I like some of this team’s pieces, but I don’t know if they have the staying power.
