There's No Crying in Baseball

That doesn't mean the Cubs' string of foul play recently doesn't make a fan consider it.

It seems like every dark thought fans had in the back of their minds during the spring have come to roost in the glorious play of the Cubs in May. Fielding, pitching and hitting have all had moments of pure disaster. You can't get too smug about your team without those elements succeeding, can you?

Even Sweet Lou is getting a little terse. Not that I blame him. The media in Chicago is relentless and specific.

The return of Soriano did no great shakes in the field or at the plate. I still think he's going to put something together. He does have some great physical ability. The rest of the gang have all had moments as well. At least Lee seems to be back on track after a disappointing last season. Many of the others tend to look good as well. Theriot, Soto, Ramirez, Fukudome, Cedeno, Fontenot, Dempster, Marmol and Big Z. Others have proved worthy in spots and well worth cheering for. I am a fan of Reed Johnson. Guys like that have been missing on the North Side.

Sounds great. So what the hell is going on?

The rest of the starting pitching is lame. Lilly is close to being on track, I think, but the others have been ugly. Even the usually steady Lieber looked awful in his recent start. Wood has been spotty as well. I'm clinging to hope there, Woody's stuff still looks good to me. He just needs to throw strikes.

They really need a dose of Wrigley to get their heads straight again. After suffering at the hands of the NL Central in recent games, they needed the day off today. They've been stretching the bullpen hard and that will hurt in September if they don't get innings from starters.

At least nobody has gotten in a bench brawl this year or left blowup dolls in the clubhouse to distract them even worse than some bad games.