Cubs Tearing Up the National League

It has been a while since my last post, which was bitter to say the least. A month and a half later I can hardly find much to complain about when it comes to the Cubs. They look like the best baseball team in the National League right now (obviously their record doesn't disagree), and after a 7-0 homestand this week, my baseball excitement is at its peak. I can't miss a Cubs game anymore. I make a point to try to watch or listen to every game, and I went to two games during the undefeated homestand. They have just been so entertaining to watch. Their play has been solid all around, and their offense has just been hilarious. Geovany Soto has been incredible, and he looks like he is going to be a legitimate NL all star catcher for years to come in the shadow of Mike Piazza.

Of course there is always room to nitpick and complain about some things, even if your team has looked dominant for the first two months. The starting pitching outside of Zambrano and Dempster has been adequate at best. Ted Lilly has been bad in more starts than he has been good, and Jason Marquis has been bad too (isn't he supposed to be good in the first half of the season?). Sean Gallagher has done pretty decent for stepping up from AAA. I don't know what the hell happened to Rich Hill but whatever it is, I don't like it. I would like to see Lilly step up, I just can't see Dempster finishing the season 20-4. Carlos Marmol has been incredible, but unfortunately I can't say the same about anyone else in middle relief. Howry is starting to look better, and if Neal Cotts can be of any use to this team at all, it would be a super bonus, because I pretty much forgot about his existence on this planet (and he was the setup man of the year in '05 with the Sox). I just don't want Lou to have to put Marmol in every single time they need some clutch outs and burn out his arm before the second half of the season.

 But all in all, the Cubs are looking very good. Even Soriano, who I blasted in my last post is looking good, even though he isn't the textbook definition of a leadoff hitter, and as Bob Brenly said, "You could throw a dart into the dugout and find a better left fielder." But yeah, it's a great time to be a Cubs fan. Even old Jim Edmonds has been slugging well in last couple starts. DeRosa, Theriot, Fukudome, even Micah Hoffpauir, props to them all. Their schedule is looking tougher this month with interleague, but if they can come out of June still ten to fifteen games over .500, it's gonna be an exciting fall in Wrigleyville '08. Go cubbies.