Chicago Cubs

As we say farewell to the month of May, the Chicago Cubs find themselves in fourth place in the National League Central Division.  Chasing the Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds won't be easy for the Cubs, but the veteran-laden and two-time defending N.L. Central champs appear to have nowhere to go but up.

The Cubs' season so far has been filled with injuries, suspensions, blowouts, nail-biters, missed opportunities, unknown players filling roster spots, and a partridge in a pear tree.

A couple of weeks ago, Kenny Williams put together a package of four players that was acceptable to the San Diego Padres in exchange for ace starter Jake Peavy.

Peavy used his no-trade clause. The old, "I'm flattered, but not coming," routine.

Now in the last few days, reports out of Houston are that the Sox have had a scout following the Astros and watching their ace, Roy Oswalt, because of an interest in him joining Chicago's South Siders.

The Chicago Cubs look like they have started to take away some of the question marks surrounding this team. 

How can a pitching staff that's so good on paper (maybe the best in the National league, when healthy) keep losing one run games? Ted Lilly got the win in a close 2-1 ballgame. 

How can an offense that was so potent and productive last year not be scoring runs consistently? The Cubs, combined with a masterful performance from Ryan Dempster, shut out the Dodgers 7-0. 

The Cubs have been one of baseball’s big disappointments this season.

The only team that has underachieved more has been the Yankees, but since A-Rod came back, they have been on a tear, which leaves the Cubs all alone.

However, through the past five games, they have gone 4-1, which may be an anomaly in a disappointing season. But it could also start to signal change.

The Cubs haven’t been pulling off small, one-run wins.  They have won three of their past four wins by at least three runs.

This time, it's the Dodgers feeling blue as the Cubs win 7-0.

Last season, the Dodgers spoke almost boastfully of how well they scouted Ryan Dempster, using advanced reports to help beat the Cubs 7-2 in Game 1 of the NLDS. Apparently, they've lost the playbook, as Dempster and the Cubs bullpen combined on a five-hit, 7-0 shutout of the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon.

Look, there are a lot of reason why one might say that the Cubs won this game, and frankly, why they looked so completely different than we've seen them over the last month.

This is what personally annoys me more than anything about the Cubs.  Since they started their run as National League Central champs in 2007, there has been no consistency in the starting rotation.

Now, the rotation has been good overall, but not as good as it should be, IMO.

In 2007, the Cubs had three starters that could have been considered the staff ace, if you will.  Ted Lilly, Rich Hill, and supposed ace Carlos Zambrano were all really neck and neck for this title.

Ted Lilly

15-8, 3.83 ERA, 207 IP, 174 K, in 34 starts

Wrapping up what has been a very enjoyable series for me to write as a die-hard Cubs fan, I put together my list of top Cubs closers.

I have learned a lot about some Cubs I did not know prior to this, and I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have.

If this is your first read of the series, and you are a Cubs fan, I encourage you to read the previous seven of the series.

Filed:May 28th, 2009

Click here for the photo gallery of Thursday's game

They're deep. They have a real good pitching staff. They're athletic; even balanced. And they're the best team in the National League.

They're the Dodgers, and they're everything the Cubs were supposed to be this year once, you know, they got more left-handed.

The bats were finally heating up, they had won two games in a row. And, as Bob Brenly said, "they watched the Dodgers do their thing."

The Dodgers "thing" is great ground ball pitching, and small-ball baseball.

The Cubs watched helplessly as former Cub, Juan Pierre, laced a ball up the middle for a single. Then Pierre displayed his incredible speed by taking second (and probably could've taken third) as Soto had trouble transferring the ball from his glove to his hand. Whether Soto gets that ball in his hand or not, Pierre's safe. 

When Alfonso Soriano was acquired by the Washington Nationals prior to the 2006 season, the club wanted to convert him from a second baseman to an outfielder. The Nats already had a second baseman in Jose Vidro, but Soriano wanted no part of the switch and sat out a few spring training games as a protest.

Eventually, Soriano gave in to the wishes of his manager (so as not to forfeit any salary) and made the All-Star Game as a left-fielder.