Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd has been essentially carrying the Chicago Cubs, sporting a .340 average to go along with his .951 OPS. His 51 hits are second to only Martin Prado in the National League.

A glaring issue with Byrd's season thus far, is his shockingly low walk rate. He has walked only three times, good enough for the worst walk rate in the majors (1.9 percent). Byrd has never been mistaken for a walk machine, but he would set a career low at this pace.

Of course, Byrd's walk rate is acceptable so long as he continues his hit parade, but is that possible?

When asked what his team needed to do to turn it around after a fifth-straight loss to the Pirates, Chicago Cubs skipper Lou Piniella had this to say:

"If we start doing the things that we're capable of doing, I won't have to answer these questions all the time."

But the question remains, can this team turn it around in time to make any noise in the post-season picture?

The quest to find this answer began today with a 4-3 comeback win over the Bucs.

I know it's early and a small sample size. But this shout out to Marlon Byrd goes beyond his early season statistics, which are pretty good by the way.

The man plays the game the right way. He seems to be a genuinely decent human being and a teammate who cares about winning.

In short, he is the opposite of the things many of us dislike about recent Cubs teams.

Sure, the fact that Byrd is hitting .341 with six homers and 24 RBI helps. But it's the way he goes about his business that impresses a cynical, long-time Cubs fan such as myself.

This article was originally published at The Daily Cub.  Visit TheDailyCub.com for more original Chicago Cubs coverage.

One week ago the Cubs were 13-13, coming off of a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and looked to be back on track to get the most out of their team this season.

All was well in Wrigleyville.

The 2010 baseball season has been a fiesta thus far for these outfielders.

As of Cinco de Mayo, the statistics of these amigos speak for themselves.

When they aren’t pushing their teammates across the dish, they are spending their time on the lawn fielding flies and throwing out hopeful base runners.

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If you tune into any one of the Cubs' four upcoming games against the New York Mets, you may get the impression that the umpires misread the calendar and bumped up the first pitch.

But, no fear, Cubs fans, the umps did indeed start the game on time, and, no, they aren’t playing any tricks on you.

That job is left for Lou Piniella, whose latest tinkering of the Cubs lineup may leave you experiencing a slight bout of déjà vu and a sudden onset of nausea.