No confidence in Cubs

As a Cubs fan, I should be feeling pretty good right now about the team. We just finished a tough seventeen games in seventeen days stretch, almost all against winning teams. (Only the makeup game on June 11 versus Houston was a matchup against a team with a losing record.) In those seventeen games, which started with the June 1 Big Z-Mike B fight and ended with the bench-clearing series with the Padres, the Cubs went 9-8. No, not the greatest run ever, but considering that in the last seventeen games before the stretch the Cubs went 6-11, I would say it was a great improvement.

And I should be feeling good that now the team is in the easy portion of their schedule. First there is three at the Texas Rangers, who are the worst team in baseball, followed by three at the White Sox, who just finished an eighteen loss out of twenty-two game run. Then there’s a series against the Rockies, who are a nice squad and a big weekend three-gamer against the first place Brewers. To start off July there’s ten games versus the National, Pirates and Astros, all of whom are nine games or more under .500. First place, here we come!

Yet for some reason I am not feeling optimistic about this team. Maybe it’s the controversy always surrounding the team, from the crazy pitcher to the outcast catcher to the temper-tantrum skipper to the ‘slugging’ first baseman. Perhaps it’s the shaky bullpen, who can never seem to hold a lead, or the inconsistent offense, who seems to fall asleep at the eight inning of every game no matter the score. Or maybe 2003 is still somewhere in my brain and I’m just not able to get fully excited about a Cubs team. Whatever the reason is, I just haven’t jumped on the bandwagon quite yet.

I do believe that the team will do well this week at these American League parks. Aramis Ramirez is expected to be in the lineup, most likely as a designated hitter. Cliff Floyd has been hitting the ball better lately, as has Mark DeRosa. And the young guys, Ryan Theriot, Felix Pie and Mike Fontenot, are all getting more familiar with playing every day. Even with D-Lee out for the first five games of the road trip, due to the suspension from Saturday’s jabbing session, I still expect Lou’s Crew to go at least 4-2 versus Texas and the Sox. (I also expect some guy on the Cubs to get thrown out of a game, because really, what’s a week in the Cubs season without some sort of ejection?)

But in the long run, is this team good enough to make the playoffs? I’m still not sure, which is probably the main reason why I’m reluctant to support the team. When the starting pitching is strong, the lineup doesn’t get hits (see Saturday vs. the Padres). When the offense scores a lot, which happens about once a month, it immediately goes back into a funk. And the bullpen still cannot be trusted. I don’t think the Brewers are a very good team and are definitely able to be caught in the division. But are the Cubs consistent and controlled enough to catch them?