Encourged but realistic

[Scott G. F.]

It's good to see the Cubs win some games. Yesterdays attempt at a sweep in ST. Louis was a good see-saw affiar with the Cubs coming up short. But they battled back after being down. This is a good sign. Yesterdays loss was on the pitching staff.

 

So the Cubs take 2/3 from the Reds and the Cards.

 

***If the Cubs win each series in June (Taking 3 out of 4 vs. the Reds and the Brewers) The Cubs would be back at .500 by June 28th. ***

 

IF is a huge word and probably spoken to often in Diehard Cub fans circles but the season is what it is.

 

Here's to watching some much better baseball.

 

Also, I get the feeling Dusty leaned on his coaching staff and the players are responding. IMO

[Schwarber Fan]

Nice post. It's good to hear some optimism.

 

Don't forget about the return of DLee as well :)

[Scott G. F.]

The Cubs could be 40 and 40 on June 28th.

 

I realize that they would have to play some very good baseball. It seems that have begun to figure somethings out and not press so much. Basically let the game come to them.

 

J. Jones has been very good. Barrett has been great since the punch heard round the world, he'll be missed. Our pitching staff has been hot and cold. If we get quality starts and the O still gives them 3 to 4 runs we have a good chance.

 

Also, The teams we play are the darn near the best in baseball with the Tigers, Twins and W. Sox. But the Cubs almost swept the Best NL team at home.

 

0.500 is a good long term goal for right now. Short term is the next game, inning and pitch.

[Banedon]

Where's the realistic part??? :wink:

 

I kid, I kid.

 

I think the Cubs may be able to catch Milwaukee and Houston. Beyond that, I'm skeptical.

[soapy]

I'm skeptical as well. In my mind, the Cubs should try to shoot for gaining about one game per week. If they were somehow able to do that, they'd be there with the Cardinals by about the end of August or early September.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, but that's the way I'd try to look at it.

[RynoRules]

I'm skeptical as well. In my mind, the Cubs should try to shoot for gaining about one game per week. If they were somehow able to do that, they'd be there with the Cardinals by about the end of August or early September.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, but that's the way I'd try to look at it.

 

A very realistic approach. If they did in fact keep up such a pace, they'd alos find themselves in the WC race, which is much more realistic, IMO.

[JakeSlater]

I'm skeptical as well. In my mind, the Cubs should try to shoot for gaining about one game per week. If they were somehow able to do that, they'd be there with the Cardinals by about the end of August or early September.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, but that's the way I'd try to look at it.

 

Well, we gained a game and a half on the Dodgers this week and are 9 back.

 

Gained a game on the Cards and are 12 1/2 back.

 

Long ways off, and we need to keep winning, but right on the track you laid out

[Scott G. F.]

I'm skeptical as well. In my mind, the Cubs should try to shoot for gaining about one game per week. If they were somehow able to do that, they'd be there with the Cardinals by about the end of August or early September.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, but that's the way I'd try to look at it.

 

A very realistic approach. If they did in fact keep up such a pace, they'd alos find themselves in the WC race, which is much more realistic, IMO.

 

Great point about the WC. I hate admitting to watching the WC race until the divsion is out of reach, but with Pujols out ya' never know.

 

Lets not forget Lindsey Jacobellis, she's the USA's snowboarder that just had to keep upright and the gold was hers. Well she got cute and tried to do a snowbaording trick and landed on her..aa...brains and lost the gold.

 

Point is keep in the race and keep racing. Ya never know when the leader might fall.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm a Cubs fan, I can't help being retardedly optimistic from time to time.

 

The team is hitting, Lee and Prior back within a couple of weeks, the Cardinals are getting hit with injuries, everyone else in the division has stalled, is falling off or stinks like the Cubs have. Hey, maybe...probably not, but a little hope can't hurt.

[Backtobanks]

It does bother me when sportscasters talk about what a "bad" team the Cubs are with or without Lee. I'm not going to go out and bet my life savings on the Cubs winning the WS, but I do think they could contend. As has been stated, winning 6 or 7 series in a row would be a good start to getting back to respectability. I do not think the Cubs are the kind of team that will go on a long winning streak, but it is still early enough to gain ground slowly. Pujols' injury will bring the Cards back to the pack. The Brewers haven't showed the promise that most people predicted for them. The Reds still don't have the pitching to win it all. The Astros will benefit from Clemens return, but I still question their offense. Finally, I think the Cubs have the most flexability with personnel and finances to make a big-time deal.

[soccer10k]

I'm skeptical as well. In my mind, the Cubs should try to shoot for gaining about one game per week. If they were somehow able to do that, they'd be there with the Cardinals by about the end of August or early September.

 

I'm not sure that's possible, but that's the way I'd try to look at it.

 

A very realistic approach. If they did in fact keep up such a pace, they'd alos find themselves in the WC race, which is much more realistic, IMO.

 

Great point about the WC. I hate admitting to watching the WC race until the divsion is out of reach, but with Pujols out ya' never know.

 

Lets not forget Lindsey Jacobellis, she's the USA's snowboarder that just had to keep upright and the gold was hers. Well she got cute and tried to do a snowbaording trick and landed on her..aa...brains and lost the gold.

 

Point is keep in the race and keep racing. Ya never know when the leader might fall.

 

I think Pujols is the key. If he is out for an extended period of time then the Cards will be hurt and opens up the division for anybody that gets hot. The Cubs were playing well before Lee got hurt and Jacque is actually hitting now. If ARam can pick it up when Lee gets back, we'll have a decent lineup. We just need to play well up until Lee gets back.

[Scott G. F.]

I'm just asking for well played baseball. A nice win. Not a tear-your-heart-out type losing that was the month of May.

 

Good to read. I'm not alone in my hope. I can care less about then number and odds. I'm a Cub fan for goodness sake the light might have gone out and all hope might have been lost but suddenly things started up again. You're not dead until you're dead.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm just asking for well played baseball.

 

Wrong place, my friend. Even when we win, it's usually pretty damn ugly.

[coldsteel]

The Cubs are two games ahead of absolute last place in the 16-team National League -- they are 14th out of 16 teams.

[A New Era]

The Cubs are two games ahead of absolute last place in the 16-team National League -- they are 14th out of 16 teams.

 

And 9.5 out of the wildcard.

 

NATIONAL W L Pct GB HOME ROAD RS RA STRK L10

Cincinnati 32 24 .571 - 15-11 17-13 290 278 Won 4 5-5

LA Dodgers 32 25 .561 .5 18-12 14-13 316 248 Lost 1 5-5

San Diego 30 26 .536 2 15-16 15-10 254 236 Won 1 6-4

San Francisco 29 27 .518 3 14-13 15-14 273 263 Won 1 5-5

Philadelphia 29 27 .518 3 16-16 13-11 277 279 Won 1 5-5

Atlanta 28 29 .491 4.5 13-12 15-17 299 294 Lost 4 4-6

Colorado 27 29 .482 5 13-13 14-16 227 259 Lost 5 2-8

Houston 27 30 .474 5.5 18-12 9-18 260 297 Lost 4 2-8

Milwaukee 26 31 .456 6.5 17-12 9-19 273 326 Lost 8 2-8

Washington 25 32 .439 7.5 10-13 15-19 257 270 Won 4 7-3

Chicago Cubs 22 33 .400 9.5 12-14 10-19 218 281 Lost 1 4-6

[Scott G. F.]

The Cubs are two games ahead of absolute last place in the 16-team National League -- they are 14th out of 16 teams.

 

Sounds like a pretty good place to start playing good baseball to me.

[wastra]

Well, i certainly think the post season is out of the picture. At this point, not onyl would we have to seriously outplay the leaders, but also EVERY OTHER TEAM in the NL but one or two...by a BIG margin.

 

But I like the way we've played recently, and that's good because it makes it fun to watch the games when the team plays well. In baseball, it's still fun to take it day-by-day when the post season isn't really a viable option. Right now, our goal should be .500. Once we reach that, we'll see what's possible.

[Wheelimus]

Who knows, it'll all depend on how the Cardinals do without Pujols, and if they make any big moves to compensate. The Central might be shaping up to be a division it won't take a huge amount of wins to take. If that's the case and we get to 40 wins before we get to 40 losses, we have a shot.

 

However, for that to happen I think the following need to happen.

 

#1 - Last nights performance from Juan Pierre needs to become the rule, not the exception. He has to get his butt on base twice a night fairly often. If he continues to falter you have to pull the plug on the experiment and actually think outside the box for once by letting Todd Walker leadoff, followed by Cedeno.

 

#2 - Jacque Jones has got to continue not being Jacque Jones. Who would have thought we'd have a .900 OPS out of him at this point. He needs to at least maintain an .850 OPS or better. It's even to the point that with his crazy high slugging percentage, he's probably the best choice in RF against lefties unless we make a trade. Can't believe I just typed that...

 

#3 - Last night's dominating performance from Z has got to become the standard for Cubs starters. No excuse not too. Wood has got to get healthy and stay that way, and Prior needs to be pre-injury bug Prior. Marshall and Maddux as our 4 & 5 need to be the weakest links in our rotation, and they need to not be all that weak.

 

#4 - Do not, I repeat, do not over rely on Tony Womack. I'm glad he's hitting, I hope we get another season of fluke Cardinals Womack, but 5 or 6 good games cannot buy him 20 bad ones. If he starts to falter, get him out of the 2 hole and get Ronny in there.

 

#5 - Bullpen has to continue to click, and Novoa and Ohman have to continue to improve and grow into important parts.

 

#6 - DLee needs to come back, and be DLee quickly. And ARam needs to start being ARam, finally.

 

A whole lot of "what if's", but if everything falls into place, who the hell knows.

[Sammy Sofa]

Jacque needs to hold on or around what he's doing now just until Lee can come back. The biggest thing that killed this team, besides everyone pressing/slumping almost at once, are the complete disasters of Aramis and Pierre the first 2 months of those years. If they had been anywhere even close to their career numbers the Cubs would have lost half of the games they did. They're still both HUGE liabilities that were supposed to be steady players the rest could rely on.

[RynoRules]

Thing about Womack that is really encouraging is that he is taking walks.

[Warpticon]

I don't see any reason this team can't get back to .500 relatively quickly--by the ASB or soon thereafter. This team is definitely undertalented for the money, but there's no way it's a 10-15 games below .500 team. There are loads of players underperforming, and not a single one overperforming but Jones of late. There's no way that lasts, especially with the players that are coming back. Barring more serious injury setbacks, the team has almost no choice but to get significantly better.

[Warpticon]

Well, i certainly think the post season is out of the picture. At this point, not onyl would we have to seriously outplay the leaders, but also EVERY OTHER TEAM in the NL but one or two...by a BIG margin.

 

But I like the way we've played recently, and that's good because it makes it fun to watch the games when the team plays well. In baseball, it's still fun to take it day-by-day when the post season isn't really a viable option. Right now, our goal should be .500. Once we reach that, we'll see what's possible.

 

Yeah, it's hard to imagine if you look at it that way, but what they really need to do is have a month as hyperbolically good as May was exaggeratively bad, and they'll be in position to just play moderate, good baseball for the remainder of the year. It's no given by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly possible.

[Scott G. F.]

Optimisum in a thread. Kind of nice after the month of May.

As always go Cubs!!

[goonys evil twin]

I don't see any reason this team can't get back to .500 relatively quickly--by the ASB or soon thereafter. This team is definitely undertalented for the money, but there's no way it's a 10-15 games below .500 team. There are loads of players underperforming, and not a single one overperforming but Jones of late. There's no way that lasts, especially with the players that are coming back. Barring more serious injury setbacks, the team has almost no choice but to get significantly better.

 

No, this shouldn't be a sub .400 W% team (and thankfully, now it's not), but it would have to be about a .656 W% team to get over .500 by the ASB. I think the trading deadline is a more realistic option, and even that will take a lot of work.

[JakeSlater]

Thing about Womack that is really encouraging is that he is taking walks.

 

And having Womack in the second spot is lighting a fire under Pierre.

 

Guy is getting hits, taking walks, and stealing bases with Womack up there. Doesn't seem to have any pressure anymore, unlike the past couple months.