Worry Level

[Joe_Cub]

it's a brutal stretch and it stays brutal through the st louis series. good thing the cubs built up a little bit of a cushion heading into this.

[Derwood]

if we leave St. Louis in 2nd place....THEN i'll be worried

[Outshined_One]

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being "None" and 10 being "1969," I'm at a 3.5 right now.

 

Given this team's current injuries, I'm not overly worried since I think the Cubs will get better as they get Zambrano, Soriano, and Johnson back in the near future. If the Cubs make a trade or two over the coming weeks, we'll be in prime position to make a run.

 

However, if the Cubs lose 6 out of 7 to SF and St. Louis on the road, I'll push the panic button. The Cardinals and Brewers are still lurking. I'm not all to comfortable with this team after watching their terrible showings against the Rays, Orioles, and White Sox (at the Cell). All are good teams, yes, but so are the Cubs. Going 1-8 in those series is pretty sad. If this team goes into the break more than 3 games up on the Cardinals or Brewers, I'll be feeling good.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic...for now.

[hawkeyecub]

What's Theriot's mirage start? He had a .415 OBP in April and a .407 OBP in May. In June his OBP is .366 but he's hitting .322 and I haven't noticed a major indication that his walk rate will remain that low.

 

The last 7 days he's 8-17 with a double and a walk. We know his slugging from April was way too high but the guy has consistently been racking up singles and taking a good amount of walks for half the season now.

 

They're not playing all that well right now, they're playing good teams and they're banged up. It happens. We had won 6/7 before the Tampa series. We got swept by a very good team on the road with 3 close games. Then we swept the Sox. We lost 2/3 to the Orioles but we probably win 2/3 if Z was healthy and even then we lost a close game with a chance to win in the 9th. Friday was terrible, yesterday was a 1-run game with a couple of tough breaks (Geo's line drive, Edmonds not being able to score because of injury) and tonight they hit the home runs and we didn't.

 

I'm not worried.

[CubInOK]

With the news on Aramis, I'm kinda scared. It's now very possible we will be in 2nd or up by only .5 of a game going into STL.

[CyHawk_Cub]

Being a Cubs fan means I'm always worried, but right now I'm not any more worried than normal. I agree w/ the sentiment that this is just a rough patch, largely attributable to injuries. I think we'll be fine once guys get healthy.

[SouthSideRyan]

They suck, we all know that, but we are still the Cubs. Stupid baseball is what we do.

 

Horrible, just a horrible sentence. People need to get over this woe is us, things will never change BS. Laundry doesn't play stupid, players do. The Cubs players have played poorly for the last week. THEY HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE NL(.5 GAME FROM BEST IN BASEBALL)

 

Stupid crap like "we're still the Cubs" is the drivel you get from ancient homers like Marty Brennaman and Mike Shannon. People who make Joe Morgan look like a reasoned thoughtful individual.

[XZero771679666304]

I'm irritated, but not worried. It's a brutal stretch in the schedule, played while Z and Soriano out.

 

And as abuck said, the irritation stems mainly from the boneheaded play. Once Z and Sori get back (and Hendry gets another SP,hopefully), all will be good. I fully expect the Cubs to win 8 or 9 of the 13 games remaining before the ASB.

 

 

Barring more injuries, this is the chance for the Crew and Cards to catch up to the Cubs. If they don't do it by mid-July, it's not going to happen (IMO).

[GlassCow]

Life as a Cubs fan hasn't been too tight this past 2 weeks, but the baseball leading into them has ruled. We just need to get some guys healthy again and stop doing idiotic things to beat ourselves and good times will prevail.

[twothousandfive]

I'm not worried at all, because if/when Zambrano returns, I believe they have 4 starters they can count on -- Marshall last night confirmed, for me, the he belongs in the rotation. Add last night to last season, and he is better than Marquis. Simple as that. Gallagher, if he fades or struggles, can swap out with Marquis for starter #5/5A, and Leiber is always available for the odd double header, + injury and fatigue issue.

 

Ascanio belongs, so with Marmol, Wood, Ascanio and Cotts (at least until Eyre comes back) they've got 7, 8, and 9 covered. They look to have avoided season-ending injuries, so that time on the DL ends up providing a pretty nice rest (which Ramirez will now get, as well).

 

The schedule suggests that if they are in first at the end of July, they should be able to extend their lead. Coming out of St. Louis, if they are in first place, it will be tough to imagine them not playing well enough post-ASB to stay in front.

[apete6]

They suck, we all know that, but we are still the Cubs. Stupid baseball is what we do.

 

Horrible, just a horrible sentence. People need to get over this woe is us, things will never change BS. Laundry doesn't play stupid, players do. The Cubs players have played poorly for the last week. THEY HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE NL(.5 GAME FROM BEST IN BASEBALL)

 

Stupid crap like "we're still the Cubs" is the drivel you get from ancient homers like Marty Brennaman and Mike Shannon. People who make Joe Morgan look like a reasoned thoughtful individual.

 

How is that a stupid sentence? Hasn't stupid baseball been a staple of the Cubs under every manager the last 60 years or so? Guys like Soriano, Cedeno, Theriot (this year), and Fukudome (lately) haven't exactly been baseball geniuses. The play where AJ tagged Marquis out after a wild throw to first last weekend is another example of a guy who knows what he's doing getting a guy out who had let up.

 

I'm sorry that PECOTA and other statistics can't figure stuff like this into the equation, but it happens. There's a reason why teams like last years D-Backs make the post season once in a while.

 

The Cubs should still win this division, but a few more injuries and a run of losses is going to make this summer a heck of a lot more worrisome that it should be. This year is becoming very 2004-ish. That Cubs team had some holes and injuries, but with that talent--especially with Wood & Prior back at the end of the year, there was no excuse for not even making the postseason. Unfortunately, I'm starting to see a repeat performance, but won't be officially concerned until they fall out of 1st place.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

i'm not worried, but i'm annoyed for the first time this season. they're playing pretty stupid baseball.

 

And the Cardinals pretty much never play stupid baseball. That is the main cause for worry. They suck, we all know that, but we are still the Cubs. Stupid baseball is what we do.

 

I was out of town and didn't see any of the Royals series, but prior to that, the Cardinals had:

 

-Walked in at least 5 runs, including a game-loser to Detroit

 

-Had Ankiel fall down on a routine ball, turning an out into a triple and a run in a game they eventually lost in extras

 

-Had a runner on 3rd get tagged out as part of a 5-3 double play

 

-Threw a ball into right field trying to get a force out they had little chance of getting

 

This is from the last week or two, and from memory, and from a guy who watches maybe 3 innings of the Cardinals per game.

[RynoRules]

I am peeved we got swept by one of our rivals. That said, if the Cubs were red hot all season long they'd finish with 110-120 wins. Pretty unrealistic.

 

If they get healthy and still play badly, then I will worry. Let's just play .500-.525 ball until the ASB and regroup.