The 4 And 2 Thud

If it is possible to be severely disappointed by a team that reasonable people had few expectations of excellence, the Cubs have are that team. With the wind blowing out, coming off a sweep of the Cardinals, against a sad-sack team like the Reds, with Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux aligned to make two of the starts, even the most pessimistic fans would think that two wins would be realized.

Well, the Dusty Baker Cubs sure find new ways to fail to meet expectations. The angle now is to exceed them with a flourish only to fall below them with a similar flourish. Then again, having a losing record to the Reds is nothing new for this team.

If the ship is to be righted, they need to do it quickly. Blowing a series at home to the Reds requires picking up those games somewhere else. The next nine games look to hold 3 or 4 wins for the Cubs if you figure 2 wins in Pittsburgh and only 1 win in each of Busch and Dodger stadiums. If you think this is less than optimistic, look at the rotation for the next 9 games:

Marshall
Williams
Rusch
Maddux
Zambrano
Marshall
Williams
Rusch
Maddux

Not much reason for optimism there.

An idealist looked at April and saw 14-9 and a solid start. Looking at it now, the realist says 12-11 would be a lucky outcome.

Well, at least the GM who put together the outstanding rotation has his money locked up. Ironically, so is the money of the smart fan.