In recent years, the Chicago Cubs were much like the Palestinians - they never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Under Lou Piniella, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Despite a rough two weeks, the Cubs have returned to Wrigley with a vengance. Taking three from the Diamondbacks, while really 7 months later than would have been ideal, went a long way towards undoing the recent sluggishness. Reasonably, two wins were all that you could expect from this team against Arizona. The third win was a very nice bonus. Now, with 6 more left to play on this homestand against the dreck that is Pittsburgh and San Diego, the goal for this team should be to win 5 of those games.

If they take five, they could start to run away with this division. Under any previous team (read: manager), expecting them to exceed expectations would be a stupid thing to do.

Not so anymore.