This blog has been dark for a while because the Cubs are rather uninteresting right now. They've been playing lousy teams and beating them as they should. They have a 2 game lead over St. Louis in the loss column, so all is well. With all this, you figure that the weather was beautiful last night, so why stay inside to watch a decent team play a lousy team.

Good choice given the Cubs' play. So, they got shut out. Big deal. Over 162 games, nights like this are going to happen. You run into a decent pitcher who has a good game and the better team losses.

But then you wake up and read the paper and you read some very disturbing things. Things that make you VERY glad you didn't stay and watch the game.

- Cincinnati's Justin Lehr pitched a shutout in only his second big-league start. But he's not a real rookie. He's 32. And he's won a game before. As recently as 2006!

- Aaron "Neifi" Miles not only played, but batted second making you wonder if Dusty Baker made out both lineups last night. Miles lived up to all out expectations with an 0-3 and a non-hustle grounder to short that he lollipopped to first too late for an out. Piniella said: "Let's hope he's just rusty." Oh, Lou! How kind you are! We all know you didn't want to say "rusty."

Hey, that's an idea. The Murtons got a dog last week and named him Rusty. Maybe we should change his name to Aaron? Oops. Can't. We took the dog back. Damn good thing we didn't adopt the dog at Jim Hendry's Pound where you are required to keep a dog no one else wants for two years.

- The Cubs only got 4 hits suggesting everyone took, "a day off a little too early," as Rich Harden said. Even Alfonso Soriano, who woke up for a few games last week, flashed his instincts as a baseball player and got picked off again.

You know, if the Cubs are going to take days off on game days, we can all take a day or two off and not pay attention to them. It's not like we expected this team to be any good. Even Lou knows this. "St. Louis is the team to beat. Let's not lose sight of that. They have a good ballclub and they have added some nice firepower to their lineup. Let's put the attention on them and leave us alone."

Sounds like a good idea.