The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good for this week-I am officially done with all the prelicensing requirements and exams. I start my new job on Monday. The bad-the Cubs lost last night to the Brewers, 6-0. The ugly-the Cubs are now 19 games under .500-and it's only JUNE. As you probably know, I'm not a fairweather fan (kind of a hard thing to be if you root for the Cubbies), but frankly, this team stinks. We are currently 12-20 at home, definitely no better on the road. The only time we can seem to pull it together is when we play the Cardinals-we stand at 7-2. This is one of the worst-looking teams in recent memory-even by Cubs standards. Let's start with the pitching. Of our 4 "best" pitchers (Zambrano, Prior, Wood, Maddux) ONE is performing well. Prior is looking rough, Wood may be done for the season, and Maddux had a month of brilliant pitching before falling apart.


The offense (or rather lack thereof) is even worse. The Cubs now lead the major leagues in number of times shut out. We strand runners on base left and right. Our "leadoff hitter" is batting .248 with a .293 OBP. Meanwhile, Nomar Garciaparra (hey, who did he used to play for? Wait, it was US...) leads the NL in BA and has an OBP of .427...It's time for some BIG changes, people.


Dusty Baker is a good place to start. I've put off saying that for a while, but it's time. Let him finish out his contract this season, and then find someone who can really lead. There is a great Chicago Sun-Times column that makes some compelling arguments on why Dusty should go. Sure, there is some fault that can be attributed to Jim Hendry and the rest of the front office, but Baker is the decision-maker on the field. Payroll has nothing to do with whether or not the players decide to show up and give it some real effort-the manager does.


So there you have it, folks. My unbridled glee for the first month or so of the season has given way to the reality that this may be the first Cubs team to drop 100 games in forty years. So, in true Cubs fashion...there's always next year.