Chicago Cubs Baseball

If there is a week that’ll define the Cubs 2007 season, it will be the week that was. Lackluster play to clubhouse fisticuffs with a Lou Piniella ejection thrown in for good measure were all part of a low-light reel that’ll be hard to forget.

I do have one burning question regarding the Carlos Zambrano-Michael Barrett flare-up: How dumb does one have to be to have Zambrano challenge your intelligence?

With that done here’s the weekly Chicago Cubs baseball report card for the week of May 28 to June 3:

Starting Pitching:
Nine weeks into the season and the Cubs finally get a win out of their fifth starter. Some would call that pathetic. When it comes to the Cubs, it’s a minor miracle. Of course, it helps when the offense provides some run support for the starters.

Sean Marshall, in his third start this season, picked up the coveted first win and looked good in doing it. In fact, Marshall and Rich Hill’s Saturday performance were the only efforts keeping the starting staff afloat. Jason Marquis, Ted Lilly and especially Zambrano all recorded poor outings.

Relief Pitching:
Fortunately for Cub relievers, the rest of the team played so poorly that the bullpen wasn’t in many positions to blow any leads. Of course, that didn’t stop lefty Will (Bad) Ohman from taking the loss on Saturday in his only appearance of the week.

How bad are some of these guys? Michael Wuertz gave up five earned runs in two innings. Not to be outdone, in two relief efforts this week Scott Eyre gave up nine hits, two walks and three earned runs.

Entering June, it looks like the Cubs are down to two reliable relievers - Carlos Marmol and Ryan Dempster. And the Cubs are supposed to challenge for a division title with that?

Hitting:
Remember when Alfonso Soriano hit home runs in two consecutive games? If you do, you’d know it was almost a month ago to the day. Soriano now has six on the year which for those who are keeping count, is exactly 40 short of what he finished with last year.

Although Derrek Lee is leading the league in hitting, he’s proven vulnerable to the pitch on the outside corner. Opposing pitchers seem to be catching on if you watched any of this week’s series with the Braves.

It’s a good thing Aramis Ramirez didn’t wait until August to get heated up this year. The third baseman is really the Cubs only consistent long ball threat and RBI guy - among the league leaders in both.

Base Running:
Base running faux pas was one of the more glaring problems in this disastrous week. The Cubs consistently ran themselves out of innings with Mark DeRosa, Angel Pagen, Hill and Barrett the chief Cub run amoks. All four were thrown out or picked off en route to third - at a time when the Cubs desperately needed runs.

If the Cubs collapse continues I can’t help but think when the $300 million bill comes due third base coach Mike Quade’s name will be in the discussion.

Defense:
A season-long strong suit also went sour during the May dive and June swoon. Dropped balls, errant throws and out of place defenders were part of the norm. I’m finding out it’s as hard to write about these guys as it was to watch them.

Managing:
Piniella’s frustration hit the boiling point on Saturday with his first patented Lou Tirade as the Cubs skipper. The Saturday blow-up resulted in Lou being tossed from the game and suspended indefinitely while his case his reviewed by Major League Baseball.

Lou knows baseball. But even the strongest and the wisest couldn’t have expected what’s ensued this season. I wonder who’s picking up his therapy bill?