If if’s and but’s were homers not bunts, oh what a wonderful week it would have been for Chicago Cubs baseball. Despite an offense that has yet to heat up with the summer temps, the Cubs managed to scrape together their second winning week in a row.

While a 4-3 mark did nothing to get the Cubs back into the National League Central Division race, Chicago is proving it has the parts in place to play with any one. Now if the Cubs can just manage to stay out of any bean-ball wars…

For a little off-day reading fodder, and to celebrate another week of Chicago Cubs baseball here’s the weekly report card for June 11 to June 17:

Starting Pitching:
There’s nothing that symbolizes Chicago Cubs baseball better than wasting the best pitching performance of the week. Since declaring it a “new season” after bloodying teammate Michael Barrett has been nothing short of spectacular. He continued that form on Saturday, taking a no-hitter into the eighth. Unfortunately, Chicago batters couldn’t scrape up a run or two and Zambrano finished with a two-hit, 1-0 loss.

With the exception of Rich Hill’s Sunday fiasco, it may have been the best combined pitching effort of the season by Cub starters and the bullpen. Ted Lilly rebounded nicely after being tossed against Atlanta, while Sean Marshall continues to pitch like anything but a fifth starter.

If the Cub arms continue to stay healthy and the bats eventually heat up, it could be an interesting September.

Relief Pitching:
After two-and-a-half months of baseball, it looks like Cub manager Lou Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild finally have the Chicago bullpen figured out. The formula of sticking with Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry as the right-hand set-up men keeping the ball out of Scott Eyre’s hands has provided dividends in the past two weeks.

Howry and closer Ryan Dempster have been particularly impressive during the Cubs rebound from a disastrous May. Dempster picked up three saves over the week, while Howry nabbed one of his own.

Now, if these guys could ever get some run support…

Hitting:
When is the vaunted bats going to come alive? That’s the $52 million question or roughly what Chicago Cub management is shelling out this year for position players. While the stats show the offense ranked sixth among National League teams in most offensive categories, Cub batters continue to post numbers that were expected.

It doesn’t help leading home run and RBI hitter Aramis Ramirez has been shelved the past two weeks, or Derrek Lee, Jacque (Not Jacks) Jones has yet to find their home run strokes. Speaking of Lee, Saturday’s altercation with San Diego’s Chris Young landed the Cub first baseman a five-game suspension. It may be reduced with appeal, but Lee will still miss some important games heading into the All-Star break.

Alfonso Soriano launched his first Wrigley power shot as a Cub, but his back-peddling antics, did nothing but get Lee unnecessarily plunked. Oh, Alfonso.

Base Running:
When no base-running news is coming out of the Cubs camp, you know it’s been a good week. Of course, you have to have base runners before they can commit to a faux pas.

Defense:
The Cubs defense committed five errors in seven games the past week, hardly the stuff Gold Gloves are made of. Fortunately, none really impacted the outcomes of any of the games - including Zambrano’s gem on Saturday.

Defensive lapses are hardly surprising, considering injuries and long, close games have forced Piniella to shuffle his infield.

Rookie Felix Pie’s presence has brought continuity to the Cubs’ oufield. If Jones or Angel Pagan could ever find their strokes the Cubs could have one of the better defensive outfields in the NL Central.

Managing:
It’s been noted elsewhere Piniella’s learning curve of Chicago Cub baseball has been longer than even he expected. But 11 weeks into the season it looks like Piniella’s starting to settle in. The lineups have been more consistent, as has his use of the bullpen.

Now if he can only get hitting coach Gerald Perry to teach the Cubs to hit the baseball and not others it could be a happy summer after all.