With less than two months remaining in the 2009 season, Chicago Cubs baseball sits one game back in the Central Division standings and two games back in the hunt for the wild card slot.

Both within striking distance of either a third consecutive division title or a trip into the playoffs.  Both are achievable and attainable as well.

Despite the Cubs themselves and the countless number of squandered opportunities this 2009 season has wrought.

So what happens if neither of these reachable goals are attained?  How will this baseball season be judged?  Is a second or third place finish in the Central Division good enough for a nation of winning starved fans?

The mainstream media has attached any number of adjectives to the next two weeks’ worth of games.  Pivotal and critical are but two of the descriptors assigned to series involving Colorado, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.  You can throw in games against Pittsburgh and San Diego if you care to be precise.

Given the nature of the Chicago Cubs season thus far, this team is as capable of running off 10 wins in the next 16 games as falling completely flat and desperately out of contention.

And in my opinion, neither would be that great of a surprise to Cubdom.  It’s been that kind of a season.

Regardless of the outcome, the one thing the Cubs brass is certain - and counting on - is that Cubdom is a forgiving lot.   From the top of the Chicago organization on down, Hendry and brass are banking on that even with a cadre of all-star caliber talent and its $134 million payroll the underachieving Cubs are safe from the wrath of outraged fans.

Sure, grumbling will ensue if the Cubs do manage to miss this year’s playoff.  Which is extremely likely given the on-off switch the team can’t seem to find.  Whatever happens, however, Chicago Cubs baseball will not become a healthcare reform townhall meeting.

The endless stream of Cub injuries has assured the organization of that.  Talk about a built-in excuse.  I can’t remember a season in recent or not-so-recent past that a Cubs team has been beset with as many players on the disabled list as this year’s club.

And the list may have a new face added, depending on the outcome of Carlos Zambrano’s MRI.  With Zambrano, however, it’s difficult to say whether the problem exists from the neck on up or the shoulders on down.

Oddly enough, the player who’s health was considered the question mark before the season began has logged nearly as many innings as any of the starting pitchers.  Rich Harden, he of the glass shoulder, has 104 innings pitched - not that many less than either Zambrano, Ted Lilly or Ryan Dempster.

One has to wonder how good Jason Marquis would have looked in a Cubs uniform this year.  He’s on pace to pitch close to 200 innings this year and his two complete games is one more than the entire Chicago staff.

But if Hendry would have kept Marquis, along with Mark DeRosa, etc… whom would he have to blame?  Himself?

Now that the weekend series with the Washington Nationals is over, Chicago Cubs baseball can resume major league play.

But, like everything else that seems to enter the Cubs’ world, there’s a mixture of good and bad news.  Giving the worse first, the Cubs meet the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies,  a team as solid from top to bottom as there is in the National League.

On the bright side, in playing the Phillies in a three-game set, there’s no better yardstick for the Cubs to measure themselves than facing a championship ball club.  There’s no better time than the present to find out whether there’s stagger or swagger left in these Cubs steps with a bit more than two months of baseball left.

Especially after the quadfecta the Cubs pulled off against Washington.  What Chicago accomplished was the equivalent of a beer pong shot that lands on top of four cups simultaneously.

And it carried as much impact as a hole-in-one on a Putt-Putt course.

How hapless are the Nats?  Aramis Ramirez cracked his first home run since returning from two months on the disabled list with a dislocated shoulder, and one day after telling reporters not to expect any display of home run power in the coming months.

If that wasn’t enough even Alfonso Soriano managed to break out of a 0-for-eternity home run slump to hit a pair of home runs in the weekend series.  And that after he dislocated his pinky finger sliding into first base in Thursday’s game.

As nice as those wins were, the Cubs needed a reality check.  Unfortunately, those in Cubdom quickly found out that reality bites.

Just one game into their series with Philadelphia, the Cubs came back to earth.  The landing wasn’t for the meek of spirit or the weak of heart.

The Phillies disposed of Chicago, 10-1, and made the Cubs’ lone all-star representative, Ted Lilly, look like he was a mercy pick.  The only thing missing from the pounding was Lilly slamming his glove to the ground ala NLDS 2007.

Regardless of the outcome of the remaining two games, there’s little doubt the Cubs needed this series.  With seven home games coming up against Central Division rivals, Chicago’s mettle and its mental states required a measuring stick.

And if the Phillies happen to sweep the Cubs?  Well, there’s always hope.  That’s something every Chicago Cubs fan is used to.

So this is where the first half of Chicago Cubs baseball has taken us.  After 82 games, the loyal fans of Cubdom have been treated to a seemingly endless display of hitting ineptitude, a mountain of general malaise and the equivalent in sports parlance, of kissing one’s sister.

Or to put it more bluntly, a ho-hum 41-41 record.  And as we’re reminded nearly daily, with all the underachieving - not to mention the never-ending parade of injured Cub players to the disabled list - how lucky we are they’ve given us this much.

And the sad truth - from GM Jim Hendry to manger Lou Piniella to each and any of the players - is they’re right.  Both the Chicago Cubs and their fans are “lucky” to have a break-even record and remain within striking distance of the Central Division leaders.

It’s as important to note that the National League Central is probably the weakest division in baseball.  And in case you haven’t looked the Cubs are nearly equal distance from the bottom as they are from the top.

Just be thankful, when the Baseball Gods were aligning divisions the Pittsburgh Pirates were thrown into the Central mix.   And the Pirates brain trust with it.

If the Pirates were able to keep half the players they give away in each season’s fire sale, the club could likely be perennial contenders.  And where would that put the Cubs?

At least Cubdom has Hendry and his Wall Street-like payroll.  And for as little as the Cubs (and its loyal fans) have gotten for their money, so far this season no catcher has come away with a fat lip ala Michael Barrett.

In fact, the only thing Cub batters have been able to hit with consistency has been the Gatorade dispenser.   Even that’s been removed for a less hittable model.

But the Cubs have enough “big names” on their roster to fill any Times Square marquee.  And don’t worry about them going anywhere.  Thanks to Hendry these star-power players have contracts so big and so long that no clear thinking general manager in baseball would be willing to touch them.  Or want to.

These guys are locked in tighter than an AIG bonus and better yet, they’re all of ours to watch and groan over for the next ump-teen years.

Besides a Cubs uniform, there’s no place else where you can find that kind of security - except maybe, Bernie Madoff’s prison cell.

As Hendry has shown us, mediocrity doesn’t come cheap.  There’s a price to pay for kissing your sister and Hendry has proven he’s willing to spend it for that kind of thrill.

Now do you see how lucky we Cub fans are?