Chicago Cubs Baseball

One down, one in progress and two left to play. So it begins, the Chicago Cubs meet Milwaukee in the latest, most important series of the season.

To think it’s only July. Is there enough heart medicine or Old Style to get Cubdom through the dog days of August and the race to the post-season in September? Let’s not even think about October and the World Serious.

One important series at a time, please.

Post-season baseball is better than two months away, both the Cubs and Milwaukee got a preview of what may await Monday night. In the Chicago Cubs 6-4 thriller at the Miller, it was a heavyweight classic of punch-counterpunch.

”The fans were into it,” Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. ”The players were into it. It was well played with a lot of clutch hitting, a lot of clutch pitching and good defensive plays. And from the fans’ standpoint, it was a playoff atmosphere, the way they responded to things that were happening on the field. Pretty good way to start a July series.”

Amen.

While Milwaukee showered the seats with home run shots, collecting three on the night, Chicago Cubs baseball re-discovered an old friend - the timely base hit. The Cubs banged out 11 hits against Milwaukee pitching, including nine off of Brewer super ace C.C. Sabathia.

It was the first time since April a team had registered nine hits against the hefty lefty.

Chicago Cubs’ bats weren’t the only show in town, however. Starter Ted Lilly went pitch-for-pitch with Sabathia, while the bullpen - with the exception of struggling Bob Howry - turned in admirable efforts. Carlos Marmol looks to be coming closer to regaining his old form and setup man Chad Gaudin may be the steal of the trade with Oakland.

Bigger than the Cubs win, may have been the boost in confidence. After struggling at the plate since the All-Star break Chicago bats found their sizzle - at least for one game.

And as we know, every great journey begins with a single step.

It’s no secret Carlos Zambrano is an excitable guy. Anyone who’s followed Chicago Cubs baseball over the past seven seasons knows the staff ace is as likely to pout over a base on balls as he is to square with a teammate in a dugout brawl.

Zambrano’s emotional antics have run the gamut from comical to disconcerting. But what many of didn’t know prior to Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Houston is that the illogically logical Zambrano has a career in psychology once he hangs up his cleats.

Here’s five reasons why Carlos Zambrano will make a great psychologist:

1. He would have more emotional issues than most of his patients: Anyone who’s ever spent time on the couch or has known someone in the mental health field knows that after one session of listening to their problems, any baggage you brought in seems insignificant. By his admission, Zambrano concedes he may be lacking in the self control department. “I wasn’t controlling myself. That’s the most important thing,” he said. “You can be mad at yourself, you can be mad at the batter, but you have to stay in control.”
2. Zambrano understands the human mind as much as psychologists do: Which is to say, not so much. But in Zambrano’s world and the minds of most psychologists even the absurd can seem logical. For example, ponder this gem from Zambrano explaining his emotional outbursts. ”I think I’m a smart guy,” he said. ”A few times I’m out of my game, but I don’t show it. But sometimes I show that I’m out of my game just to make them think I’m out of my game, but I’m not.”
3. He’s not afraid of confrontation. Whether it’s facing off against A.J. Pierzynski or an entire Wrigley Field crowd, Zambrano isn’t afraid of facing his challengers - or accusers - or whatever demons he happens to hear on that particular day. Which anyone who’s ever failed in a 12-step program knows - if you can’t admit you have a problem, blame it on somebody else.
4. He has an aggressive methodology. Or as some might call it, the “Tough Love” approach. One day after pummeling teammate Michael Barrett, Zambrano apologized and called his catcher “brother.” Whatever the methodology Zambrano used, it worked. The relationship was healed when Barrett was peddled to San Diego shortly thereafter.
5. He’s a Chicago Cub. I believe anyone player who spends any length of time in a Chicago Cubs uniform eventually turns towards a psychologist or becomes one. In Zambrano’s case, and for the reasons stated above, a career in the mental health field awaits.

This is what Chicago Cubs baseball fans have been waiting for.

No, not the second half of the season. But a reason to believe.

Hope has always marched along side of the Chicago Cub faithful. From the first pitch of spring, through the Wrigley Field gates and with the exit of each season, Cubdom has rallied around its team - even when the gesture hasn’t been returned in kind.

The rest of this season isn’t about hope, though. That’s the stuff of Chicago Cub teams past (”I think we can. I think we can.”)

Thinking and knowing is the difference between hoping and believing. Both have their roots in faith, but that’s where the similarity ends.

The Chicago Cubs enter their remaining 69 games tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the best record in the major leagues. It’s the first time in the club’s history that its held that distinction.

No small feat considering the Cubs have played the better part of six weeks without its best hitting outfielder (Alfonso Soriano), went another two-week stretch without the ace of its pitching staff (Carlos Zambrano) and have spent the better part of the first half finding an adequate fifth starter (Rich Hill, Sean Gallagher and Sean Marshall).

All the more reason to find a reason to believe.

“We’re confident, but we’re not arrogant,” second baseman Mark DeRosa said. “Just a bunch of guys having fun.”

And it’s going to take both if the Cubs are to hold off Central Division challengers St. Louis and Milwaukee. While some baseball pundits continue to expect a second-half Cardinal collapse, the Cubs could only be so lucky. St. Louis has the bats to keep the team in contention even with a group of throwaway arms that has taken over-achieving to a new level.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, set the tone for the second half when it acquired C.C. Sabathia last week. As the trade indicates the Brewers are hungry.
But if 99 years without a World Series title doesn’t make a team hungry nothing will.

‘You hope in the end you’re on top,” Piniella said. ”We’ve been rewarded with a first-place finish at the first half, but then it starts again [Friday] in Houston and then Arizona. We have a tough time coming, and teams will enjoy trying to slow us down. We’ll see.”

Yes, time will tell. But there’s no better reason than to believe than what the Cubs have given us thus far.