| Published: N/A |
| Date: July 2007 |
| Section: Sports |
| Comments: |
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By: Ian Essling
Somehow, the Cubs are still in the playoff race (4 ½ back of Milwaukee) despite making, on a regular basis, some of most stupid and amateurish plays in baseball (such as throwing the ball away on game-altering plays or getting caught in run downs over and over again.paging Angel Pagan) and nearly blowing half the games they've managed to win. Case in point: on June 29, the Cubs took a five-run lead into the ninth inning, promptly gave up six runs in the top half of the inning to fall behind, only to come back in the bottom to score two and win the game.
They seem to have settled down a bit since the departure of the hot-headed Michael Barrett, and when you combine that with a Milwaukee team that is starting to slip just a little, the Cubs just might be able to squeak themselves into the playoffs. They need to win the division, however, because there are too many good teams in the East and West vying for the Wild Card to consider that a really viable option (Mets/Braves in the East and Padres/Dodgers/D'Backs in the West are all legitimate playoff contenders).
Probably the biggest flaw on the Cubs right now is the atrocious and inconsistent bullpen. Aside from Carlos Marmol (2.0, 0.96), who is having a career year and has only given up a whopping three runs all year, the rest of the cleanup men are not getting the job done, especially in clutch situations. Scott Eyre has a 6.60 ERA over 30 IP, Bob Howry is running at 4.68 and almost all the relievers have the unerring ability to give up runs at exactly the wrong time for the Cubs.
Chicago nearly lost 100 games in 2006; a comeback to 85 or 90 wins this season could be quite a victory for the Cubbies. Seeing as they are only a game above .500 at this point, it will be a stretch; will they be able to hang on? It depends on whether or not they play like the Cubs of late June and July or the Cubs of April and May.
The better question, however, is whether or not Lou Piniella will eat his hat in a fit of rage before the end of the season.
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