It has been nearly a week since the last posting and I apologize to my fans for falling behind. Actually, not so much fans as people in my life that enjoy reading me when I lose my mind. I'm rather subdued this week, so, sorry to disappoint on that level, but I do have a few things to highlight for you anyway.
The Cubs road trip is off to a decent start. Going 2-2 in Cincinnati is actually pretty good for our Cubs. This figured to be the toughest stop on this trip, so, high hopes for the remaining games in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Next goal is to maybe win a series on the road?
The Cubs have a two game lead on St. Louis and two and a half on Milwaukee and stretching out those leads would be really helpful before returning home. The Brewers are home against the Twins and the Cardinals are in KC to take on the Royals as both challengers are in rivalry games starting Tuesday.
The bullpen, which was an issue already, has now suffered another setback as Steve Cishek goes on the IL with a hip strain. Pretty soon the Cubs are going to be calling guys from the Randy Hundley fantasy camps to see if any of them can throw it 60'6". The bullpen scares me every year, since you can never depend on them from season to season, and when you start getting guys hurt it really makes me nervous.
Not Adrian Houser of the Brewers nervous though. For the second time in his big league career he had to move to the back of the mound and toss his cookies Saturday night mid game. Once is unbelievable but twice! Forget about the grief from the opposing team, his own team had to be just giving him a rash of crap. I'm pretty sure I've blown chunks at work but it was alcohol related and it was done in the privacy of the John W not in front of 40,000 people. Clean up in the infield please!
I'm not so much nervous as I am resigned this season. Maybe I'm just melancholy with all the insanity this past week but I just can't get over the feeling that this team is not up to the task of winning the world series. They lack urgency, and that is troubling. I keep hoping the next series will be the one that turns them on and I keep getting disappointed.
Like most Chicago sports fans, if the Cubs go on a nine game winning streak I'll be making world series reservations and writing about how they remind me of the 2016 team. Until then I'll continue to feel let down about the prospects of playoff glory. For perspective, I'm celebrating a split with the Reds, a team that has a .431 winning percentage since 2014. They've lost 127 more games than they've won in that stretch and the best we can do is split with them.
I think I will feel better when they get everyone back from the IL and I can see how they are playing with all the pieces in place for a few weeks. I would also like to see them get over this losing on the road nonsense since they are going to have to win important games away from Wrigley in the playoffs.
There you have a quick rundown of a few things on my mind. I promise to be more involved as we head into the home stretch. Thanks for hanging with me and please tell a friend about the site.