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I am going to write a new article about the Cubs every month of the 2007 Cubs season. August 2007 |
Battle with Brewers for 1st
I tell myself every year that I am not going to scoreboard watch until late in the season. Then June rolls around and the Cubs are looking up at the Brewers and I find myself checking the Brewers score every night. It has been a really exciting month and it looks like it the Brew Crew will not be going away. It should be fun right up until the end. There is also a chance that the Wild Card comes out of the Central which no one thought would happen.
Starting Pitching and Offense
The Cubs starting pitching has been solid this year. This is exactly what I have been waiting for. The Cubs starters are healthy, pitching, and eating innings. For the first time in a long time we are not waiting for Wood and Prior. It is so refreshing. The days that the Cubs have had trouble has seemed to be lack of offensive production. For the most part the pitching has kept the Cubs in games, the problem is that the offense takes some breaks. The big issue has been lack of power. Jones, Floyd, and DLee need to start hitting some homers.
Bullpen
The Cubs bullpen has looked really good at times. Marmol has been a savior. The kid is lights out. And when Dempster was out with the oblique problem, Howry stepped in and did a solid job. The lefties in the pen still make me nervous. Ohman scares me and Eyre has had a really bad year. He needs to turn it around quick. The Cubs might want to look to add another arm possibly at the trade deadline. Rumors are that Ron Mahay of the Rangers is someone they are looking at.
Trade deadline
It looks like the Cubs might not make any more moves before the trade deadline on Tuesday. I think they still need one more arm in the bullpen but that guy might end up being Kerry Wood. I think the trade deadline is fun but with the wild card and so many teams still in it I think they might want to consider pushing it back until later in August.
Catching Situation
The move to get Kendall was a great move. Hopefully he can start to hit. The Cubs have had something like 7 different cathers this year. Also Blanco might be coming back off the DL soon which stinks because Koyie has done a decent job. He has not hit for a high average but he has had some big hits and has seemed to handle the staff nicely.