Every NL division leader lost ground yesterday. The baseball season is long. Two weeks ago the posts here were very cocky about how the Cubs were going to roll through the playoffs. A bit different now.

Everyone knew that September was going to be tough. If you can’t take it turn off the TV.

because it’s the hitting that’s really doing them in, but it’s true – Cubs pitching has an ERA of 6.0 during the last six games. Even if the offense has only scored 2 runs per game on average during that time, it’s tough to win any games giving up that many every day.

The good news is that the trend of the last week is not indicative of that last, oh, 220 games or so that this team has played. They’ve had pitching slumps during that time. They’ve had team-wide hitting slumps like this as recently as July. They also had one last October, but they haven’t been too frequent otherwise, over the last five months and the last three months of last season.

Worrying about the pitching? Harden is exactly what we thought he was. Nobody has really been surprised that Zambrano, after all these years of being a horse, is showing some wear and tear, but did they need to get another guy before August 31? Dunno, Hendry was probably looking at Marshall, Lieber and Guzman and thinking one of these guys can step in and be a good swingman. OK, so Lieber may be what Lou thought he was in May, but if the other pitchers mentioned pitch according to their track records (even with Z lasting a little shorter during his starts), you’d think it wouldn’t reduce the team win rate that much.

There’s a lot of pressure on Marquis tonight, but I’m looking at the four (!) All-Stars in the line-up and expecting some increased production, like now.

Two weeks ago, the Dodgers looked dead, having lost eight in a row. Now they’ve won six straight and are on the cusp of first place.

The Cubs will turn it around.

…but we still have games left to play and we are still in first place. Lily had a stinker yesterday and the offense continues to slump. All the Cubs can do is go out and play today’s game and try and win it. The best thing for the Cubs to do is realize that the Brewers haven’t taken huge advantage of the slump and if we play better we are still in control.

This team does have a lot of depth and they have been able to win even through injuries to everyday players and SPs. It’s possible that players like Lee, Fukudome, and Soriano are feeling the cumulative affects of injuries over time and their age. But the team also has a lot of higher injury risk players and is relying on some older guys for key performance. Some of that is catching up to them but some of this is just a slump.

The games we won earlier have afforded us first place even with this slump now and there’ still time to win today’s game. All we need to do is win the gam that we play today.

So the playoffs are still in sight, so worst case scenario they have to settle for the wildcard and theyre still almost 30 games over .500

So better they slump now than in the NLDS

STFU

The Cubs have consistently won games and series like ringing a bell for the past four months .. they’ve amazed and dazzled every Cub fan alive and put swaggers in our steps as well.

Now they stumble .. the first losing streak of the whole blasted year, and we get this kind of reactionary freaking?

Come ON .. This stuff HAPPENS. Nobody can predict it. The Cubs certainly have been playing as if they weren’t planning it.

And please .. it’s only September SIXTH, for crying out loud .. Cool your jets!

The Cubs WILL win again. I and my family are going to be here rooting for them at GABP tonight and while I sit here at the Hampton Inn waiting to ride the shuttle over, I am sure that at this point, while certainly unsettling, we’ve still got a LOT of baseball to play.

So check the 1969 and 2004 references at the door. This isn’t those years. I’ve watched everything the Cubs have been doing SINCE then and I assure you, in case you haven’t noticed, the 2008 Cubs are a heck of a lot better than any of those teams. This team is going to snap it’s funk and I aim to see it happen tonight!

… but blast it, I left my jersey at home when I drove up here!

… there is nothing you or I can do about it. We aren’t winning or losing these games for the Cubs, so there is really no reason to get too upset about it.

It is better to hit a slump now rather than later.

Were going to be all good.

It’s de ledge, It’s de ledge

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they need to come out and score first. I realize they did with the Soriano HR this week, but I think a nice early 2-3 run inning would produce some nice offense. Hopefully last night woke up a very mean sleeping giant. If not, they may have to get a hold of Mark Grace and line up the slump busters.

In ’69 we landed on the moon (!!!!!) and in ’04 NASA landed a rover on Mars…

In all seriousness, its easy to find parallels to other seasons, but its important to remember that the 2008 season is the one and only 2008 season. Relax.

Are the Astros this years Rockies?

They are 75-67, in there last 10 they are 9-1 only 7 games out of the wildcard, I dont think they will catch the Brewers but I think they will catch the Cards and get close to the Phillies.

What does everyone else think?

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