Taking the Bad With the Good

There is apparently no such thing as a victory for the 2009 Chicago Cubs that does not contain a note of bitterness and dread.  That came glaringly to light, once again, on Sunday afternoon, when the Cubs beat the Marlins 6-4, but in the process, lost starter Carlos Zambrano to what looked like a tweaked hamstring or a cramp.  And the circumstances of the injury made it doubly hard to swallow: Zambrano, over-enthusiastic as always, bunted down the third base line for a basehit, only to pull up lame while running to first.  Big Z tried to stay in the game, fighter that he is, but finally concluded that he could no longer go.  The only silver lining for Z was that the Cubs ended up taking the lead in the inning, on a Derrek Lee grand slam, leaving Zambrano as the pitcher of record and ultimately the victor.  Zambrano now leads the team with 3 wins, but if the injury turns out to be severe, it could be a very long time before he earns his fourth.

On the bright side:  that slumbering Cubs offense appears to have shuddered awake at last.  Three straight games scoring 6+ runs means three straight wins.  Derrek Lee is still hovering around the Mendoza line, but his granny today bodes well; and Geovany Soto, himself mired in a season-long slump, also managed a knock on the day, raising his average to a lofty .158.  The only guy still not doing anything is Milton Bradley, who went 0-4 and is now hitting a dismal .116.  Also encouraging on Sunday was the solid one inning performance of Kevin Gregg who earned his third save of the season.