The Chicago Cubs are on a mini two game winnings streak at the expense of the inept Washington Nationals and is this cause for optimism, or do we throw in the towel for the 98th year on the Cubs.
Yes the story has been told far too many times about the last Chicago Cub’s team to win the World Series in 1908 and most sportsbooks have them at 50-1 to win the October Classic, while their South Side neighbors the White Sox are 3-1 to repeat.
Yesterday things got so bad at Wrigley that a drunken female fan through a ball from the stands, that just missed taking the head off of slumping Jacques Jones.
The Cubbies now invite flame thrower Kerry Wood back to the nest on Thursday and considering that have been without Wood, Mark Prior, Wade Miller and Derrek Lee, for an extended period, 12-22 is not that bad.
Wood seemed to be realizing his potential when he made the All-Star team in 2003, finishing with a majors-best 266 strikeouts and a 14-11 record. But he went just 8-9 in 22 starts in 2004, spending nearly two months on the disabled list.
Last season he was 3-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 21 games. Wood made three trips to the DL, missing about three months, and even pitched out of the bullpen for the first time in his career, making 11 relief appearances, because of shoulder problems.
Wood’s rehab was pushed back after minor knee surgery in early March. He made two minor league rehab starts and threw 85 pitches in five innings for Triple-A Iowa on May 12.
The Cubs so have a starter hitting over .300 with Todd Walker the closest at .298 and Juan Pierre has been awful from the leadoff spot. His on base percentage of .276 is downright embarrassing and multi-million dollar a year players Jones and Aramis Ramirez have combined for just 34 RBI’s.
They travel across town this weekend and hopefully they learn a thing or two from the White Sox and maybe Dusty should takes some notes on how to manage by Ozzie Guillen!
