The Good & The Bad From This Week in Cubs Baseball

Here is what has been going on lately with the Chicago Cubs, starting with the positives.

• They came from behind in the ninth inning on Saturday for their first dramatic victory of the season.


• The starting rotation looked solid all week long, with Casey Coleman, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster all turning in strong pitching performances.


• Jeff Baker has continued to play a key role for this team.


• Carlos Pena has busted out of his power drought with three long balls.


• The Cubs homered their way to a series victory in Las Angeles.


• Kosuke Fukudome is red hot at the plate. It is crucial for him to continue to hit at least until Tyler Colvin gets his act together.


• Mike Quade has used his bench and rotated guys so that everyone gets some needed rest.


• Marcos Mateo and Jeff Samardzija have both continued to do a fantastic job in the bullpen. Mateo earned his first career victory on Saturday.


• Darwin Barney has stayed conistent.

On the negative side:

• The Cubs found a way to lose the series to the Reds today. They did not get any offense to support Ryan Dempster.


• Starlin Castro had the worst week of his young career, continuing a horrific slump after a torrid start.


• The Cubs still have not won a Sunday game all season.


• Kerry Wood could not get his job done on Saturday, although the Cubs eventually won the game.


• The Cubs left the bags loaded twice in Sunday's loss. They had the bases full with nobody out in Friday's defeat and failed to do any further scoring.


• Failure to drive guys in from third with less than two out continues to irk the Cubs.


• Marlon Byrd continues to hit third and continues to do very little.


• Aramis Ramirez has been at the plate in some key spots and failed to come up with needed base hits.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! The Cubs have an off day tomorrow before they play the Cardinals for the first time this season starting Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. I will try to have several updates throughout the week as I plan to start daily blogging back up in less than a month!

The Good & The Bad: Week 2

The Cubs lost a tough one today 9-5 at the hands of the Rockies, with the game tied at 5 entering the bottom of the eighth. With the loss, the Cubs finished the road trip at 4-5 and are now 7-8 on the season. Let's start with the good from this week.

• Starlin Castro is a stud. He collected seven hits on Saturday and Sunday alone! Starlin is looking good in the lead-off spot.


• Darwin Barney has slid comfortably up to the No. 2 spot in the order. He, too, had a big week. Bob Brenly on Darwin today, "You can't teach instincts."


• Jeff Samardzija looked sharp today, sending down all six men he faced.


• The Cubs showed some signs of life on Saturday and Sunday, playing a couple of close games against a tough Rockies team.


• Koyie Hill notched his first hit of the season.


• The Cubs finally tallied their first stolen base this season. (Castro)


• Casey Coleman pitched a great game on Saturday.

And now the bad...

• The Cubs middle of the order has a grand total of one home run this season.


• No. 5 hitter Carlos Pena is 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.


• No. 3 hitter Marlon Byrd is 3-for-20 with men in scoring position.


• The Cubs bullpen day on Tuesday in Houston was a total failure. James Russell was hammered and the 'Stros extended the lead against guys like Samardzija and Stevens.


• Tyler Colvin is still slumping.


• This team has lacked both speed and power, not a great combo.


• Marcos Mateo's eighth inning today in which he nearly escaped a second and third with no out spot, but ended up giving up four two out runs.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted as Everything Cubs as always!

A Rough First Week for the Cubs

Today's loss to the Brewers capped off a rough week one of the season. It has actually been over a week, but we will consider everything that has happened so far in our first Sunday Cubs positives and negatives post, which could become a weekly staple on the site this season.

The Good

Carlos Zambrano has pitched fairly well. Two of the Cubs three wins have come in game in which Z started.

Jeff Baker is off to a great start.

The Cubs have not been sloppy defensively. With a few expectations, their glovework has not hurt them.

Sean Marshall and Marcos Mateo are both off to a great starts out of the bullpen.

Casey Coleman did a pretty good job today against a great Brewers lineup.

The Cubs have been in every game, except for Saturday's 5-0 loss.

The Bad

• The Cubs are the only team in baseball without a stolen base.


• Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol have blown one game each. If they would have shut the door, the Cubs would be 5-2 instead of 3-4.


• Matt Garza has not been impressive.


• Jeff Samardzija continues to show that he cannot find the zone.


• The Cubbies continue a theme that has plagued them for several years. They leave way to many men on base. Guys are stranded in scoring position with less than two outs left and right.


• Reed Johnson is hitting .000, Koyie Hill provides little offensively and Blake DeWitt does not do much with the stick. This means that the Cubs lack a pinch hitter that is a threat to take the ball out of the ballpark.


• Carlos Pena has come up with some hits, but he cannot seem to come through in key situations.


• Tyler Colvin is off to rough a start at the plate.


• This second list is coming together a lot faster than the first one did.


• The Cubs lost two out of three to the PIRATES.


• Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner are BOTH on the DL! How often do you see two starting pitchers on one club injured in the first week of the season?

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted!