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The Cubs haven't been right since Day 1, and although they've had stretches where they looked good - by and large they've been relatively short amounts of time against opponents they should beat anyway.  Take last night for example, the Padres best starter is on the DL and the other start you'd historically worry about is no longer a Padre.  To make it worse, Ted Lilly made the Padres look like the minor league lineup that they are, and Kevin Gregg gave up a 3 run walk-off homer to a guy that looks like a miniature Paul Bunyan.

Where did things go wrong?  Well we got rid of the face of our franchise in Kerry Wood and swapped him out for the maddeningly inconsistent Kevin Gregg.  The same Kevin Gregg that blew 9 saves last year in 28 opportunities, we had a pretty good idea what we were getting.  The only reason he won't eclipse that total this year is because he won't be the closer long enough to get 4 more save chances to blow.  That's just the start.

Carlos Marmol had a horrid stretch last year, but was able to overcome it after the All-Star break and finish up strong.  Marmol hasn't had a good stretch this entire year, his stuff this year is unhittable - mostly because he couldn't find the strikezone wth a Garmin.

Milton Bradley has been a huge disappointment - whether it's his snide comments to the fans for the fact that he's hitting .260 something.  The power has gone away, in fact the solid contact has gone away.  He has 1 more homer than Ryan Theriot and 2 less than Kosuke #####udome and has a lower batting average than both of them.  He's a mediocre defender stuck in one of toughest right fields in all of baseball.  I never thought we'd be wishing for him to go on the DL so Sam Fuld could get some more AB's.

Alfonso Soriano has been attrocious, before the season started Gerald Perry the Cubs former hitting coach said he thought Soriano was going to have an MVP caliber year.  His keen eye for details have got him fired.

Carlos Zambrano is getting paid huge money and has yet to live up to it.  Is he even the ace of this staff?  Randy Wells would get my vote at this point, sad considering he didn't join the rotation or big league club until May.  Zambrano just can't seem to figure it out, he's been on the DL a few times and doesn't seem to pitch consistently while he's on the field.

Of course losing Aramis Ramirez didn't help much either, but now's not the time to make excuses.  Jake Fox has done an admirable job, and there should be an investigation on how it took the Cubs as long as it did to get Fox in there.  We keep getting spoon-fed that Mike Fontentot is an everyday player, all of that despite the fact that he hasn't produced at all.  He shouldn't have even been in the lineup last night, let along in the 6 hole.  Twice he squandered opportunities with guys on base.

I'm probably as guilty as anyone in overlooking some of the problems, I mean prior to the year it was a foregone conclusion that the Cubs were going to win their 3rd straight NL Central title; and at least hopefully not get swept out of the pllayoffs.  The Cardinals have done a lot to improve their ballclub, they traded for Mark DeRosa and Matt Holiday while the Cubs have stood pat; apparently confident in what they have.  Also, apparently not watching the same things that we are.  Am I a bad fan?  I don't know, how much patience is one supposed to have?  I can say that I'm one of the more patient Cub fans here at The Times.  Some of the smart ones don't even get emotionally invested until August, me I hang on every pitch from April through..well through now.  Having watched team after team go down in flame after horrifying flame, my senses are honed; this team isn't good despite the fact that it should be.

I'm looking forward to Bears...it would take a miracle sweep of the LA Dodgers for the Cubs to garner my attention.  The way things look now, they'll be lucky if the win 1.

-Matt