Reason for Hope?

After losing every game for an entire week, the Cubs righted the ship at least briefly by coming from behind to beat the Reds in extra innings, then blowing away the White Sox in three straight and knocking off the Diamondbacks on Friday.

The key to the surge has been pitching, actually starting pitching, as well has home runs.  Sooner or later, though, the wind stops blowing out and you find it necessary to do some of the basic things you need to do to win consistently.

That happened last night when the Cubs wasted a nice start from Samardzija.  In this case, it was the bullpen that failed them.  Russell, usually reliable, could not rescue Samardzija.  Then, of course, the Cubs unaccountably called on the execrable Carlos Marmol to pitch the eighth after they evened the game in the bottom of the seventh on a Schierholtz homer.

Bad decision.  And a strange one.  Carlos Villanueva came in to get the last out in the previous inning and was due up first the next, so the need to bring in Marmol is hard to understand.  Obviously it was the wrong move.

Looking at the Cubs now, they are still a mediocre team that will continue to have streaks when, largely due to superior pitching, they will be competitive, and other streaks, largely due to their awful bullpen and lack of discipline at the plate.  Also because they seem to have streaks where they cannot execute routine defensive plays, such as today when they have played appallingly in the field.

I, for one, continue to think the outlook is pretty bleak.  They are likely to continue to trade useful veteran pitching for dubious or distant prospects.  This underlines an obvious pitfall in the Cubs approach.  You don't get real value for players like this at the deadline.  You get it in the off-season.

The other problem is the bullpen.  Teams usually build this through free agency and bringing along strong and young pitchers who lack the repertoire to start.  The Cubs don't have this as they have almost nothing in the minor leagues to develop.  They were unlucky to lose Fujikawa so soon as he seemed to be rounding to form.  Right now, the only relievers they can count on are Villanueva, Russell, and Gregg.  Lean times there, I'm afraid.