Outside The Script

Well, like everyone else these days who follows the Cubs, I have no idea what to expect anymore. Things just aren't following the patterns lately. It's all just wackiness, and yet the Cubs have suddenly won three in a row again.

For one, we're seeing a consistent lineup for the first time all season. You might disagree about whether Murton or Cedeno should be getting more playing time, and you would have a solid argument behind you. Yet, at the moment, this lineup seems to be working. It's balanced pretty well, and there are no real leaky spots. To be honest, I don't know what the best lineup is -- whether the rookies should be in for Perez and Hollandsworth -- but I'm extremely happy that at least the lineup isn't shifting every day.

(Of course, that probably means that Jody Gerut's due to start again, right Dusty? Or maybe Macias can start at third and bat fourth, just to shake things up. We wouldn't want Aramis to get tired from all that hot hitting.)

If you had told me that Zambrano would put up this line and that yet the Cubs would lose, I could have hardly believed it: 9IP, 1R, 3H, 0W, 12 K. It was another great outing by Zambrano in St. Louis, but once again the Cubs gave him no run support. I had thought that losing outings like that were the exception, not the rule, but it happened to Zambrano again.

The next day, in a game primed for the bullpen to blow it, they didn't. After a shaky seventh, Novoa suddenly found his rhythm in the eighth, and Pujols lined into a double play into the ninth. That one felt like a lot of other games the Cubs have lost -- most recently in Cincinnati -- but yet they didn't. It was almost surprising, wasn't it? I had to look the next day, thinking, "Wait, they won yesterday, right?"

Ranking all the improbables, though, "Neifi hits a grand slam in the tenth inning" has to be way up there on the list. Anyone who says they saw this one coming is a flat out liar. I don't think there was a single person in the world who thought that could happen, including Neifi Perez. That looked more like a scene from Angels In The Outfield (the Danny Glover version) than Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.

Now we hear that Kerry Wood is heading into the bullpen for the end of the year if his shoulder stops hurting. I never thought I'd see it happen. Regardless of whether or not you think it's a good move, I just didn't think the organization would try this. Who knows what could happen now? Personally, I can't wait for Wood to come in and immediately throw a fastball high and tight to the first batter he faces in the eighth inning. The Cubs haven't had anyone in the bullpen with mound presence since Alfonseca left, or maybe since Rod Beck.

On the other side, Nomar is already playing in rehab starts and it's not even August. As long as he isn't coming back too soon and risking injury, this is great news. I didn't think we'd see him for much longer. I'm excited.

Then you have Rich Hill pitching his first major league start, against Jason Schmidt no less, and the Cubs win. This was not a throwaway, like when they had Jon Leicster start. Hill has the stuff, and he stepped right in and gave the team a chance. However, when I saw him pitch about six weeks ago in Memphis, everyone was just starting to hear his name, and now he's hung in there for five innings with one of the most dominating pitchers in the National League. The best part is that Hill seems completely unfazed by everything at all times. I wonder if he even knew what the score was.

Add this one in, too: Lee hasn't gotten a hit in the last two games, but the Cubs won them both in their last at-bat.

For me, the most fun was Felipe Alou undercutting Dusty Baker in bad managing. If you had told me that one of the managers would completely misuse his bullpen in a tight inning, screw up and use two double switches in one inning, and end up with an awful relief pitcher in a pressure spot with the bases loaded, I would have assumed you were talking about Baker. He does things like that. Last night, though, Alou beat him to the punch. I mean, Alou ended up using Jeff Fassero in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. I'm pretty sure that was like Plan J if you're outlining your Giants' backup game plans. Watching Alou give the call for Fassero was like a sugar high: I was just giddy. He might as well have brought in a batting practice pitcher. I was practically jumping out of my chair, I was so happy.

Let's maintain our grip on reality, though, because some of the problems are still surfacing. The team is still not drawing walks, other than Lee (who hasn't seen a good pitch to hit since Saturday). There have been a few errors, and too many baserunning mistakes. We still don't trust the bullpen. We're still waiting for Dusty to start tinkering and screw something up.

When the smoke clears, though, the Cubs have won three very close games in a row. Regardless of everything else, that just is what it is. If it took breaking out of all the other patterns to finally find that pattern, I guess we'll all just have to shut up and enjoy the ride.