Cubs Wed Jul 07 2010

This Week In Cubs Baseball

By Brian Livingston

The Cubs have entered the month of July still trying to turn it around after June was another disappointing month. They currently find themselves tied for third place with a 37-47 record. You begin to wonder if they will be buyers or sellers as the trade deadline rapidly approaches. If they continue play the way they have they will most certainly be sellers.

They haven't shown any signs of turning it around. Sure, they will win a couple here and there, but by then they will turn around and lose four or five. This team has been so hard to watch this season. You want to root for these guys, but they sure do make it hard on themselves sometimes.

They had their chances to turn it around against the Reds instead they lost three out of four and were thoroughly embarrassed by them. If by some miracle they do revive their season they have not one, but two teams to climb over to get to first. If it they are going to make their move a few things need to happen. First being the middle of the lineup needs to get hot. That means Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez to need start hitting like they are capable.

Ramirez gave fans a glimpse of what he is capable of last night hitting two, two-run homers. If Lee and Ramirez can get going I have a feeling it would loosen up the rest of this club. It is amazing how winning can breed confidence and they need all the confidence they can get at this point. Also it wouldn't hurt if Alfonso Soriano went on one of his hot streaks and carried this team for a week or two.

The best news to come out of this past weekend with the Cubs was that Marlon Byrd was named to the National League's All-Star team.Byrd has been the most consistent player the Cubs have. He's hitting over .300, has nine home runs, 36 RBI and his On-base plus slugging is .825. His numbers have been solid for the first half of the season lets hope they are as good if not better come the second half.

Carlos Silva who is having the best year of his career was not selected to the All-Star. Silva improved his record to 9-2 after last night. He has been the Cubs best pitcher all year long and should be on the All-Star team. However, he's not which could be do in large part to the team's poor play. If they were playing better overall there would be no reason for him not to be an All-Star.

Case in point the 2008 Cubs were 19 games over .500 and sent eight players to the All-Star game. It just goes to show that if the team is playing good they are going to get noticed. Not that you want an injury to happen to anyone, but if one does arise for the N.L. he should be named to the team.

The Cubs are wrapping up their series with the Diamondbacks and are looking for their first sweep ever in Phoenix. Chase Field has not been kind to the Cubs since it opened in 1998. They've only won four series there including 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2010. If they win tonight it'll be their first ever sweep in Arizona.

They'll move on to Los Angeles after tonight to take on the Dodgers in a four game set leading up to the All-Star break. Randy Wells will open the series against the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw. Game time is 9:10 p.m. CT. As always keep the faith and Go Cubs.