The good and bad after 12 games

April 14th, 2008 at 12:35pm Wally Haas

It’s too early to worry (what, me worry), but there are a few disturbing trends as the Cubs come home after a 4-2 road trip.

Other than Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, the starting pitching has been bad. Ted Lilly, Rich Hill and Jason Marquis look lost. Hill has the best ERA of the three at 5. They’ve combined for just 32 innings in seven starts. That’s put a lot of pressure on the bullpen, which for the most part has done well.

The Cubs defense hasn’t helped the pitchers much. Lots of physical and mental errors so far. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

Timely hitting is an issue as is getting runners home from third with less than two outs.

Despite that, the Cubs are 7-5. The team has shown resiliency despite the problems mentioned above. I guess I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, but that’s tough to maintain over the course of the season.

It took a while for the team to get going last year, so maybe when the team starts playing well it can put the rest of the N.L. Central in the rear-view mirror.

I’m not as worried about the Brewers as I am the Cardinals. Tony LaRussa knows how to get the most from his players.

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