The 2005 Cubs have turned into the 2004 Mets. $100,000,000.00 in payroll and no better 2/3 of the way through the season than when they started. The high water mark for this year's Cubs came on June 11, at 33-27, six games over when Todd Wellemeyer got the W against the world champs at Wrigley. On either side of that mark, the Cubs have shown a unique ability to combine short streaks of hot bats and ace pitching with:

Blunders on the bases-Dusty promised would be fixed in spring training. One would have though that the exit of Alou couldn't help but elevate the Cubs baserunning, but some of the most astonishingly poor baserunning I've ever seen has come this year thanks to Burnitz, Patterson, Lee and Ramirez.

shaky defense-Last year the Cubs ranked fifth in defensive efficiency, this year third. However, when the cozy confines of Wrigley are taken into account, they drop down to the bottom third of the league. Likewise, their fielding percentage ranks 13th of 16 teams, in spite of the dollars spent. Dusty has said more than once that "his teams don't play defense like this." Evidently they do. And they are.

From the Wayback Machine of Spring Training, Derrek Lee had this to say: "Last year, we didn't execute on the bases or defensively at all, really," first baseman Derrek Lee says. "This year, the coaching staff has put more emphasis on it. The players have, too. I just think it was a lack of concentration, maybe," Lee says. "Defense and baserunning basically come down to concentration."

Sadly, this hasn't changed.

Poor decision making and mental mistakes-Witness Barrett's play to lose last night's game when he neglected to run at the player stuck in the run down, which is taught at the earliest levels of Little League. Physical mistakes do happen. Mental mistakes that come from either a lack of concentration and focus by the player or a lack of emphasis by the lose ballgames and pennants.

The vaunted pitching staff "nobody wants to face in a short series"-Our team ERA is 8th in the league. If that's the marker, then I'm sure nobody wants to face the Milwaukee Brewers or Detroit Tigers in a short series either, because they both sport better team pitching than the Cubs at the 2/3 mark. Wood's hurt and wild (but struck out a ton of guys one day a few years,back). Prior's horribly inconsistent when healthy (but has huge calves). Maddux has one or two good game for every day he throws softballs instead of cutters. Jerome Williams and Rich Hill are young and show promise, but they're not taking anybody anywhere this year.

Tomorrow we get back Kerry Wood in the bullpen (how he's supposed to pitch 3 or 4 times a week out of the bullpen when his arm or shoulder couldn't handle once every 5 days is a mystery to me), Scott Williamson in the bullpen (same issues except he's coming back from Tommy John surgery 6 months early!) and Nomar Garciaparra (coming back from a torn groin muscle and who says he still can't go 100% out of the box). These three guys are being heralded as the cavalry, when in effect they're three gimpy guys who used to be good players. The odds of any of them making it to the last week of September are slim, and the odds of all of them making it are off the books. Wood will be shut down by mid-September to get him ready for next year. Williamson will be pitching every 4-5 days out of the pen if at all and Garciaparra at best will be seeing action 3 out of 5 days.

Welcome the cavalry!

I've been saying since late April that this is a .500 team. I was hoping to be proven wrong, but sadly that doesn't appear to be the case. I now find myself rooting not to fall below it.

On the happy side, I've rediscovered 1980's "Harder...Faster" by Canadians April Wine. What a great rock record! It's not going to scare anybody off with its ferocity, but it has a wonderful blend of arena rock and catchy as hell pop, perfectly captured in the stadium shaking anthem "I Like to Rock" that leads off the album and is quickly followed by the perfect pop tune "Say Hello" with it's bubbling synthy rhythms and Gibson echo. I loved this album in high school and damn if I don't love it now.