Grin and Barrett

Time for a little good news.

Finally the Cubs can once again claim a winning record over a 10-game span after Tuesday night's home win against the Astros. In the midst of being trashed in the media, Phil Nevin hit a three-run homer that provided the winning margin, propelling the Cubs to their (gasp!) sixth win in their last nine games. They're not making headway in any sort of race, but at least the powerdive seems to have been righted somewhat with the touch-and-go return (.242, 4 RBIs in 66 ABs and 2 for his last 20) of Derrek Lee.

Here are some recent highlights...

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Michael Barrett has been on fire over the last month and a half, raising his average 55 points from .277 to .332 and getting him promoted to second in the lineup. He batted .392 in a suspension-shortened June, and is up over .450 through the first two and a half weeks of July. If Barrett had the at-bats, he'd be hovering around the top five in the NL.

Juan Pierre has also picked it up, with nine multi-hit games in his last 17 starts and a .413 average since the second White Sox series. Aramis Ramirez is batting .321 over the same period.

Carlos Zambrano is 9-1 since a winless April, and is no longer just about the last person you'd expect to beat out an infield hit and then steal second. The other Carlos, Marmol, has now put together back-to-back six-inning, one-run wins.

Jacque Jones is batting .317 since the beginning of May, and has had his season slugging average up over .500 since the beginning of June.

Even Henry Blanco is batting .362 since the beginning of June.

But despite the guys the Cubs needed to get hot actually doing so, the progress overall had been slow until the announcement of Jim Hendry's "evaluation" of Dusty Baker. The starting pitching just hasn't been there, and it's not just the rookies, as written about so much. Greg Maddux has won 2 of his last 12 decisions. Prior and Wood are a combined 1-6, and again both on the DL, so three counted-upon veteran starters are 3-16 since the beginning of May. Throw in the rookies, even the better ones, and Zambrano is the only starter keeping the Cubs ahead of Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

So with two weeks to the deadline and apparently no imminent firings, does this recent little hot spell mean there might be something salvageable in a truly weak National League? It would take quite a run to make up the 12 games separating the Cubs and the Wild Card leading Reds, who are only four over .500, but if the Cubs could get on a roll and win, say, 10 out of 12 or 12 out of 15, they could pick up some serious ground on some very mediocre teams in that race.

With the clock still ticking, are trades coming? Will there be a push after all? If the Cubs are, as rumored, looking to move Greg Maddux and once-effective swingman Glendon Rusch before the trading deadline, their oldest starting pitcher might wind up being Rich Hill, who's now at Iowa. Is this where you bring in a veteran arm or two, hope Prior gets on track, try to put a consistent threat on the mound every day and hope you get some breaks?

We'll see.