Turning the corner?

Don't look now, but the Cubs have won four in a row, good for the third-longest win streak in the NL.

The Starlin Castro experiment is a success so far, Aramis Ramirez is starting to get clutch hits like his walkoff homer Monday (no matter his average, he always seems the most likely Cub to hit one of those), Derrek Lee has reached safely in eight of his last nine games and at 5-0 Carlos Silva is making the Milton Bradley trade look like the Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek for Todd Hundley trade.

On the downside, Geovany Soto's batting average (.289) is falling back to Earth and so is Ryan Theriot's (still a robust .317). And I don't understand Jeff Baker starting in the outfield for the first time in two years when Tyler Colvin is getting the job done.

But still, Castro, Soto and Kosuke Fukudome have on-base percentages above .400, Alfonso Soriano is having his best season as a Cub, Marlon Byrd is still kicking butt, and they can still throw five guys out there who are batting over .300. Tom Gorzelanny (3.09) finally got some run support in Philadelphia tonight to pick up his second win. Apart from a couple of arms in the bullpen - but not Carlos Marmol (1.31), Sean Marshall (2.11) and James Russell (2.77) - the cylinders are clicking.

Now it's time to get consistent. The Reds should take care of themselves (their Next Big Thing, $30 million Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman, is struggling mightily with his control in AAA), but I don't want to see the Pirates breathing down the Cubs' necks anymore, and they need to make the most of the Brewers' current nine-game losing streak. If Trevor Hoffman comes around, there's nowhere for Milwaukee to go but up.