At the outset I did like this lineup, and if not for 2 pretty good plays by Chris Dickerson in center, the Cubs may have had a pretty easy time against the Reds.

It was a game in which Big Z was coming back from suspension and trying to win his 100th game. He also moved up the Cubs all-time strike out leader list. He did not give up many hits but his tendency to nibble at the strike zone was too taxing on his pitch count to allow him to go deeper into the game.

And from what we’ve seen from the pen so far this year and in this game, Z needs to find a way to become more efficient. He can’t walk 5 batters, he can’t waste that many pitchers trying to nibble.

Z needs to challenge hitters with his fastball. It’s a great setup pitch for his splitty and his mini slider. He can be a workhorse if he stops trying to be too perfect with all of his pitches.

Marmol, I don’t even know where to begin. All I’ll say is this: Find your fastball first—it at least makes hitters think you can throw strikes and it just might start setting up your deadly slider later on in the count.

I hate Kevin Gregg and even though Wood has struggled, I long for him to close out games. Angel Guzman is emerging as a star in the bullpen as he has finally put together that elusive combo of electric stuff and command. His ERA sits in the low 2s and he is capable of being lights out for stretches.

The offense is starting to warm up, I think. Alfonso hit some balls right at people and I think he’ll be busting out pretty soon. Derrek Lee has put together a pretty solid stretch of games, hitting well over .300 and finding some power since the middle of May.

The bats I’m concerned about are Micah Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill. Micah took some mighty long swings tonight and looked way overmatched at times. Koyie lost the strike zone and needs to find it again.

Soto needs to lose some weight so we can actually have a pretty nice 1-2 punch at catcher. Koyie is a nice player in doses, ditto with Micah and Mike Fontenot. But when those guys are forced to play everyday you start to see their deficiencies as ballplayers.

Apart from his hot bat, DLEE made a really smart play with the leather, something that the baseball stupid Ryan Theriot can learn from. Ryan had a runner on first when a slow dribbler was hit to DLEE. DLEE went to second for the out but The Riot decided that it’d be a good idea to try for two.

The runner advanced to second on the errant throw. Later in the game, DLEE had a runner on first when a slow dribbler was hit to him again. He made the smart play and went with the sure out at first. I like Honey Nut Theriots, but he’s just baseball stupid sometimes.

All in all this is a good win for the Cubs, but they need to heat up those ice cold bats if they are going to make any noise during the second third of the season. They can’t just tread water anymore. They need to get closer, within a game or so, and at the very least stay there and wait to make their move in the final third. This Cubs team has had everything go wrong with it and still somehow sits 3.5 games back in the central.

God, this season is going to get real stressful REAL quick.