5/20/2008 @ Astros; L 2-4; (28-18)

In six innings Ryan Dempster only walked two batters. Too bad for him both of them were on base in the fourth inning when Hunter Pence went yard. Baseball, as was told to me by SHOW, is situational. Those two walks don't mean anything if they are two out no one on, and in separate innings. These two were sandwiched between a leadoff single by Tejada and the aforementioned Pence dinger. So the National League leader in run support (min 60 innings pitched), gets a fantastic two runs…thank you Aramis….of support in this outing.

Aramis and Derek Lee continued to try and make up ground after their horrible series against Pittsburgh. They combined for five of the eight Cubs hits tonight. Mark DeRosa hit safely twice, extending his hitting streak to eleven games. He has raised his average from 257. to .311 during the streak. That was it for the Cubs offensively as they fell 4-2, all the scoring coming on two long balls.

Speaking of DeRosa’s hitting streak, the Cubs have the luxury of having more than one guy who can carry the team. Soriano’s hot streak continued through the Pirates series when Lee and Ramirez weren’t hitting. DeRosa started his streak just a day after Soriano, and has carried through to the Houston series. Soriano has gone cold, but D Lee and Aramis start their own hot streak, albeit two games. What other teams have that luxury? Run down the top 30 batting averages in all of baseball this year, and you’ll find four Cubs! Of the 47 major leaguers hitting above .300, five of them are Cubs!

Look at the standard lineup Lou Piniella runs out there.

Soriano
Theriot
Lee
Ramirez
Fukudome
Soto
DeRosa
Johnson

Isn’t Theriot supposed to be your weak spot there? He is in the top five of major league shortstops in batting average, hits, walks, and on base percentage. Of the three regulars not hitting over .300, Soriano and Ramirez are among them. Tell me a pitcher breathes a sigh of relief when those guys come to the plate? I don’t think so. There isn’t a break in this lineup, with a slight exception for Reed Johnson or Jim Edmonds, whoever is playing center on a given day.

Will the hot hitting be enough to get the Cubs through this year? Will different guys continue to take turns picking each other up? Will everyone stay healthy? Only time will tell, but I would expect they will stay among the top of the hitting stats all year.