The streak continues

Say what you will about the Michael Barrett trade... but it seems to have had the desired effect.

Since this was a weekday game with a 1:20 start, I was following it on Gamecast at work. When the Brewers went up 5-0, I pretty much stopped following it closely, as I imagine a lot of people did. I did check in periodically, watching the Cubs' at-bats in the last few innings after they had gotten on the board. When Lee came up with one out in the ninth, with Soriano at third and Fontenot at first, I thought, "This would be a good spot for Lee to bust out of his power slump." (Did you know he hasn't hit one since June 3?) Of course, he didn't, but at least he knocked one in. When Ramirez came up and the first pitch led to the "Incoming pitch has been hit into play..." alert on the Gamecast, I just had the feeling somehow that he had parked it in the bleachers... of course, that turned out to be the case. Thank God I was only watching this on Gamecast, because if I'd been listening on the radio (or if I'd been a bad, bad boy and been watching MLB TV at work) I probably would have yelled. As it was I probably got more excited than one should at work, although fortunately this is Chicago, so everyone pretty much understood.

I know it's the Cubs and I don't want to get my hopes too high... but I mean, how can you not absolutely love this team right now? Two come-from-behind wins in the bottom of the ninth in the space of a week... last year they had one all year. (The 2003 Cubs never did it.) The bullpen has been great (except for that Rockies game, when it got picked up) and the hitting has been far more timely than we've come to expect. Seven wins in a row? Pretty great.

I don't know where this is going. The Brewers still lead by 6.5, and the Cubs can't catch them on the strength of head-to-head alone - even if they win the remaining five, it's still 1.5 games. But if the Cubs can keep the recent momentum and luck going... well, you know this team has enough talent to contend for the division. The start was slow, but all that means is the end has to be a little faster. Stranger things have happened, right?