WASHINGTON -- Maybe the Cubs just needed a break. Maybe they needed to get third baseman Aramis Ramirez healthy and Derrek Lee rolling. Or maybe they just really needed a trip to the nation's capital to face everyone's favorite doormat, the 26-62 Nationals.Chicago is lucky to be where it is, in fourth place in the NL Central, but only 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals, and on the first day after the All-Star break the Cubs looked like they had every intention of taking advantage of their good fortune.
"Do I feel this team will be able to make a run? How about a fast walk," manager Lou Piniella cracked when asked to assess his team's chances heading into the second half of the season.
So far, so good on the speedwalking front. The Cubs eased past the hapless Nationals 6-2 Thursday night despite an 0-for-5 night from Milton Bradley, a careless baserunning gaffe by Alfonso Soriano and a far-from-perfect ninth inning by closer Kevin Gregg.
They relied on what helped them tread water to this point, outstanding starting pitching (Rich Harden tossed six innings of one-run ball) and, especially lately, the bat of Lee, who had three hits, including a home run in the win.
Of Lee's 18 homers on the year, 13 have come since the beginning of June, a span over which he has also hit .324.
"Derrek, for the past month or so, has basically carried us offensively," Piniella said. "What we need now is for everyone else to chip in."
Piniella identified the offense as the main way for the club to improve in the second half.
"We need, in general, for our team to take care of us offensively," he said. "We're not gonna win anything when we're 15th in the league in runs scored. We've gotta get our statistics into the middle of the pack. If we can do that from an offensive standpoint, we should do a lot better in the second half."
Of course, Piniella also talked at length about the injury problems that have plagued the team.
The rest of the Central probably isn't going to run away from the Cubs, but the team that most saw as the favorite on paper heading into 2009, not just in the division but in the National League, can't sprint to the finish until it gets all of its best weapons back healthy.
Just as Harden, Carlos Zambrano and Ramirez returned from spells on the disabled list, Ryan Dempster and Geovany Soto went down. Chicago doesn't have it nearly as bad as the Mets (who does?) but it is similarly top-heavy.
"We've been hit here ... injury-wise [in] positions where we're the thinnest," Piniella admitted.
The good news is that Dempster could be back in the rotation quicker than expected. He threw off flat ground Thursday, and sounded extremely optimistic about his broken right big toe, a feeling shared by Piniella.
"I don't want to rush anything," Dempster said, "I'll just say everything feels really, really good."
In the meantime, the club will hope Ramirez can play through the nagging pain in his left shoulder that is expected to bother him intermittently throughout the rest of season and that it can make do with Koyie Hill and Jake Fox behind the plate until Soto returns next month.
"I know there are some ifs, but they're all very possible," Piniella said.
And for a club that has already been through a ton in 2009, the Cubs seem upbeat, even loose, about meeting those ifs head-on.
"We've just gotta pull together here and get a good start in the second half," Dempster said. "These are really important games to come out of the gate firing.
"It could be worse. We could be working or something."
