We're just over two months into the big league baseball season, and that means two major things:  the All Star Game is about a month off, and that teams are just about one third of a way through the marathon grind that is the regular season.  For the Chicago Cubs, that is more a blessing than a curse.  The team has been plagued by injuries, ineffective relief pitching, and spotty offensive outputs throughout the first two months, but find themselves just 3.5 games behind Milwaukee for the NL Central lead, and a mere 1.5 games behind the New York Mets for the wild card race.

Let's look at some of the things that have plagued the team, what has worked, and what they have to look toward as 2009 continues to wind through its meandering season.  This is the first part of the series, going over the things that have hurt the Cubs so far this season:

INJURIES:  The Cubs have taken some major hits on the injury front.  Aramis Ramirez had been injured, missed half a dozen games, came back, and ended up dislocating his shoulder against the Cardinals.  He's missed a month with that injury, and is expected to return in early July.  He's played just eighteen games, and has forced the Cubs to juggle their lineup and their defensive alignments.  Injuries like this underscore the value of a Mark DeRosa, who the Cubs had last season, but dealt in the offseason to Cleveland.  The Cubs big offseason acquisition, Milton Bradley, has been hurt, with a couple of hamstring issues, and has yet to really find his groove in Chicago, hitting just .218 with five homers and 14 RBIs. 

Carlos Zambrano missed a couple of starts with a hamstring issue, and Rich Harden has been on the disabled list for a stint as well with a lower back injury.  Aaron Miles is also on the shelf, further thinning the versatility that the Cubs have in positional changes.

BULLPEN WOES:  Last season, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were pretty much lights out on a regular basis for the Cubs.  Wood is gone now, closing in Cleveland, but Marmol is still here.  The problem is, he isn't nearly as effective as he was in 2008.  Last season, he was 2-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 82 games, allowing just 40 hits in 87.1 innings of work, walking 41 and fanning 114 hitters.  His WHIP was an impressive 0.927 for the year, and he converted 7 of 9 save chances while Wood was on the shelf or otherwise unavailable.

So far this season, Marmol has been wild, and it has cost him, and the Cubs, on more than one occasion.  He is 1-1 with a 3.67 ERA in 30 games this season, but those 30 appearances have totaled just 27 innings.  His inability to find the strike zone was evident again in yesterday's 6-3, 14 inning win over Cincinnati at the Great American Ballpark:  leading 3-2 in the eighth, Marmol walked the two men he faced, throwing 3 strikes out of the 11 pitches he threw, before being lifted.  Aaron Heilman got out of the jam, but the tying run scored, costing rookie Randy Wells another chance at his first big league win.  Marmol's hits per inning is still low (14 hits allowed in 27 innings) but he has a strikeout to walk ratio of just 29:27, and he has hit five other batters.  His WHIP is an unsightly 1.519, and he needs to get back on the ball.

Speaking of Wells, he's had the bullpen cough up four potential wins for him.  Besides yesterday, in his last start on Tuesday in Atlanta, he left with a 5-1 lead only to have Marmol and Kevin Gregg cough that up, in a game that the Cubs would go on to lose in extra innings.  Earlier this season, against Houston, he left ahead, and the lead was 4-0 in the ninth, before Gregg gave up a pair of solo homers, a pair of singles, and hit a man.  The Astros would tie that game before the Cubs rallied in the bottom of the ninth.  Then in his debut, Wells left with a 2-0 lead against MIlwaukee, only to have the bullpen give that away in a 3-2 defeat.

Gregg has been spotty as a closer.  His numbers are not overly impressive when you look at them in depth.  He is 0-1 with a 4.62 ERA in 27 games, and has converted 10 of 12 save opportunities.  That doesn't include the Houston debacle, among others, when he came in during a non save situation and torched a lead.  His WHIP is an even 1.500, and as Lou Piniella has stated more than once, when you allow that many baserunners, you aren't going to win a lot of ballgames.

Neal Cotts was shipped back to AAA Iowa after his inability to find the strike zone or retire left handed hitters with any regularity.  He was 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in nineteen outings, spanning a whopping eleven innings.  Jeff Samardzija, who was solid in a late season callup last season, scuffled in his five appearances before being sent back down to work on things as well.  The only true reliable arm so far in the pen has been Angel Guzman, who has picked up his first major league victory and save this season.  He's 2-0 with a 2.28 ERA in 25 games, and has shown some nasty stuff in recent outings.

INABILITY TO GET CLUTCH/TIMELY HITS:  When the Cubs had their eight game losing streak, they had a stretch on the road in St. Louis and San Diego where in the six games, they tallied all of five runs.  As a team, they are 28th in the majors as far as hitting with runners in scoring position, with a paltry .231 mark.  Only San Diego and Arizona are worse in that regard, and it is a steep dropoff from last season's .278 clip.  In fact, it is their worst team benchmark going back to the 2000 season, with the low water mark in the last decade a .241 clip in 2002.

In fact, the Cubs were 4 for 21 with runners in scoring position yesterday against the Reds, but that was an IMPROVEMENT over the first two games of the series, when they were a combined 0 for 17 in splitting the opening contests.  Clearly, the bats need to wake up, and it shouldn't take a Pedro Cerrano offering to Jobu to do so.  The talent is there, quite obviously, but guys need to step it up.  Alfonso Soriano is a clear example.  Yes, he has 14 homers, but he's driven in just 27 runs, and has fanned 60 times in 224 at bats.  His average is down to .241, and he has been unable to hit with RISP, going at a .125 clip in the opening month, .190 in May, and 0 for 6 so far this month.  When one of your big bats isn't getting it done, that is not a good sign.  With Ramirez out, it makes it even tougher.

POOR DEFENSE/MENTAL MISTAKES:  Clear case in point of this was Mike Fontenot Saturday night against Cincinnati.  He fields the first ball in play cleanly in the bottom of the first, and throws it away.  The Reds go on to score three runs against Ryan Dempster, all unearned.  The Cubs battle back to tie it and send the game to extra innings, only to have Fontenot throw high and wide on a fielder's choice, allowing the winning run to score.  This comes after failing to cover third on a bunt play right before the fielder's choice.

There are a myriad of other miscues like this, but these couple plays were what stood out, especially since they directly affected all of Cincinnati's scoring in the game, while on the other side, Chris Dickerson robbed the Cubs of a couple hits, which would have led to runs. 

Now, it hasn't been all bad for the Cubs so far, as the fact that they are 28-26 will attest to.  Tomorrow, we'll take a look at some of the things that HAVE gone well for Sweet Lou and the North Siders, as we get ready for a three game set with Houston and then the start of my personal least favorite time of year for baseball, interleague play.  Stay tuned.