With a super hot June and July, the Cubs pumped up their fans with a lot of hope. They chased down the Brewers relentlessly, playing great baseball in the process of making up around 7 games or so on them, finally tying them for first, and right now still hovering a single game back. But that's after dropping four straight, and losing series to New York and Houston (getting swept by the latter) and only managing a split with Philadelphia.

It seems to me that the rise of the Cubbies came with a style of play that suggested the pressure was off them. They were stinking it up in April and May, making mental mistakes, not bringing runners in, bullpen guys allowing runs to score at will. No lead was safe. Lou blew up. They looked out of it.

And, with no expectations for the rest of the year, they turned it on. Suddenly guys were hitting! Pitchers were throwing strikes, not walking guys, suddenly you knew that no lead was safe - for the OTHER TEAM! They had come from behind wins, they eked out a handful of one run games, and generally did great!

They finally tie Milwaukee for first place near the end of July, and I hear Lou say something about August being the month that separates the true contenders from the pretenders or something like that.

Suddenly everyone is expecting the Cubs to WIN THE CENTRAL! They've just got done playing a stretch where they were the best team (record wise) in the NL, and maybe in the majors. They're tied for first. Milwaukee is faltering. Pressure's back on.

And just as suddenly, guys aren't hitting with runners on, with two outs, they aren't advancing runners, are striking out on bad pitches. They're not making as many mental errors in the field as they were earlier in the year, but their pitching is suddenly behind in the count on seemingly every batter, and you just know that the opposing batter is going to hit the ball in the gap, or up the middle, or sharply down the line, and it's gonna score two more runs, and they're gonna lose again.

It's like an aura around the team. You can almost sense it. They're tight. They're worried.

They should still win the Central. They have the best team, which is like saying "who is going to win the ugly baby contest?" But I don't like their chances in the postseason, not with Zambrano and Lilly as their one-two punch with Z's head not quite screwed on right at the moment. A move needs to be made. Something has to happen.

We'll see. As a Cubs fan, I'm used to disappointment. And I am also predisposed to pessimism about my team.

(But I've still got my fingers crossed...)