Now a pessimist would say that it would be just like the Cubs to beat the Brewers two best pitchers, only to lose two Manny Parra (who is pretty good) and Dave Bush (who sucks like an Electrolux). But pessimists are no fun and should be duct taped to stop signs.

You had to enjoy last night. The Brewers, still a little shaken from the Cubs pantsing their 300 pound ace on Monday, were still confident in their homegrown co-ace Ben Sheets. And they had reason to be.

Until the sixth inning.

Sheets gave up a hit, and then another, and then another, and another, and another, and another and another. Seven straight Cubs’ hitters reached on hits. Ned Yost stood in the dugout with that same off-putting grin on his face that he always seems to have. I’m not sure which of the three most popular forms of mental retardation Ned suffers from, but it’s a doozy.

The Brewers defense wasn’t exactly helping. During that streak of seven straight hits, Ryan Braun played a Kosuke Fukudome single into a two RBI triple with a left field belly flop. JJ Hardy fell down trying to get to a Mark DeRosa RBI single. Braun then couldn’t come in in time to catch Mike Fontenot’s single that was falling like it had a parachute on it. And then Hardy fielded a ball hit by Carlos Zambrano and threw home, only to hit Mark DeRosa in the back. Whoops.

While all of this was happening, you expected that maybe the Brewers’ pitching coach Mike Maddux would come on out to give Sheets a quick breather, or maybe the catcher, Jason Kendall, could saunter out towards the mound? Nah.

In the span of 17 pitches the Cubs went from a 1-0 lead to a 6-0 lead. The game was over. The Brewers had thrown their two vaunted aces at the Cubs and the Cubs responded with ten runs (nine earned) and 20 hits against Sabathia and Sheets in 11 innings.

It is not a coincidence that the resurgence of the Cubs offense (we never really thought they were gone, we were just getting tired of waiting for their nap to end) has come with the return of Alfonso Soriano to the lineup and Kosuke to the productive world. It’s nice and cozy in between them for Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee and E-ramis, and a real pain in the ass for opposing pitchers when Soriano and Fukudome are doing their part.

Kosuke’s post All-Star numbers aren’t exactly scintillating, but they’re solid (.289/.386/.421 – six walks, nine K’s in 38 at bats) but they’re solid, and that’ll work for the Cubs. So it’s good to see.

Does the Cubs’ inspired play of the last three games mean they’re back on track and don’t need to add anybody at the trade deadline?  Well, they may be on track, but you should never stop looking to add talent.

I don’t entirely agree with ChucktoChuck’s assertion that Hendry is destined to leave the Cubs a move short again if he doesn’t trade for a reliever.  Not because I don’t want them to go after Brian Fuentes or George Sherill, but rather because Hendry’s made moves just this month to shore up the ‘pen.

The trade with the A’s directly brought a new arm, Chad Gaudin to the bullpen and indirectly added one as Sean Marshall is now a full-time reliever (though, you’d like to see him starting instead of Jason Marquis.)  The Cubs sent Mike Wuertz to Iowa in the hopes that he’ll get it back together and come back to be useful again.  The way they promoted Jeff Samardzija through the minors this year, only to have him arrive in July just like Lou predicted he would back in Mesa this March, showed that’s something they’d been hoping would work out, too.

The real question, of course, is Kerry Wood.  When he finally comes back from a blister so persistent that even Josh Beckett can laugh at it, you’d think the Cubs bullpen slots in nicely.  Wood’s return will move Marmol back to the eighth and Gaudin to the seventh which limits the number of big moment appearances Samardzija will have to make for a while.  That should work.

It’d be great to get Fuentes or Sherrill because a) they’re lefties, b) they can close and c) they’re both good and would give you insurance for the next Wood injury.  The problem is, it’s very likely neither will get traded.  And when you go down the list of other guys available it gets scary.  Think about this, there are teams actually trying to trade for Will Ohman and Ron Mahay.  Teams who want to add those closet cases to their bullpens in an effort to win.  Let’s hope the Cardinals get one and the Brewers the other.  Those moves would help the Cubs more than most of the middle relievers they could trade for.

Regardless, the Cubs still have two big games left the next two days in Milwaukee.  This is a chance to put the Brewers five games back with 53 to play.  Not an insurmountable deficit to be sure, but a nice one, nonetheless.