The Cubs we know and love...

These are the Cubs we know and love. Or at least, the Cubs we know.

After winning 20 of their last 29 ballgames, the Chicago Cubs looked like a big league ballclub. They looked to try to take the third straight game against the Washington Nationals, when the Cubs from April and May showed up.

Over the past three or four weeks, the Cubs have managed not to beat themselves and to play sound baseball, and it looks like, for at least one day, that had gone away. The Cubs went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and Rich Hill had decent stuff, but allowed six runs over six innings because he kept giving up two-strike hit after two-strike hit.

It's just one game, I know. There's no need to overreact. Until we know otherwise, we should just tip our cap to Matt Chico. But, the Cubs reminded us how they played before Piniella's ejection. (By the way, the Cubs are 20-10 after his June 2 ejection, including the 6-0 loss to Washington.)

The Brewers lost for the second straight day today, so of course the Cubs were gonna lose! Why do I say that? Because had we won, we would've been within 4 1/2 games of Milwaukee. Since April 30, when we first fell behind by more than 5 games, we haven't been able to cut the deficit below 5 games, despite being within 5 or 5 1/2 games on 19 different occasions.