One hundred and twenty games into the season, the Chicago Cubs are in first place in the National League Central, have a three and a half game lead in that division, would be up seven games in the Wild Card race if they needed that pathetic crutch, and in fact, have the best record in the entire league. And yet, people are still waiting for them to fail.

On Sunday, the Sun-Times’ human fire alarm, Gordon Wittenmyer (remember him?) was on SportsCentral freaking out because the Cubs have a lot of road games in September and they’d better get their lead up nice and big so they can’t choke. Today, the Wizard of Roz finally wrote a column about the Cubs (hell, he finally wrote a column, period) and he complained that the Cubs need to “to stop messing around and blow the division away already.”

Oh, they’ve been messing around all right. They’ve only won ten of their last thirteen and in the last ten games they’ve played against their closest pursuers in the NL Central, Milwaukee and St. Louis, the Cubs are a pitiful 8-2.

I’m not going to pretend I don’t get impatient and I’d love to see the Cubs bolt to a 10 or 12 game lead, but at least I’m not pretending like they’re re-enacting the summer of 2006 out there.

Take this for example. In their last 17 games, the Brewers have feasted on sub .500 patsies from Houston, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Washington in 13 of those games. You know how much ground they’ve made up?

They’ve fallen 3.5 games farther behind.

I’m not pollyanna, and I admit I worry that the bottom of the Cubs will fall out just like the next guy. But damn, this is a really good baseball team. You have to enjoy it. They have the best offense in the league, the deepest starting rotation and their bullpen is better than the best bullpen Joe Morgan has ever seen. They have useful players on their bench. They have a great manager.

The Cardinals and Brewers have seen it close up. The Cubs show up to the park ready to kick your ass.

And then they actually do it.

We’ve watched an awful lot of bad baseball teams play an awful lot of bad baseball. Too much to not appreciate it when it finally turns around.

OK, that’s enough of the positive. Let’s see what nits we can pick.

Carlos Zambrano — Carlos had been awesome ever since taking two weeks off after his shoulder scare in Tampa, until Saturday. Saturday, he had one of those games. He couldn’t spot his fastball and when it drifted back across the plate it got hammered. For a day, he got to feel what it was like to be Bob Howry. He wasn’t particularly happy about it. That start aside, Carlos has been great. Any chance the Brewers had to shake off a tough loss in the opener of that four game series Milwaukee vanished when Carlos took the mound in game two. He was in total control. Brandon Webb already has 16 wins, so the Cy Young is looking like a long shot, but who cares? The Cubs are looking for a trophy, not a bunch of plaques.

Rich Harden — Simps see that he’s 1-1 with a 2.10 ERA for the Cubs in five starts and act unimpressed. That’s why they’re simps. Harden has struck out 47 batters in 30 innings (ludicrous) and walked nine. The Cubs are well aware that with Harden you are always fighting a battle to keep him healthy, but so far they’re following a prudent plan. One that they can afford to because they have Zambrano, Lilly and Dempster in the rotation around him. They’re limiting his pitches and his innings and giving him extra days of rest. He was acquired with October in mind. Not so much as to get the Cubs there as to do damage when they do.

Theodore Roosevelt Lilly — His overall numbers look OK, but they include a pretty horrible April. If you look at what he’s done since then, you get a better feeling for how he’s doing. Since May 1, Ted is 10-2 with a 3.69 ERA and 108 strikeouts against 39 walks in 117 innings. Is that something you might be interested in?

Ryan Dempster — If someone had told you that in mid-August Dempster would be 13-5 with a 2.92 ERA you’d have asked them to pass the peyote. But, incredibly, he is. So far, he’s shown no signs of slowing down, either. He’s also one of the few guys on the team willing to admit out loud the way they feel about things, like on Sunday night when he said, “We don’t come here hoping to win. We expect to win.” Some namby pambies in the press (we’re looking at you again, Gordo) worry that the Brewers and Cardinals will put it on their bulletin boards. Guh. Do people really still write stuff like that? Then again, there are people who think the Prince Fielder-Manny Parra patty cake slap fest is the reason Milwaukee has won six in a row. I think it’s more about playing the Reds and Nationals. I’m silly that way.

Jason Marquis — Still sucks.

Kerry Wood — The blister thing was annoying because it cast Kerry as a wanna be Mark Prior. Previously, Kerry’s injuries were always big ones. Tommy John Disease. Rip the labrum off your shoulder. Then a little fairy blister? Kerry made up for it by hurting his back. He probably didn’t need to do that to restore his “DL cred.” But we’ve lived through the back thing before, and sure enough, just like in the past he was back with in a couple of days. The Cubs need him, if only because restoring him to the ninth puts Carlos Marmol back in the eighth and then lets Chad Gaudin and Jeff Samardzjia handle the six and seventh. Funny how you take one guy out and the bullpen just doesn’t feel as solid. Plus, all of that pushes Bob Howry towards mop up range. Just the way we like it.

Carlos Marmol — Oh how people worried and complained about how Lou had ruined Carlos when he struggled before the All-Star Break. Actually, even I was a little concerned as the All-Star Game dragged on and it was clear Carlos was going to have to pitch. I feared him getting lit up would kill his confidence. Oh, me of little faith. Marmol got his shit together in the All-Star Game, handled a scoreless inning and has been tits out ever since. In his 11 and two-thirds innings since the All-Star Game, Carlos has faced 45 hitters and struck out 17 of them. Batters are hitting .054 against him and haven’t scored a run. Good to have you back, Carlos.

Chad Gaudin — He wasn’t the “throw in” in the Harden trade that some people like to make him out to be. The Cubs wanted him, and he had to be in the trade to make it happen. They had to guard against a Harden injury and to do that Hendry insisted on an arm for his bullpen. He got Gaudin who isn’t just good, he’s had success as a starter and a reliever in his career and he’s only 25. Hot damn. Nice job.

Jeff Samardzjia — There are some things to be concerned about with Samardzija. As dominant as he’s been, he still has a hard time throwing strikes (42 percent of his pitches are balls). He’s not holding runners on base at all. In four of his eight appearances he has thrown a pitch that hit the backstop (three times on the fly).

But there’s a lot to be impressed with, too. He seems completely unfazed by whatever situation Lou throws him into. He throws hard and isn’t afraid to throw his splitter in obvious fastball counts. Despite the fact he’s loathe to hold runners on, he’s very aware of where they are, as he showed on Friday when Albert Pujols took off to early between first and second, and Samardzija calmly turned and threw him out by about 15 feet at second. That was a situation that was begging for a balk, but he navigated it without one.

Say what you want about the unlikelihood of a guy rising from AA to the Majors in a few short months and being a big part of the backend of a big league bullpen, but in 2002 K-Rod did it and in 2005 it was Bobby Jenks. Besides, unlike the Angels and White Sox, the Cubs aren’t asking him to be their closer. If he throws strikes, all will be well.

Neal Cotts — Still don’t trust him, and when he and Samardzija warm up next to each other in the bullpen there’s just way too much hair down there.

Bob Howry — We’re all afraid now when Bob comes in. He’s given up some soul crushing homers this season, but you can see why Lou wants to get him on track. What a luxury it would be the last two months if he was throwing well to go with three other guys at the back end of the bullpen. Every time you count him out he has a clean inning in a big spot (Friday’s 11th against St. Louis) and then every time you start to feel comfortable he brings the gas can with him to the mound. Guh.

Sean Marshall — He’s the second lefty in the bullpen with Cotts, but Lou generally uses him like a long reliever. With Marquis sucking again, you’d think they’d just give some starts to Sean. Yesterday was the last off day for a while (September 4) so maybe Lou will use him to give the rotation an extra day at some point. Or, maybe Lou just forgets he’s still on the team?

Jon Lieber — He’s probably ready to pitch, but the Cubs aren’t likely to activate him until September 1, or until Lou decides to beat Cotts to death with a rosin bag.

Chad Fox — Why?

Mike Wuertz and Kevin Hart — They’ll be back on September 1, but I’d be amazed if Hart is given the ball in any game that doesn’t involve a seven run lead or deficit. I’ll bet Lou gives Wuertz another shot to prove he might still be useful in 2008, though.

Chad Fox — Seriously, why?

Derrek Lee — The incredible double play machine has to be a product of bad luck, right? I mean, nobody this good hits into 22 double plays in 116 games, right? Fact is, Lee is having a good year at the plate (17 homers, 70 RBI and an .831 OPS) and a great year in the field. But the only reason more people don’t clamor about moving him out of the three spot is that the Cubs offense is a machine. And, unless you moved E-ramis there, there isn’t a good candidate anyway. Soriano can’t hit there. Fukudome isn’t hitting anywhere. Theriot? Never mind.

E-ramis — He’s having a great year broken up by some horrendous slumps. He’s had TWO runs of 0-25 or worse this year. Two. But he’s been as productive as ever and more clutch than ever. His strikeouts are up (his 73 are more than any year already since 2003) but he’s already reached his career high for walks with 60. Defensively he’s been really good, and when I hear nitwits try to make a case for Troy Glaus to win a Gold Glove I want to beat them to death…with a golden glove that has nails sticking out of it.

Alfonso Soriano — The Cubs are 45-22 when he plays (27-25 when he doesn’t.) The longest he’s gone without a homer this year is eight games. The average major leaguer with 317 at bats has 37 RBI. He has 57, and he bats leadoff. Fact is, without Alfonso the Cubs are pretty good. With him? The white W flag goes flappity, flappity, flappity an awful lot. And how about that throw he made on Friday? Don’t overanalyze it. Sit back and enjoy it. With him batting leadoff the Cubs never go more than one batter without a real threat coming up. There’s no break at the bottom when you pitch against the Cubs.

Ryan Theriot — Defensively he falls down a lot. On the bases he’s been caught stealing more than any player in either league. At the plate? At the plate the little bastard is tough as nails. He’s hitting .314, he’s got a .390 on base average. He wears out a groove between second and first, but just often enough he rips one into the left-center gap and keeps the defense honest. Everybody who says you can’t win a World Series with a guy like Ryan Theriot playing shortstop every day might just have those words forced down their throat like a big old shitburger.

Mark DeRosa — He’s played 63 games at second, 14 at third, 25 in left and 23 in right. Nobody else in baseball has a job description like that (not now that Chone Figgins doesn’t do it anymore anyway). How he can do it and still do a good job defensively in all four spots is amazing. Oh, and he still hits. He’ll slump now and then, but he usually comes out of it with a bang. Somebody needs to say it. Mark DeRosa is the balls.

Mike Fontenot — Little Babe Ruth might start an international incident if his recent scorching hot batting costs Kosuke Fukudome playing time. He’s limited in a lot of ways. He can’t play anywhere but second, he’s not real fast, he’s like a tiny version of a real big leaguer, but the guy’s got pop at the plate, he’s a tough little shit and he seems to enjoy hitting when it counts. There’s a reason Lou likes him enough to keep him around when his spot screams for a more versatile player, and it’s likely that the fact he’s hit a Ted Williams like .406 with a 1.145 OPS over the last month has something to do with it.

Daryle Ward — He hasn’t been nearly as productive this year as last, but we just keep waiting for it, don’t we? He’s an accomplished pinch hitter and unlike former Cub dud Lenny Harris he doesn’t play enough to be annoying, and he’s had enough success with the Cubs that you’re sure when he hops out of the dugout late in a tie game that he’s about to do something big. Right? I mean we’re not just wasting our time here, are we?

Lassie — As someone mentioned on Friday, Jim Edmonds and the Wrigley Field faithful made history after his second homer off his old team. They invented the “Fuck You Curtain Call.” That curtain call was less about Jim Edmonds and more about rubbing it into the Cardinals and their fans. It was awesome. As for Lassie, what can you say? His numbers in his 58 games with the Cubs are unreasonably good. He’s hitting .273/.374/.597 with 14 homers, 38 RBI 29 walks against 39 strikeouts. With a few exceptions he’s played excellent defense and he’s had three multi-homer games (and in big moments, against the Brewers, the Cardinals and the White Sox) one of which was a multi-homer inning. Woof, woof, woof!

Reed Johnson — What the hell were the Blue Jays thinking? Seriously, this guy couldn’t make their team? All he’s done with the Cubs is hit .300 with a .364 on base average and drive in 41 runs in only 77 games. He bats fifth against lefties now fer chrissakes. Fact is, he and Lassie are perfect complements to each other. Reed has always killed lefties and now he gets to do it for a living. But Reed’s more than just a platoon outfielder. He can play all three spots defensively very well. He’s a smart player and he’s had some huge hits off the bench. Plus, he’s got the cool “hold the fist in the air after you hit the game untying jack” thing down pat already. And, he can grow a beard in an hour. What’s not to like about that?

Fukkake! — He’s struggling. Mightily. He hit .327 in April, .293 in May, .264 in June, .236 in July and .104 in August. His walk totals have nosedived too, 19 in April to 9 in July. Honestly, teams aren’t throwing him that many strikes any more. That should play right into his game. He doesn’t need to hit, he needs to get on base. Do that, and play defense like he can and he’s worth every penny. Plus, if he’d start walking again, he’d start getting pitches to hit again. He’s too smart a player and too good to keep struggling like this.

Right?

Geovany Soto — One rookie who isn’t fading is our man Geo. His worst month (June) was good enough to keep us happy (.250, four homers, nine RBI) but in August he’s hitting .333, just like he did in April. Lou admitted that he rode Geo harder than he should have in July because of Soriano’s absence from the lineup. Now Soriano’s back and Lou can afford to play our man Hank White more which seems to have given Soto a second win. Behind the plate Geo is better than advertised. He throws well, he has a handle on the pitching staff and he spend his spare time dusting off space for his Rookie of the Year award. Then again, maybe not. Like we said earlier, this team is after a big trophy, not a bunch of little plaques.

Hank White — He only added to his myth on Friday when he sent the Cardinals home and seven games behind with a game winning single in the 11th. Hank is still a far above average defensive catcher and the Cubs don’t lose a thing with him behind the plate. The fact that he’s hitting .297 just makes it that much better. His career looked over when he had neck surgery last season, but he’s back with a vengeance. And, Geo credits him with helping him along every step of the way this year. How can you not love Hank?

Lou Piniella — The most interesting manager in the world has done nothing but win since the day he arrived. He knows what buttons to push, and he’s all about winning. He doesn’t act like he wants to win while coddling veterans and wearing wristbands in the dugout. He plays the hot hand, he shakes things up when they need it and he’s very much a man completely at peace with his ability to manage a baseball team. He’ll do things that make you scratch your head from time to time, but not as often as most guys. He’s not hung up on trying to reinvent the game. He just wants to win the damn game that day. For the second year in a row, August began with the Cubs in first place. For the second year in a row, September’s going to end with it, too.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

Things are just starting to get exciting.