Surprising Cubs Are Enjoying the Good Times While They Can

Yes, it’s still relatively early. And yes, the stiff summer breezes that blow baseballs over the ivy fences in Wrigley Field have not yet appeared to ravage yet another Chicago Cubs pitching staff -- or blow the Cubs from atop the National League East.

So don’t mind if the Cubs enjoy this little jaunt to the top of the division and leave it to the supposed dominant teams, namely the New York Mets, to wonder why they must chase these rambunctious contenders.

Why are the nameless Cubbies way up there at the top, 3games in front of the would-be Goliaths from Gotham? Well, Cubs Manager Don Zimmer said before the Mets and Cubs opened a four-game series Monday, a lot of it has to do with good pitching and the host of young understudies who have kept the team going despite some devastating injuries.

If ever one game proved two points, it was Monday’s. Chicago pulverized the Mets, 15-3. Greg Maddux, Steve Wilson, Pat Perry and Jeff Pico combined on an eight-hitter. And the Cubs, minus Andre Dawson, had 13 hits against David Cone and the Mets’ bullpen.

The Cubs, who hit five home runs in May, hit two Monday to go with the half-dozen they collected in St. Louis Sunday.

It’s been that kind of roll. And no one is enjoying it more than Don Zimmer. “Who’d have thought we’d be playing Cone and the Mets and I’d be getting a couple of pitchers in just to get some work in?” Zimmer said. “That was the furthest thing from my mind coming into tonight.”

Being in first on June 6 had to be far from his mind as recently as spring training. But there the Cubs are, two games ahead of the Montreal Expos. They’ve won 14 of their last 19 games and are in first place later than at any point in a season since 1985.

Zimmer won’t revise history and say he told us all along his Cubbies belonged in the fray.

“All I said in spring training was that we had a better club because I knew we were going to leave Arizona with a better pitching staff,” Zimmer said. “After that it was just a matter of how much better.”

How about a lot better? Last year, the team ERA was 3.84, the third worst in the league. After Monday night, the team ERA was 2.99, fourth behind only the Dodgers (2.69), Giants (2.93) and Mets (2.98).

Maddux (5-5) won his fourth in a row Monday. Oft-injured Scott Sanderson (6-3) is healthy again and once more half of an impressive veteran 1-2 punch with Rick Sutcliffe (7-3).

Then there are the pitchers who came in “The Trade.” Don’t blame the Cubs if they’re a little smug about this one. Because “The Trade” with the Texas Rangers that sent away Rafael Palmeiro not only brought Cubs General Manager Jim Frey a lot of heat. It’s now also bringing satisfaction, because of the performance of former Rangers such as Mitch Williams (14 saves), starter Paul Kilgus (4-5), and reliever Wilson (2-0).

And there’s Mike Bielecki. “Nobody even knew Jim Frey went out and got him (from the Pirates) and he’s only one of my starters now,” Zimmer said. Bielecki’s also 4-2 with a 2.21 ERA.

The Cubs’ success is not only found in pitching. The Mets also do that part exceedingly well, despite Monday’s 15-run aberration.

What the Mets have not done is thrive in adversity.

Yes, the Mets are without Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez and now Tim Teufel (disabled after he sprained an ankle jogging Monday). But the Cubs have had it just as bad.

Chicago lost its entire starting outfield. Dawson, the invaluable former MVP, went down, as did impressive rookie center fielder Jerome Walton and left fielder Mitch Webster. Only Webster is back and healthy.

And on the day the Mets lost Teufel, the Cubs were informed they’d be without first baseman Mark Grace for a while. He separated a shoulder in a brawl Sunday against the Cardinals.

It’s Zimmer’s good fortune that his offense, unlike the Mets’, managed to keep clicking, even without home runs, even without Dawson.

Take the post-Dawson heroics, for instance.

The Cubs initially went 0-5 without Dawson. Other teams were looking to take advantage of the absence of his right-handed power.

“We had Atlanta coming in,” Zimmer recalled. “I look and see three left-handers coming our way. Then I see that the first two pitchers we were going to get in the next series were left-handed. I said, ‘I got to get a right-handed hitter.’ ”

Unlike the Mets, who simply look to their bench, he and Frey had to look to triple-A Iowa. There they found Lloyd McClendon, a journeyman player the Cincinnati Reds had shucked off in a little-noticed transaction during the winter. “The guy got here at 11 and hit a game-winning home run at 2:30,” Zimmer said.

That was May 15. McClendon is still thriving. Though 0 for 3 Monday, he drove in two runs. He’s had five hits in his last 10 at-bats to lift his average to .343.

Then there’s Dwight Smith. A kid with no previous major-league experience, Smith is playing right field in place of Dawson. All he’s done is hit .348 in 66 at-bats, with six doubles, two triples and 14 RBI. He started the Cubs’ feast against Cone by hitting his first home run, a three-run shot, in the first inning.

That’s the sort of entry Mets such as Cone used to make; it’s the sort of entry the Mets wished struggling Gregg Jefferies would have made this season.

But that sort of spin misses the Mets these days. And sweeps over the Cubs.

Will it last? Zimmer’s too smart to make wild predictions. All he knows is that he can only have a lot of fun finding out not only how good, but also, how long.