Perhaps the rainout today will give the Cubs a chance to reflect on why they had such a terrible first week.

They have scored only three runs in the last 27 innings and lost four out of five to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, two teams most expect will be fighting for fourth place with the Brewers.

One reason why the Cubs have a decent shot at the wild card is that, with the unbalanced schedule, they get to play these three teams which combined for a .403 winning percentage last season a total of 53 times. So, while on paper several teams look better than the Cubs as wild-card contenders, they have stronger intradivisional rivals to contend with.

But in the end, it doesn’t matter if the Cubs can’t score runs to win these games. Moises Alou says he won’t let the Cubs down, but he’s been put on the disabled list for the third year in a row. This injury, a strained right calf, apparently has given Alou trouble for the last two years, but once he came back off the DL he was good to go.

I sure hope that holds true this year. As good as Roosevelt Brown looked in spring training, his bat has done little so far, and newly signed Mario Encarnacion and Darren Lewis aren’t going to fill that No. 5 hole.

Sure, the Cubs’ slow offensive start could be due to the cold weather, but this second week is crucial. The Cubs need to get back to .500 or close to it, because they cannot afford to get into a big hole early in the Central.

On the bright side, Matt Clement looked strong before being rocked in the sixth inning on Saturday.

I agree that the Cubs shouldn’t panic, but they shouldn’t take this slow start too lightly either. After all, they haven’t had back-to-back winning seasons since 1971–1972. I don’t want a repeat of 1985, 1990 or 1999.