The Cubs keep making the Reds seem like the Yankees instead of the conglomeration of minor-league talent they really are, but they won to stay a game back of the Astros who again beat the Cardinals.

Alarming signs today:

• Cruz was charged with six earned runs and gave up 10 hits over only five innings. That’s a bad start, but still better than Estes on most days. Will Baker use this outing as an excuse to give Estes another shot at starting? Let’s hope not.
• Third straight bad relief outing from Mark Guthrie, who’s been one of the Cubs’ most dependable relievers all year. He gave up three hits in an inning of work.
• Roy Oswalt pitched seven shutout innings in the Astros win today and said after the game, “This was the first time I’ve felt comfortable all year.” Great.
• The Cardinals seem to be falling apart. They still have four games left with the Astros this year. The Cubs need the Cardinals to at least split those games and not roll over and play dead for the hard-charging Astros.

All that said, the Cubs now have a chance for a sweep tomorrow with Zambrano on the hill. Go Cubs!

In spite of the efforts of their bullpen, the Cubs managed to sneak away with a win today, though Wood again didn’t get the victory he rightly deserved.

Just before Goodwin hit his game-winning single I thought, “Man, why isn’t Choi hitting?” But, thankfully he came through! And it’s an especially good thing since the Astros demolished the Cards, meaning the Cubs stand pat, one game back.

So Clement was pulled Wednesday night for a groin injury, after all. He says it won’t stop him from making his next start, but he looked really bad before being taken out of the game. This is not a good sign at all because (1) he could hurt himself worse which is not what you’d want to happen for a guy still only 30 years old and (2) it could mean Shawn “Automatic Loss” Estes sneaks his way back into the rotation.

I’m actually hoping the Cardinals take four or five of these next games against the Astros, since they’re now 3.5 games back it would hurt the Cubs less and they’re obviously the weaker team going down the stretch, with an atrocious bullpen and an iffy starting rotation.

Tomorrow Cruz goes back to the mound against yet another Reds no-namer. Go Cubs!