Illinois

When times are tough for a ball club, a tense locker room is a given. Perhaps that's why catcher Henry Blanco and closer Ryan Dempster went all out to make their teammates burst at the seams with laughter during the Cubs' 12-8 win over the Cleveland Indians Monday night.

Many predicted getting Mark Prior back would be like the Cubs "trading for an All-Star," which is true if they were referring to a local Little League team.

In what can only be described as user error, Juan Pierre accidentally acquired himself in his fantasy baseball league on Thursday after team "JhJrSux" (managed by Neifi Perez) released him.

It was a horrible month of May for the Cubs, and after a promising start to June, the team is now in danger of being swept at home if they can't win Thursday's game against the Houston Astros.

In a battle of lefties, the Cubs marched sometimes-promising rookie Sean Marshall to the hill Tuesday night against Andy Pettitte, a marquee veteran who's been struggling all season. Pettitte emerged the easy victor as the Houston Astros beat the Cubs 9-2. Houston's Chris Burke led the onslaught, going four-for-four with a whopping five runs scored.

The unthinkable was the norm for the Cubs this weekend. Not only did Henry Blanco have three RBIs, but the team completed a winning road trip, defeated a left-handed pitcher, had three victories in a row, won a game on WGN, and saw Juan Pierre get two hits in a game. Veteran relief pitcher Bob Howry even managed his first career hit.

In the middle of March, Cubs general manager Jim Hendry declared that quality starting pitching was simply too difficult to acquire so close to the start of the season. Five days later, the Cincinnati Reds snagged starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo from the Boston Red Sox for Willy Mo Pena.