Derrek Lee Parties Like It's 2005

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2009 Chicago Cubs.

Finally.

The team formerly known as the Chicago Orphans has found a home as one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past week, taking a series against the Pirates, a crucial four-game series against the Brewers, and last night's match-up with the Braves.

Also returning to action is cult hero Aramis Ramirez, who Cubs fans have pegged as the savior of the franchise, the curer of the swine flu, and the man most likely to broker an everlasting peace between Terrell Owens and Trent Edwards. Next up: rumor has it he's arbitrating the contract negotiations between the Vikings and Packers.

Baby steps Aramis, baby steps.

Cult-status hero worship aside, the starting rotation extended their June dominance into July with Rnady Wells, All-Star Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster all turning in solid outings.

Also joining the pack on the praise-worthy bus is a resurgent Derrek Lee. Showing the same ability to drive that ball that nearly brought him the MVP in 2005, Lee is not-so-quietly asking us to reconsider our All-Star ballots. Over the past six games, Lee has five home runs, 14 RBI and single-handedly outscored the Brewers 7-5 during their July 2nd showdown.

Outside of Lee's glamor numbers, it's worth noting when these knocks have been coming. Lee's home run in the series opener against Atlanta came in the first inning with a man on base. Too often this season, the starters have had to work with early one or two run deficits.

Randy Wells, anyone?

Ironically, Wells was the beneficiary last night, cruising through six innings of two-run ball, good enough to lower his ERA to 2.48 and give him his fourth straight win. Wells has been outstanding all year, and his past two outings have made him the staple of this rotation. In addition, Lee's early heroics are only going to strengthen the resolve of an already fantastic rotation outside of Wells.

Thankfully, the theme of timeliness doesn't end there though. Mike Fontenot and Wells singled (yeah, this kid really wants to win games after his start to the season) and were followed by a Kosuke Fukudome double that plated Fontenot (by the way, doesn't Kosuke look great in the lead-off spot?). Theriot legged out an infield single, and with Wells going full-steam towards home to score the Cubs' fourth run, the Cubs rode Wells and the bullpen to another win, their sixth in eight games.

That brings us to the Milton Bradley portion of the column. Bradley is only 3-for-his-last-10 with one home run, but those aren't the numbers that jump out at me. Over the past six games, Bradley has walked nine times with only three strike outs. When we signed Badley, I never envisioned a power hitter looking at 25-30 home runs or 90 RBI, but a guy who got on base for the the Lees, Ramirezes and the Sotos of the world.

If Bradley is going to continue getting on base, Lou needs to consider moving him to the two-spot in the order, because this guy is capable of scoring runs - something that will come in handy when Ramirez fights for his role of franchise savior over the next two weeks.