Cubs Look Ready to Take the NL Central Crown

The Cubs/Astros series showed me a lot as to what type of a team the 2008 Chicago Cubs are.

The pitching performances by Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly were simply amazing.

I found myself in awe at what Lilly was able to do not even 24 hours after Zambrano's dominant performance. Zambrano had an overpowering arm on Sunday night, but Lilly did it differently. Lilly used all of his pitches to fool hitters and keep them off balance.

I personally felt that Lilly's performance was even more dominant then Zambrano's because he doesn't have the overpowering fastball that Big Z does. Lilly's ability to throw his curveball for a strike and place his fastball on both sides of the plate was truly a work of art.

The dominance of Z and Lilly though wasn't left alone. The bats also came alive against the Astros.

Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Edmonds and Soto all had a big series and have helped the Cubs trim that all important magic number down to 6.

The next three days could close out the division for the Cubs.

Here is a look at the Cubs/Brewers Series.