Cubbie woes always just 1 pitch away

Baseball is coming easy for the Cubs these days.

Too easy.

Invincible in Wrigley Field ... 20 games over .500 ... better team in Chicago ... best record in the National League ... no apparent serious challengers in the NL Central ...

It's obvious something has to go wrong.

As a veteran observer of "Cubbie occurrences," it's difficult for me to not believe the next one is imminent.

Take Carlos Zambrano's mild shoulder injury.

The giddy thing is to believe the Cubs pitcher will come off the disabled list when eligible.

But then comes what happened over the weekend, hundreds of miles from Wrigley Field.

In Boston, Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from the disabled list, pitched 1-plus innings and yielded 6 hits, 3 walks and 7 runs.

So, looking for trouble, I checked to see what the Red Sox said about Matsuzaka's injury when he was placed on the DL.

Sure enough, the injury was referred to as a "mild rotator cuff strain." Manager Terry Francona said, "There was no structural changes, which is really good news."

Sound familiar?

After receiving MRI results, the Cubs said Zambrano had a mild shoulder strain with no structural damage.

Uh-oh.

Now, Matsuzaka's terrible comeback outing might be only that, a terrible comeback outing unrelated to his injury. zThen again, would anybody be shocked if the shoulder isn't healthy and Matsuzaka returns to the DL?

Meanwhile, Zambrano might come back in a couple of weeks, be 100 percent and throw a complete-game shutout.

Or, as "Cubbie occurrences" often go, Zambrano might be smacked around and his injury be season-threatening, career-threatening, heck, life-threatening.

Worst of all, the next time you see him he's performing the towel drill on flat ground.

Listen, the Red Sox exorcised their curses, jinxes and demons by winning two World Series over the past four years.

The Cubs haven't. They're still trying to reach their first World Series since 1945 and win their first since 1908.

Cubs fans have to hope for the best and fear the worst.

The distinction between there and here might be that Matsuzaka's strain was of the rotator cuff, while Zambrano's MRI showed no damage to the rotator cuff or labrum.

But this is a pitching shoulder just the same. They're vulnerable.

Any pitcher's future, even a healthy pitcher, is one pitch from being retired.

The Cubs' honesty was questioned concerning Zambrano because of the inconsistencies between prognosis and reality concerning Mark Prior.

General manager Jim Hendry is emphatic that he will never lie to the media, and I believe him.

Yet the Cubs left themselves open to skepticism, cynicism and criticism because in the past their injury timetables proved inaccurate.

That'll happen when trying to predict the unpredictable. Sometimes the best answer is, "No comment." No, actually sometimes the best answer is, "I don't know."

With a pitcher's injury, nobody ever can say for sure. As unnatural as throwing a baseball 90-plus miles per hour is, the unexpected can rattle around inside an arm for no apparent reason.

"Every day, every time I go to throw, I feel fortunate," Zambrano said over the weekend. "I thank God every day I'm able to go, compete, do my job and don't have discomfort or injuries."

The Cubs will be fortunate if Zambrano doesn't become a "Cubbie occurrence."

mimrem@dailyherald.com