For Cubs the glass is half-full

To hear Cubs manager Mike Quade and general manager Jim Hendry tell it, their ballclub could be doing a few things better, but things could be a whole lot worse, too.

The Cubs returned to 34-degree weather Monday night and had Carlos Zambrano on the Wrigley Field mound in shirt sleeves for the series opener with San Diego.

Zambrano pitched 8 scoreless innings, striking out 10, and he was happy to settle for a no-decision as the Cubs eked out a 1-0 victory in 10 innings.

Pinch hitter Tyler Colvin's double toward the right-field corner scored Geovany Soto from first base for the game-winner.

After a 4-5 road trip, the Cubs came home with a record of 7-8. They let a couple of early games get away against the Pirates, and they rallied Sunday only to lose at Colorado.

On top of that, they have pitchers Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner on the disabled list, and starters Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza are off to slow starts.

“We all believe we should have a couple more wins and be feeling good about it,” Hendry said. “I think we all feel that Demp and Garza are going to throw better than they have. And then you get the other guys back, and all of a sudden, you've got a pretty interesting club.”

Oh, it's been interesting already.

The Cubs are getting a huge boost from the kids at the top of the lineup, shortstop Starlin Castro and second baseman Darwin Barney. They've also had a few sloppy moments on the field.

“We've got things to clean up,” Quade admitted. “We want to play cleaner baseball and make fewer mistakes. But these guys are playing. It was good to see them come back yesterday after Demp struggled in the first. And they battled the entire 10 days.

“From that standpoint, we're going to get better. The attitude will give us a chance to get better. I really like the way these guys are getting after it.

“But attitude's not enough. We've got to play better. We've got to pitch better. We've got to play better defense and improve in all the areas if we're going to be a factor in this division.”

Quade said he plans to keep the kids at the top. Kosuke Fukudome, who has led off this year, batted seventh Monday. Another leadoff man, Jeff Baker, will get his playing time against left-handed pitchers.

“I think we have the ability with those two guys at the top, and if you included Fuke in that, let's just take those three, I think you would have the ability to do some creating,” Quade said. “I'm just trying to stay out of the way right now because if you've got a guy hitting .400 and a guy hitting .350, what am I doing trying to pick pitches and play hit-and-run and do things?”

Nobody was doing much driving Monday, with the wind howling straight in. But Zambrano matched Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer pitch for pitch and even predicted big things for the Cubs.

“I believe in this team,” Zambrano said. “I believe that we can get on a streak and win 10-15 games in a row. We can do it.”

bmiles@dailyherald.com