There's been a new buzz word swirling around the Cublogoverse lately - "small sample size". Wait, that's 3 words. What do you call it when you have a group of words functioning as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence? Anyway, it seems this "word" is being used to describe everything concerning the Cubs and I'm not just talking about our shortstop's package.

Over the weekend the Cubs swept the Brew-Crew and went from a half game out of last place in the division to second place, only 2.5 games out from the Cards. I was listening to the DP Show this morning (that's Dan Patrick, the other DP show comes on after two in the morning) and they were interviewing the GM of the Rays. He was discussing that even though the team made it to the WS a couple years ago, what handcuffed them last year was a slow start in a tough division. Now I'm not saying the NL Central is anywhere near as competitive as the AL East, but there is something to be said about getting off to a good start and not trying to play catch up.

That being said, let's look at how the Cubs have fared for the first 1/10th of the season so far, and what "small penis sample sizes" look promising:

1. Venezuelan Precious. Although the nickname has yet to catch on, no one would have suspected at the beginning of the year the Carlos being sent to the pen would be Zambrano and not Silva. I logged onto Cubs.com this afternoon and was shocked by what I saw. I knew Silva was pitching well, but 2-0 with a sub 1.00 ERA? That's about as unpredictable as an EOC "Burning Cubs Question" post. So far this looks like a genius move on Hendry's part. Fuck, now I have to go wash out my mouth for saying that.

2. El Toro Loco In The Pen. Sure it was one outing lasting 1.1 innings. And yes, he did give up a run. And okay, his first pitch as a reliever was a slider, but Zambrano might actually be holding up his deal to be more mature this season. For most, the Zambrano experiment will hopefully be a short one, but for now it looks like the plan might actually be working. Of course saying that is like saying you are going to get laid on a first date just because the girl remembers your name, but it's promising in the least.

3. The Riot. Everybody hated Theriot going into this year. I don't know if it's just people still crying over the DeRosa trade, but the "kid" was getting a lot of flack. But a slow start has turned into a .329/.372/.392 line. Hey Bad Kermit, what's your Theri-ot-meter look like now?

4. Little Hitters, Big Numbers. Big Hitters, Little Numbers. What a difference a series makes. A team that had zero offense coming into the weekend is now sporting eight players hitting .300 or higher (Theriot, Byrd, Soriano, Fukudome, Soto, Colvin, Hill and Wells), while the corner infielders aren't even breaking the Mendoza line. Is this what the Cubs are? Hard to tell, it's such a "small sample size".

5. Marmol An Effective Closer? So far this year he is 3 for 4 in saves and has only given up one run on five hits. What's more exciting is his walk to strikeout ratio which stands at 4/19. For a guy who at the end of last year was so wild that teams finally figured out to beat him you just didn't have to swing the bat, he is looking to have the stuff we all knew he was capable of.

6. EOC - The Cubs Blog. When TMS changed venues and brought on a couple new bloggers including myself, this Cubs blog might have lost some of it's esotericy (esotericy?), but has thus far seemed successful. What will the rest of the season have in store, you might ask. Just don't change that dial.

Go Cubs!