It was hard not to laugh last night when Lou Piniella finally got himself ejected from a game. Weeks after being questioned about his "fire," Lou picks a two-out scenario with runners in scoring position when Randy Wells was called out at first after he had definitely beat out a bobbled ground ball from Pirate pitcher Virgil Velasquez. Lou jogged out of the dugout for probably the first time all season (good thing the Cubs were in the first-base dugout) and screamed in the umpire's face, then threw down his hat.

So what was it? Lou actually mad that an ump cost them a run or that fact that yet again last night, against a bogus young Pirates pitcher, that his team continued to be completely ineffective with runner's in scoring position? Does it even matter? Lou's too late to see if his anger can spark this club. Right now, it just adds to the ever-growing list of ideas as sports media outlets across the country bash the daylights out of baseball's most disappointing team.

I thought about addressing the absurdity of the stat that the Cubs had the best ERA in the NL in the month of June and went only 11-14, or are second to last in runs scored or had a batting average under .200 last month with runners in scoring position, but this is like beating a dead horse that was reincarnated and died again. Only the eternal optimists who still believe that when Aramis Ramirez comes back Monday that the team will turn around completely are the ones who need those offensive numbers drilled into their skulls. Unless he can simultaneously rehabilitate the swings of all of his failing teammates, he'll help only a little -- assuming he himself comes back strong.

Then I thought about defending any one of the Cubs' national media targets: Milton Bradley, Jim Hendry, Carlos Zambrano, or Lou Piniella, because I'm tired of just one person shouldering the blame or more accurately being highlighted as the greatest factor in the Cubs ineptitude. If this were any one person's fault, this problem would've been solved a long time ago. The Cubs already tried that once with Gerald Perry and that didn't work. What about other players like Alfonso Soriano, who absolutely no one in the media to my knowledge has come out and said how absurd it is that he's competing for votes to be the NL's third outfielder in the All-Star Game. Or how Kosuke Fukudome can't make a consistent adjustment at the plate? You can blame some of that on Hendry, but these players have to be accountable for themselves to the greater extent.

So my final thought ended up being screw the past, this is July, the month when contenders who weren't born in June have to step up. This is when the Cubs put together their 2007 run and it will likely have to be when they make this year's run if there's a run to be made. The Cubs will either step up and perform, or they won't, and I'll just watch to see if they can. If you're with me and you're tired of complaining about the same old crap, I suggest you do the same.

It should be easy enough for us to do. The Cubs have 11 straight home games to play up until the All-Star break, eight of them against the Brewers and Cardinals. They won't see these teams again until September. They're 2.5 back of St. Louis and 3.5 back of Milwaukee. If the Cubs don't come out in second place or just outside of second place by the break, they put all the pressure on the rest of July in August. If they can come strong out of the All-Star gate, the only major challenge the rest of the month will be a trip to Philadelphia, with other series being four against Washington and Houston and three against Cincinnati. With most of August being on the road, if the Cubs haven't made a statement, it would take something out of the 2007 Colorado Rockies' playbook to get them into the playoffs.

Simply put, these coming games count, and if the Cubs can't get a few games over .500 by the break, that says more that matters than finger-pointing about May and June woes. With Aramis back for 7 of the 11, you'll see these next two weeks what kind of team we truly have.