It's funny how baseball works. One day you're convinced a team is no good and the next it's won four straight, three in rallying walk-off fashion. Nearly everything you criticize suddenly gets put on hold until things are bad enough that you can criticize them again. 

The Cubs sweep of the Cleveland Indians this weekend was nothing short of remarkable, even if you take into account the Indians' horrendous bullpen. Teams don't come back from 7-0 deficits much and not usually teams who up until the 4th inning Thursday afternoon were still stranding runners in scoring position as if the point of baseball was to leave more men on base than the other team.

Still, it's my job to sift through the remarkable and figure out just what turned the Cubs' fortunes around for the time being. It would be just as naive to start calling the Cubs the best of the NL Central right now as it was to assume they'd never hit like they were supposed to ever again.

It might have everything or nothing to do with new hitting coach Von Joshua. According to Cubs.com, Joshua has been pushing patience and not trying to do too much at the plate. Since his arrival, we've seen that in players such as Andres Blanco and Ryan Theriot. Then again, it could all be luck. Here's what makes the new-look Cubbies tick.

• Their fearless leader, Derrek Lee. An 18-game hit streak with four home runs in the last four games and the best average I believe in the majors since May 16. Since that day, Lee has hit safely in 26 of his last 28 games. The key for him is making good swings early in the count. When he's been off in the past, he usually swings too early and it's not pretty. He's getting more hitters' counts and when he does swing early he squares up beautifully.

• Milton Bradley's 9-game hitting streak isn't a ton to brag about, unless you're hitting ahead of Derrek Lee. Although he's not scoring that many more runs or driving many in, Bradley's creating opportunities. Once Alfonso Soriano learns to get on base, his RBI should go up. For now, he still needs to concentrate on playing better mental baseball in right field and on the base path. The sweep covered up quite a few more mistakes this weekend. 

• Ryan Theriot is finally swinging like the riot of yore, getting the ball into right-center field. He has a little 7-game hitting streak going, but the key is his strikeouts are back down with only one since Thursday began.

• Geovany Soto is waiting for his pitches. In his last three starts, Soto has walked five times and hit two home runs, indicative of taking smarter at-bats and even more so of making good contact. His gradual return has been a sigh of relief. He hit .260 on the home stand -- a huge improvement.

• Andres Blanco should complement his Minor League salary by joining Circque Du Soleil when it returns to Chicago. I've never seen a rangier middle infielder for the Cubs or a player with such a quick release from glove to hand. Three well-deserved starts in the series and three wins for the Cubs. Not so coincidental: you play smarter baseball, you win more games. He might have looked immature at the plate a few times, but he came through twice in the clutch. Aaron Miles can pack his things. The Cubs should trade Miles to a team without middle infield depth for a Triple-A pitcher and maybe a position player deeper in the Minor League system the second Aramis Ramirez gets back.

• Jose Ascanio has really been a good arm for the Cubs this month. In 7 and 1/3 innings he's averaged just under a hit and a walk per inning, but struck out 9 while allowing just two earned runs. He's a lot like Carlos Marmol only a little less wild but consequently a little less lethal. With Angel Guzman going back on the DL again, Ascanio might need to fill the recent bullpen ace's shoes as a set-up man.

In the end, this is all about putting Mid May to Mid June behind us. This looks like a different team -- one that creates opportunities and has players who consistently deliver, often times making good contact and putting a charge into the ball. Remember when Carlos Zambrano said in June or July two years ago that he was starting his "new season" and it worked? That's what the Cubs need to do. 2009 version 2.0 began Thursday.

With no breaks through the end of the month and then some, this team now has something to prove -- that it's winning because of more than just magic and/or God's sense of humor. A division-leading Detroit Tigers team will be a quick test of the longevity of this new-look offense, and having just played the White Sox on the tail end of their slump, a new series on the South Side will be a great chance to show definitive improvement.