The Cubs. Those lovable losers from Chicago are having a pretty good year so far. They are second in the NL Central, six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now for a team battling with injuries to their most prominent starting pitchers — Kerry Wood and Mark Prior — they are faring quite well. But if they suffer more, God help them because they will be calling up pitchers from their AAA team based in Des Moines.

I’ve had the displeasure of seeing the Iowa Cubs in action almost every home game this season. I have to tell you, they suck.

Currently, the ICubs are last in the Pacific Coast League’s American North division. At 26-38, they are the worst out of all 17 teams and trail division-leading Memphis by 7.5 games.

The offense has potential, but the starting pitching isn’t getting any help from them. It’s like with Houston. You have a couple of talented pitchers who have bad records simply because the offense can’t produce runs.

The six starters are a combined 9-13 with an average ERA of 5.11. Two started the season in Iowa, two are up from Double A West Tennessee, the fifth came from Fresno in the LaTroy Hawkins trade and the sixth is actually a long reliever who got suckered into spot starting. The seven relievers on the other hand, are 6-6 and own an ERA of just a shade over nine. If you read between the lines here, you see while the starters give up a few runs, the relievers give up a lot more after they come in, but the loss has already been charged to the starter unless the team ties it up at some point after he’s been relieved.

In Chicago, meanwhile, starters are 19-12, ERA at 4.23. Relievers are 9-6 with an ERA of 3.67. A striking difference between the two teams.

The ICubs’ top two pitchers — Sergio Mitre and John Koronka — are currently starting in Chicago. In four games, Mitre is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.88. Koronka in two games is also 1-1, ERA at 5.73.

There are a few bright spots in this horrid ICub pitching staff, though. Richard Hill, up from AA Tennessee, is 1-1 in three starts owning an ERA of 4.34. But, he possesses some nasty stuff, that’s why I listed him first. In those three starts he’s struck out 29, 14 alone in his first start. Jermaine Van Buren is the best reliever at 1-1, 1.75 ERA, six saves and 34 strikeouts in 24 games. Another starter, Jerome Williams, acquired in the Hawkins trade a couple weeks ago, is 1-0 and has a 2.45 ERA in his three starts. He’s spent a good part of a couple seasons in the majors recently within the Giants organization.

Thankfully, Wood and Prior are due to return soon. Wood will actually be pitching Monday night in Des Moines and lucky for me, I will get to see the game for free, even if I have to be working a camera. Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux have been decent all season. Glendon Rusch has figured his stuff out after a disappointing start to the season, while Ryan Dempster has come on as a great closer recently. My hope here is that the Cubs will become better off with the return of Wood and Prior and then Koronka and Mitre will be sent back to Iowa.