Previewing the Phillies-Cubs Series with ESPNChicago's Jon Greenberg

With the lowly Cubs coming to town this evening to take on our first place Phillies, we reached out to a Chicago writer who we read frequently cracking jokes at the Cubs expense on Twitter. Jon Greenberg is a columnist for ESPNChicago.com and is the author of such pieces as "The wreck at Wrigley is tough to watch." We've heard things were bad, but we thought we'd ask him just how bad. I've also had beers with Jon in the past at Wrigley, so I asked him to feel free to have some fun at the Cubs expense. Our conversation below.

Enrico: We tend to get tunnel vision a bit here in Philadelphia and focus only on our Phillies, but it's hard not to notice when a guy on the Cubs blasts off about how "We stinks." As a guy who covers the Cubs closely, are things as really as bad in Wrigleyville as Carlos Zambrano seems to think?

Jon Greenberg: Yes, yes, yes. Personally, I think "We Stinks" should become the team's rallying cry, and if there isn't a bootleg T-shirt with that slogan on it by Monday night's game, I'm going to blame the economy or something.

A large section of Cubs fans are really disappointed in the direction of the franchise, which has really nosedived since the 2008 playoff exit. The fans and the franchise just hasn't recovered from that sweep by Los Angeles. I mean, Jim Hendry gave Milton Bradley a multi-year deal months after that! It should have been revoked by reason of insanity.

But a lot of Cubs fans like to be mired in the misery of this team. They won't admit it, but they do. So maybe they're secretly delighted by the admission the team stinks.

I didn't really answer the question, but yeah the team sucks. There are too many Triple-A call-ups on the roster right now, none of whom with any whiff of power. The defense is atrocious and the pitching staff is missing an experienced Major League coach and lacks any semblance of depth.

Also, attendance is down.

Enrico: But at least they're not as bad as the Astros!?!

Things are quite different in Philadelphia. We're riding the most success we've seen out of the Phillies franchise in most of our lifetimes (if not ever?), but a certain segment of fans have turned into over-reactionaries. The Phils are in first place, but do certainly have plenty of weaknesses. The offense has lost a lot of its pop, perhaps due to age, and struggles to put up big runs on a consistent basis.

They've also been playing down to their opponents lately. Struggling against lesser quality teams like Washington and Pittsburgh. They've seem to lack that killer instinct to be able to put teams away when they should.

Which leads me to believe a series with the Cubs won't be as easy as the two teams records may indicate. Any chance the younger Cubs players step up against a championship contender? Although you can't like having to run up against Halladay, Lee, and Oswalt in three of the four games here.

Jon Greenberg: You're right Enrico Pallazo, the Cubs are better than the Astros. A whopping game-and-a-half after the Cubs' 4-1 win over the Reds on Wednesday afternoon, breaking an eight-game losing streak.

Can the Cubs win a game off Philly? Sure. It's baseball, right? (Fill in your favorite baseball cliche here.) Maybe Zambrano and Garza throw back-to-back no-hitters. Sure. Maybe Doug Davis, ah forget it.

But these Cubs hitters against Halladay, Lee and Oswalt? It's going to get ugly. Have you even heard of half the team right now? Marlon Byrd and Soriano are on the DL, remember. It's amazing how good of a staff the Phillies have, and fans should revel in it.

Phillies fans have it good, but they have every right to be nervous. Baseball's meat grinder of a season is guaranteed to cause perpetual worry. In 2008, Cubs fans rode the entire season on a wave of good vibes and look how that ended up.

Enrico: Not going to lie, it's quite enjoyable to listen to you talk about how awful our competition is.

We'll end with this: how about one or two of the younger Cubs players we'll see over the next few days that have shown some real potential?We saw the Dodgers this week playing former Phillies closer Tom Gordon's kid at shortstop for the first time ever. Kid had ridiculous speed. Real fun to watch.

Anyone young and exciting to look out for on the Cubs?

Jon Greenberg: Well, even you East Coast elites have probably heard of Starlin Castro, right? He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated the other week. Even though he's still erratic on defense, he's an exciting player with All-Star potential. Not Pirates' All-Star potential (Jack Wilson, Carlos Garcia), but Jimmy Rollins' type ish.

Pint-sized CF Tony Campana (pictured right) would be a fan favorite in Philly. He's small, white, presumably Italian, wears his hat cocked to the side and flies around like Aaron Rowand's kid brother. He's kind of like Sam Fuld, whom the Cubs traded in the Matt Garza deal.

Second baseman Darwin Barney is having a very good first full season in the majors. He's got the most multi-hit games of any rookie (24, I think) and isn't an idiot, which is refreshing. He told me playing baseball is "like blackjack. You love it and you hate it."

That's fitting for this series. The Cubs hate baseball right now while the Phillies love it.