Things might be looking up for Cubs' snakebitten rotation

Eleven days will pass before the Cubs make their next appearance in Chicago. Fog is not in the forecast for July 17, when the Cubs play the Twins in their first game back after next week’s All-Star break.

But after experiencing Wrigley whiplash, a historically lopsided win followed by an equally lopsided loss, a record-setting barrage of home runs followed by two days of soft serve, no one is qualified to proclaim they know where the Cubs are bound between now and October.

The only thing we know for sure is the Cubs boarded buses on Waveland Avenue late Sunday afternoon for a ride to the airport and a six-game trip to Baltimore and Cincinnati. After that, Pete Crow-Armstrong will head to Philadelphia as the team’s only All-Star representative; everyone else will scatter for a chance to take a deep breath in whatever fashion suits them.

It’s a misnomer to call it the season’s midpoint. The Cubs already have played 90 games, a number that will grow to 96 by Sunday, assuming there are no rainouts, fogouts, blackouts, or whatever other disaster you might want to conjure. There will only be 66 games left. The Aug. 3 trading deadline is less than a month away.

What they do at that deadline may well be determined by how they fare in the next couple of weeks. Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Cardinals, which prevented a St. Louis sweep, was a welcome step in the right direction. But too soon, of course, to call it anything but a temporary course correction.

“It has been a really up-and-down season,” Cubs Vice President Jed Hoyer said at the outset of this weekend’s set with the precocious Birds, who sport the majors’ youngest roster and took the first two games of the series.

“There’s no reason to think that’s the way the rest of the season is going to go. We could just proceed to level things out, and I hope we do. But yeah, this is a really important stretch.”

Even when presented some encouraging developments Sunday—a strong start by Javier Assad here (4 2/3 scoreless innings), Jameson Taillon’s rehab start for the Class A South Bend Cubs, Edward Cabrera’s I’m-ready-to-go-smile after an encouraging side session before the game—manager Craig Counsell managed not to roll his eyes when asked if he was starting to feel reasonably confident that the pitching staff had walked into a tsunami and emerged safely on the other side.

“I can’t answer that question in the affirmative,’’ he said.

Well, of course he couldn’t. The Cubs have had pitchers drop on every day that ends in a y. Just when one guy returns, another crashes the injury list. Hoyer’s response has been to respond with a series of self-described small moves—taking a flier on lefty David Peterson, an All-Star with the Mets last year who has been knocked around this season, bringing back former Cub Drew Pomeranz signing a revolving door of relievers.

Will there be bigger moves to come? The market hasn’t formed yet, Hoyer said, but of course pitching looms high on his wish list.

Shoot, scouting director Dan Kantrovitz, previewing this Saturday’s amateur draft, said the Cubs are placing an emphasis on finding the next generation of quality arms. That doesn’t address their current plight, of course.

“No, it’s a good sign,’’ Counsell said. “The fact that Jamo (Taillon) is pitching today…is a really good sign for us. We had Cabbie (Cabrera) have a really good day today, and it was an important day. So there’s some good signs on that front.

The guys who have been carrying the load in the meantime, like Colin Rea, look at Boyd opening the road trip Tuesday in Baltimore, Taillon and Cabrera making strides, and Assad doing his part Sunday, as indications that maybe the worst is behind them.

“It seems from the sound of it, guys are going to come back either just before or just after the All-Star break, which is going to be huge,’’ said Rea, who has pitched well in his last three starts to help keep the team afloat. “You never know how they’re going to be at first when they come back, but with their history and the success they’ve had, it’s gonna be great to have them back.’’

“[The injuries] have piled up on each other, but I feel like guys have kind of stepped up and filled those roles, and that’s going to help us down the road.’’