Things finally looking up in Wrigleyville

It's been a rough first half for Chicago Cubs fans, who have seen an underachieving team seem to continue a slide that began against the Dodgers in the playoffs last year.

Alfonso Soriano hasn't hit well. Aramis Ramirez was hurt. Geovany Soto had a sophomore slump. Milton Bradley hasn't hit, either, and recently found himself in manager Lou Piniella's doghouse.

Yet all that has happened, and the Cubs are just two games out of first place in the NL Central. That's enough reason for optimism. Ramirez is back, too.

Then there's this: There's light at the end of the tunnel on the team's sale prospects. Tribune Company, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seems to have found a buyer in the Ricketts family, which founded the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. There are plans to modernize Wrigley Field in place. The sale is reportedly for $900 million, and could be completed in a month or two.

Just in time for a pennant run? (This is the Cubs we're talking about, I know. But maybe the Ricketts have a benevolent history to billy goats.)

"We've got a great ballclub," Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said, to the Chicago Tribune. "I hope no one expects a new owner to come in and do anything dramatic in the short sense. It is not what the team needs."