For all the problems in the bullpen, and a feast-or-famine offense that has scored almost all its runs via the homer, the Cubs incredibly have a chance Sunday take a .500 record into Monday's home opener against Milwaukee.

``I think it's the biggest game of the road trip,'' said Alfonso Soriano, who's one of seven Cubs with home runs already through just five games. ``We haven't played good, but if we win tomorrow, we can go home .500. Then we can forget these games and start over.''

Not bad for a team that opened the season with its worst Opening Day loss in 126 years, then blew eighth-inning leads two of the next three nights.

``This road trip so far has been kind of funny,'' said Jeff Baker, whose pinch-hit homer in the eighth today proved the game-winner. ``You could flip it around and we could be whatever-and-one, and on the flip side of that we could also be one-and-whatever.''

After their 11-run loss Monday, three of the past four games have been decided by one run each, and the other game was Thursday's 2-0 win.

A win Sunday could provide more than a boost heading into the home opener, but also a boost heading into their next road trip, considering how poorly the Cubs played on the road most of last season (26-38 until late August).

``It'd be nice to come out tomorrow and get a win and go home with a split and go from there,'' Baker said, ``and try to build some momentum at home, where you know the fans are going to be excited, and it's going to be a great atmosphere.''