Not even a season like this one can convince him the National League Central is not within the Cubs' reach in 2012.
"Absolutely it is," he said.Hope springs eternal, even in late summer with the Cubs in their fourth month of playing out the string.
Before Monday's 12-8 win over the Reds, the Cubs were 21 games behind first-place Milwaukee and 18 games below .500, while their starting pitchers combined to post the highest earned-run average of any NL club.
Despite a combined 1,698 feet worth of home runs off starter Rodrigo Lopez, including the first ball ever hit over the right-field bleachers at the Great American Ballpark ? a 502-foot shot by catcher Juan Francisco ? the Cubs coasted Monday behind their offense.
"I'm surprised at how many runs we scored," Alfonso Soriano said. "We don't look tired today. It's good for the team. We got here at 5:30 in the morning (from New York). It was a good performance for everybody."
Jeff Baker, Aramis Ramirez and Starlin Castro homered in the Cubs' 16-hit attack against Dontrelle Willis and the Reds' bullpen.
Castro's home run traveled 425 feet, and he added a pair of doubles and drove in three runs, while Soriano also had three RBIs.
Castro's three hits left him with 190 for the season, giving him a shot at hitting the 200-hit mark during the final Cubs homestand.
"I can get to 196 or 197 in Cincinnati, and then get it at home," Castro said. "I want to do it at home. It's better there."
As for the Cubs' chances in 2012, Quade lauded the Reds, Cardinals and Brewers before adding: "There's always reason to believe that if you put the right things together and improve in the areas you need to, you can compete. ? It's a long season, but I find no reason to think we can't make some decisions and put something together and contend."
Whether Quade will get another chance to contend remains to be seen. His team is putting together another last-gasp run, just as it did last year, going 24-13 under Quade to save his job and give the players hope a carry-over affect would be in play in 2011.
It didn't happen, of course, costing general manager Jim Hendry his job and leaving Quade on the hot seat.
The best they can do this year is finish in fourth, a reachable goal now that Pittsburgh is in the midst of an epic meltdown.
"I'd love to catch the Pirates, absolutely," Quade said. "You'd love to go on an unbelievable run and find a way to catch (the Reds). But I think we let that take care of itself."
Twitter @PWSullivan
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