 The pitching staff as a whole led the National League in Strikeouts with 1,404.At mid-season, the Cubs had overcome Sammy Sosa's corked bat incident, and found themselves in the thick of the pennant race, and were looking for a replacement for Bill Mueller, who was traded near the end of the '02 campaign.Initially, there was talk of a deal for Marlin's 3B Mike Lowell, which came very close to fruition.