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Cubs Thu Jun 02 2011
Cubs Sink to 5th Loss in 6 Games
The Cubs opened this nine-game homestand by winning two of three against the struggling New York Mets. They scored 24 runs in those games. In the six games since, they have scored 16 runs. Aside from lack of run production, the injury bug has begun taking its toll on the Cubs.
They currently have six of their starters on the disabled list. Alfonso Soriano is the latest victim. He strained his quad running out a grounder to first on Monday afternoon.
The Cubs started off Wednesday's game favorably against Houston's Brett Myers, who for all intents and purposes should be on the all-time Cubs killers list. Kosuke Fukudome hit a solo home run to give his team the 1-0 advantage.
It would be short-lived as the Astros would answer back in the top of the second with a solo home run by Jason Michaels. Houston scored two more in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead and secure a sweep of the Northsiders.
Scary moment in the seventh as Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez took a ground ball off the face. He left the game with lacerations on his lip.
It is just one bad thing after another for this Cubs team. They can't seem to catch a break. I'd be truly surprised if Ramirez landed on the disabled list, but then again nothing is really surprising me anymore with this team. In addition to being riddled with injuries and a complete lack of hitting in the clutch, another area the Cubs are hurting in is starting pitching.
There have been nine different starting pitchers for the Cubs. The only two starters who have been there since opening day are Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano. Having a new starter every other outing can't help a team getting rolling. Especially when some of those starters shouldn't even been considered starters (i.e., James Russell). Couple bad starting pitching with being third in the league with errors -- it is not a recipe for winning baseball. The team with the most errors just swept the Cubs.
This was supposed to be an easy homestand with the Mets, Pirates and Astros coming to Wrigley, but 3-6 against the bottom feeders isn't going to cut it and it isn't going to get any easier. The Cubs set out on a 10-game road trip starting in St. Louis, then heading to Cincinnati with it concluding in Philadelphia. There is still time to turn this thing around, but it needs to start to Friday night in St. Louis.
