The ups and downs continue for a Cubs team that now sits at 10-13, good for fourth place in the NL Central after dropping their third consecutive game yesterday at Wrigley Field. After winning four in a row to climb back to .500, this team looked like it was ready to get on a hot streak. The bats had awoken, complimenting a starting five that has been as good as any in the league. But that glimpse of what this team is capable of offensively ended abruptly as they have posted just eight runs over the last three games.
The Cubs have won just two series so far and they both came against the same opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers. They are 5-1 against the Brewers which includes a sweep last weekend at Miller Park where the Cubs made the Brewers look like a Triple-A team. For reasons unknown to this writer, the team seems to bring its “A” game against Milwaukee, and the Cubs “A” game is good, very good actually.
The statistics do not tell the story for this team. When scanning over the batting averages and other offensive numbers, they appear to be quite good, with the exception of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez who have struggled mightily in the month of April. However, these numbers are skewed and are not as impressive as they appear to be. This lineup can explode for ten runs on any given day; however it always seems to be followed up by the bats going silent for the next three days. There have been numerous offensive outbursts but no consistency from this big name lineup that is capable of more. I don’t think anybody would have believed you if you told them the Cubs five current starters would have an ERA of 2.87 and the team would be three games under .500 on the last day of April. However, that is the case for this team as they continue to try to get each unit playing well at the same time. That is something that Cub fans have not seen much of dating back to the beginning of last season.
The Cubs look to end the losing streak and start a winning one today as they will host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
