The Results:
6/22 L vs. Braves 0-2
6/23 L vs. Tigers 4-5
6/24 L vs. Tigers 3-5
6/25 L vs. Tigers 5-6
6/26 W vs. White Sox 5-4
6/27 L vs. White Sox 7-9
6/28 L vs. White Sox 0-6
The Story:
What a difference a week makes huh Cub fans? The Cubs entered this week playing some of the best baseball they have played all year; however, they took a step back losing all but one game this week. The two moments that captured this week perfectly were Gregg’s blown save against Detroit and Zambrano’s short temper on the Southside Sunday. More note worthy than Big Z’s attitude problem was his lack of poise and control on the mound. Someone please tell me why you would hit a guy on accident and make it look like you are drilling him on purpose.
We all saw more of the same offensive woes in Atlanta to start the week. A strong effort from starter Ryan Dempster (6 2/3 innings, two runs) kept the Cubs in it, but they couldn’t push a run across in clutch situations. The Cubs lost all three games in Detroit by 4 total runs and left men on base in clutch situations, a far cry from the team that scored 15 runs after the 7th inning in 6 games last week. Kevin Gregg continued his futility by giving up a walk-off home run as well.
It seems as if this team has taken after its 136 Million dollar man, Alfonso Soriano. His consistency to be a contender has not been seen yet, it very well may emerge in the comings weeks with Aramis Ramirez’s return lingering.
The weekend series with the Sox started on the right note, a 5-4 win locked down by Gregg. Saturday’s game was hard fought but three runs given up by Marshall, Marmol and Hielman were too much of an obstacle to overcome and the White Sox won in walk-off fashion. The Cubs’ offensive struggles returned in the finale vs. the White Sox, with the Northsiders unable to touch South Side starter John Danks over his seven frames.
Carlos Zambrano, meanwhile, had a shaky outing, yielding five runs over 5 1/3 innings and exchanging words with Dewayne Wise after plunking him in the sixth. Big Z walked towards Wise after plunking him prompting Guillen and Thome to jump quickly onto the field. The altercation was diffused and the Sox went on to embarrass the Cubs 6-0.
In the game of baseball there will inevitability be stretches of futility, the teams that keep them to occurrences rather than habits prosper. This Cubs team has been hovering around .500 for the last 2 months and a couple straight weeks like this last one would make the task of catching a Cardinal team with Mark DeRosa a difficult task.[ad][ad]
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