Cubs lose game, series to Braves
By TOM MUSICK - Shaw Suburban Media
CHICAGO – A disconnect between Cubs players and coaches seemed evident after the team’s latest light-hitting loss Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Players credited Braves pitcher Kenshin Kawakami (5-6) with a dominant performance that lifted Atlanta to a 4-1 win over the Cubs. But coaches focused on the Cubs’ failures on offense as the team dropped a series to a sub-.500 team at home.
“I think what you need to do is go ask the players why they’re not hitting instead of asking me,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella bristled after his hitters reached scoring position twice all day.
Cubs hitters seemed less concerned.
“I think the guy pitched a great game, honestly,” said Derrek Lee, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. “Sometimes you tip your cap.”
Ryan Theriot downplayed the team’s latest hitting slump after the Cubs won three of four games against the Brewers with what appeared to be a revived offense.
“That’s baseball,” Theriot said. “You’re not going to score a ton of runs every game.”
The Cubs proved that to be true, with Kosuke Fukudome’s solo shot marking the team’s lone run. Right-hander Kevin Hart (0-1) received the loss despite limiting the Braves to one run in five innings.
Turning point
Braves third baseman Martin Prado singled in Nate McLouth in the third inning to break a scoreless tie. Casey Kotchman extended the lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning by hitting Angel Guzman’s second pitch of the game into the right-field bleachers.
That deficit proved too steep for Cubs hitters to overcome.
“It seems like everyone is trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Cubs hitting coach Von Joshua said. “I’m just trying to get the guys to relax and just hit the ball where it’s pitched and not try to pull everything. That’s the biggest thing I see.
“The guys aren’t really making the adjustments,” Joshua said. “The pitchers are doing a certain thing to them, and they’re not adjusting. That’s a mindset.”
Lou’s take
Piniella was agitated about the Cubs hitting slump even before Wednesday’s one-run performance.
“We’ve got to hit,” Piniella said. “Fifteenth in the league in runs scored is not going to get it done. Period. I mean, we can mask this any way we want to mask it. But we’ve got to start scoring more runs more consistently to win baseball games.
“There’s no question it can change,” Piniella said. “This is a long season, and that’s why you play 162 games. But the fact remains that for us to have good success, we’re going to have to score more runs in the second half than we did in the first half.”
Big stat
4.1: Runs a game for the Cubs offense this season.
The Cubs led the National League with 5.3 runs a game last season.
“We’ve talked many times in the three years I’ve been here about five runs [a game] being the benchmark to win with consistency,” Piniella said. “We’ve played [82] games and you multiply 5 times [82], it’s over 400 runs. We’re quite short of it.”
The Cubs have scored 338 runs in their first 82 games with many of the same players from 2008.
“We didn’t expect that at all,” Piniella said. “I don’t think anybody expected it.”
On deck
The Cubs have today off before they play four games in three days against the first-place St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
Cubs right-hander Rich Harden (5-5) will start against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (6-3) on Friday.
