Game Seventy-Nine – Cubs 2 White Sox 6
Day in and day out this season, the Cubs lack of clutch hitting gets more and more frustrating. For the fourth straight game the Cubs had opportunities to put up a win and in those four games they are a disappointing 1-3. The Cubs managed 9 hits against Sox pitching including 3 from Juan Pierre but they left 9 on base and could not score any runs after the 1st inning.
Sean Marshall settled down after the 1st inning but the 3 runs he allowed on 5 hits put the Cubs behind before they ever stepped to the plate. Marshall fell behind hitters all afternoon and had trouble, again, recording the third out of the inning. The Cubs cannot get a hit with 2 outs, but they give up more than their share. With Angel Pagan and Michael Barrett back on the active roster, the Cubs have lost the injury and health excuses for losing and like Ron Santo said during the game on Friday, “Now it’s a character issue.” Juan Uribe continued swinging his hot bat against the Cubs and was responsible for 5 of the White Sox 6 runs with a 3 for 4 day that included a home run. The Sox had 3 RBI’s, all from Uribe, with 2 outs and left 3 other RISP with 2 outs but the Cubs left 6 RISP with 2 outs and failed to score a single run with runners in scoring position and no outs in both the 6th and 7th innings. Ronny Cedeno continued his struggles with RISP and left the tying runs on base for the second day in a row.
The Cubs are now 21 games under .500 and are dangerously close to having the worst record in baseball. No one has figured how to step up and no one besides Derrek Lee on this team has anywhere near the “it” factor that has been a hot topic of conversation lately on ESPN. While I was watching the Red Sox on Thursday night against the Mets, I was reminded as to what good baseball looks like and unfortunately this “team” is no where close.
It would be nice to see the Cubs take the next two games from the Sox.