Losing A Must-Win

Today's game felt an awful lot like a must-win, as much as any game can feel that way on June 19.

I mean, I guess it depends how you look at the situation, because if you've already written off the Cardinals and the division then the Cubs are still doing just fine contending for the wild card. I don't think it was a must-win for the standings, though. This one felt like a game the Cubs needed in order to become the team they want to be this season. They needed this one in order to feel like a team that's ready to compete with good teams.



They pulled up short. All the momentum from the west coast trip dissipates. They're now a team that's lost six games out of seven by a margin of 38 runs in those six losses. They're a team with obvious weaknesses, and good teams just exploited those weaknesses.



Once again, the Cubs didn't draw enough walks, and didn't work enough counts. They let the pitcher get them out on his pitch. It was another series without using a hit and run. To top it all off, the bullpen looked as shaky as ever, and the one guy who's been consistently alright (Dempster) didn't even get to pitch, so now he's rusty.



Hell, I gave up on LaTroy the same way everyone else did, but he couldn't have done any worse than Borowski. You can't give up a five-run homerun. That was the worst feeling of the weekend, when Jeter hit a grand slam to put yesterday's game out of reach. I felt despondent, so I can only imagine how the Cubs felt. A good team can rebound though, and the Cubs didn't.



You have to wonder now whether two weeks ago we were seeing a good team or a hot team out west. There's a big difference. Actually I figure it's somewhere inbetween, meaning that the Cubs can still be a good team but they have to start doing the things that good teams do.



Stop walking people. Start trying to draw walks. Start attacking, trying to get runs with hit and run plays and stolen bases. Stop making defensive mistakes.



That's what it comes down to, isn't it? This is not -- and will not become -- a team that outslugs other good teams twice out of three for more than a brief hot streak. Against the Yankees, it wasn't even once out of three. So how about some renewed concentration on the other parts of a baseball game?



If they can't change -- if it's just not in their nature -- then we have to hope that Wood & Prior really can come back and start pitching 7 innings before the rudder breaks. The bullpen needs this more than anyone else, but the lineup does too. The Cubs are due for another stretch of close games. They have to figure out how to win them. The only way they won't come due for a stretch of close games is if they are in the middle of a stretch of losses. Either that, or the left-fielder-du-jour & Patterson start producing the extra runs the team needs for a long stretch. I don't want to think about a stretch of losses and I'm not counting on runs from the left & centerfielders, so I'm figuring on a bunch of close games.



I feel a lot worse after watching them get swept by the Yankees, and not just because I hate the Yankees and the idea of the Yankees ever winning adds to the displeasure of the Cubs losing. It's the way they lost. The Cubs were trounced by a team that carried itself like a team that knew it was better than its opponent. That says a lot about both teams, and I hate to see it. I want to stay optimistic, but right now it's really hard.