Offensive Abyss

Dig out your voodoo chickenwing bones folks because the Cubs need to conjure some hits for their bats. Burn the incense, light the firecrackers, and if need be, somebody will track down a live chicken and a big knife. Desperate times, Joe Boo.



The Cubs have hit a total of 21 homeruns as a team. In 25 games. For crying out loud, Pujols has 14 by himself. The only teams in the NL with fewer homeruns than the Northsiders are the bottom 3 of the NL west, the Dodgers, Giants and Padres. Small ball is all fine and good, but come on already.



On the other end of the spectrum, there are walks drawn. The Cubs have 67. That puts them tied for dead last with the abominable Pirates.

Call me crazy, but if you’re not doing the little things like drawing walks, and you’re not doing the big things like hitting homeruns, how exactly do you plan on scoring the extra runs it takes to win when your pitching isn’t nearly perfect? How are you going to win any 5 to 3, 6 to 4 ballgames?

Ain’t happening.

The stat I like to keep is one I made up called Innings Threatened, where I record which innings the Cubs got a runner to second with less than two outs, or a runner to third. I like it because those are the situations the opposing pitcher and defense has to work harder. A measly single or a wild pitch and a run is likely to score. The pressure is on. A good offense will get up close to averaging 4 threatening innings a game, by my unofficial estimates.

So I looked at my notes for the last 4 games, the games they've been lethargic and slumping. The Cubs have threatened 10 innings out of 36. Meanwhile they grounded into 8 double plays. Talk about doldrums.

That’s been the trend. The team has hit into the third most double plays of any team in the NL, despite having the fewest total of men on base (hits + walks) of ANY in the league. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this is unsustainable if the team is going to win more than it loses.

You can crunch other numbers other ways, but all it will tell you is what you already knew: this team has left itself – and its pitchers – almost no margin for error. If the bullpen, Maddux and Marshall hadn’t been luminous, and if the defense hadn’t shined, this team would be well on the other side of .500.

It’s a recipe for anxiety. A dangerous precipice. A tenuous position. Working so long under so much pressure and so little breathing room, we can only expect the team to tighten up, especially the pitching. We’ve already seen it a bit with Zambrano: It certainly seemed like he knew he was going to have to be perfect since he had been getting so little run support, and when he made a few mistakes early in his last start he mentally mailed in the game.

To start on accountability in the lineup, look no further than Aramis Ramirez, who’s hitting .200 with 10 RBI. You may not realize it, but despite his brutal start, Jacques Jones is hitting .230 with 10 RBI. Right now, the Cubs best slugger isn’t slugging, and there’s nowhere else to look to pick up the slack.

The only thing keeping the Cubs in the mix right now is pitching, defense and the weak schedule. They have another streak of games against teams at or below .500. Thank goodness.

Somehow, though, they have to start scoring more runs. Whether it’s a more patient approach, more steals and hit and runs, or some homeruns, they gotta start scoring. Lee’s absence is part of it, but this is no time for excuses.

It’s time to start hitting. If this team is going to be better than plus 4 after another month -- plus 7 is on pace to win over 90 at that point -- hitting is what it will take, one way or another. Maybe it’s not quite time to get desperate, but let’s just say I’m getting nervous.