Middle of the order must return to form quickly

By Steven Chaitman | Jun 09, 12:55 PM

I'm tired of seeing broken bats. This is not just about the horrendous maple bats that need to go before someone is killed, but the fact that Cubs batters are easily snapping them out of pure frustration.

The Cubs bats have been quiet for a long time now, but the they were winning a lot. Now that the roadtrip ended 4-3 and more road games loom in interleague play starting this weekend, this is beginning to look like an issue that could cost the Cubs some games. Basically, the Cubs have this three game series against the Braves to get back to their high-scoring ways before they're going to pay for it on the road. Considering the Cubs have the best home record in the NL and they are hosting the team with the worst road record in Major League Baseball, this is a no excuse, zero-tolerance situation. Everyone talks about how great the Cubs are at home, but losing to this Braves team will show a problem. I give the Cubs about one really close loss in the first game due to a Chipper Jones home run off of Michael Wuertz in the 8^th as the only flexibility they have for not sweeping this team. I'm going to ease off the pitching for this series and put this on the hitters to handle a solid Braves' rotation.

Before I go into the Cubs' hitting woes. Let's get one thing out there. Bring back Micah Hoffpauir, Lou. Clearly we don't need Kevin Hart anymore because he can't get anyone out. We need a fresh bat, and Hoffpauir's was the bat that arguably sparked the Cubs' offense in the comeback against Colorado two weeks ago.

Now let's talk about who needs to step it up in this series. The Cubs now have 2 everyday players hitting .300 when there were about 5 hitting that in mid-May. To be blunt, it's all the Cubs' best players, but I will elaborate as to why.

-Derrek Lee. Ok, Derrek, I understand the Cubs have seen some good pitching, but you can't seem to ever swing at the right pitches. Lee is 6 for his last 32 with 12 strikeouts. That's a .187 BA. Watching Lee at the plate has been painful. He gets down in the count fast and gets defensive too quickly. I give some credit to the pitchers, but he's not seeing the ball like he's been known to, otherwise he wouldn't take so many first-pitch strikes or miss the one's he's taking.

-Geovany Soto. There is a big question mark about Geo's thumb, but if it was a problem, he'd be on the DL or sitting out a few games. Soto had a homer on the trip, but that was one of his two hits in 19 at-bats. Soto has seen his average go from .296 to .278 in the month of June, down from .328 in mid-may. If he wants to hold that all-star lead, he'll need to step it up again. He's still got a lot of strikeouts, but he's lost some pop on his deep balls and hitting them at defenders.

-Aramis Ramirez. After the way he was hitting during the Cubs' win streak, I did not think I'd bring up his name right now, but he's gone 1-for-17since (and including) the game that broke the win streak. What a cool down, a .020 point drop in his average. Of all the slumpers, Aramis has solid odds for hitting the fast track back to over .300 with this upcoming series.

-Kosuke Fukudome. If he really can only hit at Wrigley, he'll have a good series. Fuku went 3-for-18 on the trip. He also dropped his first diving attempt to catch a fly ball in that haunting 7^th inning from Zambrano's start. I don't recall him missing one of those ever. He's been dipping and diving around .300 for some time now and rests at .292 for the moment, so I give him best shot at being the first Cub slumper to turn it around.

-Alfonso Soriano. I know what you're thinking, he has a 6-game hit streak and has hit safely in 22 of his last 26 games, so how could I knock him right now? Oh, you didn't know about those numbers? Yeah, I didn't either. That's because he's still hitting just .279, struck out 10 times on the road trip and is still working on his RBI numbers. This guy doesn't belong at the top of the order if he strikes out that much. Basically he needs to spark this lagging offense with some big hits and consistent big hits that put the middle of the order in position to drive in runs.

All in the all, the middle of the order not hitting in this series will result in some series problems. No matter how much Soriano and Theriot (or last night DeRosa) get on base, if the 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters are slumping, the Cubs will struggle big time. That's why you've seen so many squandered opportunities.

Tagged: north side, baseball, Cubs