Shutout in LA

After a successful 7-2 homestand, I rather thought the Cubs were going to go on a roll.  Not to be.  The team looks pretty down and has failed to score a single run thus far in LA.  The loss dropped the Cubs back to half a game behind the Brewers into a virtual tie with the Cardinals for second place.

After the game, Maddon reiterated his opinion the team was playing good ball, but they were just not hitting.  I cannot really understand how you can think you are playing well when you haven't scored a run for eighteen innings, nor, as a matter of fact, even threatened to score a run.  We remarked last week that although the team scored a lot of runs at Wrigley Field, most of them were via the home run.  Right now, the Cubs are not working at-bats, not building innings, and striking out a lot.  Maddon has finally dropped Schwarber from the leadoff spot and has evidently decided to use him as a platoon player for a while.  That's fine, but how can you continue to hit this guy second when he is batting like .170 and striking out every other time at the plate.  Maddon has also started playing Montero more often and has dropped Russell down in the lineup.  He is playing Happ every day and the rookie continues to impress.  Certainly these are defensible moves, but so far they haven't yielded much in the way of results.

I still think the real Achilles heel of this year's team is starting pitching.  The Cubs have two pitchers in the rotation who have proved thus far to be unreliable and rather unproductive. three if you count the injured Anderson.  These two are Lackey and Arrieta.  One expected Lackey to show signs of age and rust.  Arrieta, however, was thought to be a rock.  I'm beginning to wonder whether Arrieta is ever going to return to form.  His problem now is fairly fundamental.  Arrieta is a power pitcher who relies on hard stuff to set up all his sequences.  He has lost 2 or 3 mph on his fastball.  When you throw 95 or 96 mph up in the zone, batters swing and miss.  When you throw 92 or 93, they hit home runs.  Arrieta is on a pace to give up twice as many home runs as has become his norm.  The team can probably muddle through with this level of performance.  They are not going to give up on him for sure.  But I daresay that big payday is receding into the distance, at least from the Cubs point of view.