Same story for Cubs

Piniella, Hendry preaching patience, but latest loss drops team to 3-9 at home

Not even Rich Hill could pull the Cubs out of the nose dive their early-season slump has become during the last several days.

When Hill's 19-inning scoreless streak came to an end in the fourth inning Tuesday, so did the Cubs' chances of beating the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who went on to a 4-1 victory that sent the Cubs reeling to their third consecutive loss and fourth during a six-game homestand that concludes this afternoon.

Before the game, manager Lou Piniella said there was no reason to panic. A little while later, general manager Jim Hendry repeated the refrain almost word-for-word.

But less than 24 hours after Piniella delivered a ''relax-and-play'' message to his team, Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan put the Cubs' bats to sleep in every at-bat that mattered, dropping the Cubs' home record to a miserable 3-9.

Twenty games into the season, the Cubs (7-13) are right where they finished in 2006 -- in last place in the division. Only the Washington Nationals have a worse record in the league.

''It's way too early to panic or worry that it's not going to get fixed,'' Hendry said. ''I have every confidence in the world in Lou and the staff to keep making us better.''

Despite the ugly start, Piniella didn't back down from his assessment in spring training that he has more talent with this Cubs team than he did with the other teams he took over during his managing career. But he admits he has learned more about his team since the season started than he did during spring training.

''You learn a lot more when you lose than when you win,'' said Piniella, who at this rate might earn his Ph.D. by June. ''But I like the talent on this team. I don't think that we've played any team that's more talented than us.''

Certainly, the Cubs have been competitive enough to be close in most of their losses. But an 0-8 record in games decided by one and two runs speaks to big problems doing small things well.

Most of that has been in the form of the bullpen blowing late-inning leads and the hitters failing to take advantage of high-percentage scoring chances. The latter happened again repeatedly Tuesday.

The Cubs put the leadoff man on base in four of five innings from the second through the sixth, including leadoff doubles by Michael Barrett in the fourth and Derrek Lee in the sixth. They loaded the bases with one out in the second.

But Cesar Izturis grounded into a double play in the second, Mark DeRosa lined into one to end the fourth -- Barrett was caught too far off second -- and Hill bunted into one in the fifth.

''I wish I knew,'' Piniella said when asked about the causes of the Cubs' clutch-hitting problems. ''And we're better than this. Once in a while, we have a good game where we put some runs on the board, and you think to yourself, 'Well, here we come.' And then we sort of revert back. One of these days, we'll break the barn door down and get going.''

Meanwhile, they've got a slugging first baseman (Derrek Lee) and a starting outfield (Alfonso Soriano, Felix Pie and Jacque Jones) without a home run 20 games into the season.

''That's hard for me to believe,'' Piniella said.

But he said he's going to stick to a more constant lineup now that he has mixed and matched through three weeks.

''You're not going to see big changes,'' he said. ''Might have a little one here or a little one there, but that's it. We're going to stay as constant as we can.''