Offense's bad road trip a group droop
CINCINNATI -- Derrek Lee is looking in the mirror when it comes to what went wrong on the Cubs' 2-4 trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati. But it's a group picture that's staring back out.
''We haven't swung the bats like we came out of the gates doing,'' Lee said. ''I had a terrible road trip. That's the biggest thing: The offense just stopped scoring as many runs and put a little bit more pressure on our pitching.''
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Counting their home loss to Milwaukee before starting the trip, the Cubs have scored three or fewer runs in six of their last seven games, losing five of them.
Some of the uglier numbers during the trip include Lee's 4-for-24 (twice leaving the bases full when a hit could have put the Cubs ahead), Kosuke Fukudome's 4-for-23, Reed Johnson's 2-for-17 and Mark DeRosa's 1-for-13 (1-for-19 with eight strikeouts going back to the Milwaukee series).
Fukudome was frustrated enough that he refused to talk with the Japanese reporters covering him for the first time this season.
Cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez's absence for half the trip because of a bruised wrist compounded the problems as the National League's top-hitting and top-scoring team at the start of the trip hit only .238, averaged 3.5 runs and left 60 runners on base in six games.
Almost lost in the simplicity of a 3-0 shutout Tuesday night was the end of a strange and impressive streak by the Cubs of batting at least once with the bases loaded in 16 consecutive games.
That's the longest streak the Cubs could find, scanning game records that go back 52 years, and matched the longest in the majors since 1974 (2002 Seattle Mariners).
They came to the plate 38 times with the bases loaded in that span, going 9-for-31 (.290) with 33 RBI, three walks, four doubles, four sacrifice flies, three double plays and a grand slam.
Alfonso Soriano was out of the lineup for the first time since returning last week from his calf injury. He pinch-hit in the ninth and grounded out.
Soriano (.188) said he's looking to make a fresh start to his season after getting basically two days off with today's scheduled day off.
''It's Opening Day again Friday,'' he said.
