The Chicago Cubs came into this season with the expectation of at least contending for a World Series title.

However, they have struggled mightily this season and they have been unable to live up to the high expectations that accompanied a seemingly unstoppable pitching rotation and batting order.

As of late, the Cubs have been even worse, as they have gone 3-5 in the month of May.  What the problem has been for the Cubs is an inability to be consistently strong.

When they have great offensive days, they have been accompanied with great pitching days, and bad offensive days have been accompied with dismal pitching.

In the Cubs three wins this month, they have scored 7, 10 and 11 runs in each game, but in their five losses, they scored 0, 1, 3, 2 and 2 runs.  Compare that to the 2, 3 and 3 runs allowed in the three wins and the 3, 7, 4, 8 and 7 runs in the losses.

The Cubs need to be able to put together more wins, and that starts with both sides of the ball being held responsible when both sides are dismal in the same game.

One of the main reasons for the Cubs woes so far this season is the awful offensive production by players who were looked at as people who needed to contribute for the Cubs to be strong.

Mark Bradley, who was brought in to give the Cubs a strong left handed bat, isn’t averaging a hit for every 10 at bats, and has hit just one home run in a Cubs uniform.

Derek Lee is hitting just .200 with only one home run so far this season, he also has just 10 RBI’s and hasn’t stolen a base this season.

Last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Geovany Soto, is batting just .111 and hasn’t hit a home run.  This adds to the fact that he has missed five full games this season and has accounted for just five runs (2 RBI’s, 3 runs).

But their hitting isn’t the only problem for the Cubs this season, their pitching has been just as bad, if not worse, than the hitting.

More Cubs have an ERA over 6.00 than one under 3.00 (four to two).

And, the Cubs vaunted starting pitching, which was supposed to be one of the best starting fives in the MLB hasn’t lived up to the hype.

Every starter has an ERA over 3.00 and the Cubs top two pitchers are pitching the worst in the lineup.

Despite a quality start last night, Carlos Zambrano’s ERA is 4.64 and Ryan Dempster’s is 5.40.  This is the opposite of what you want from what was supposed to be one of the best starting lineups in all of baseball.

The two “quality pitchers” in the Cubs bullpen, who were in the heated closing competition all spring, are both having dismal seasons.

Carlos Mamol’s ERA is 6.75, and Kevin Gregg’s is 6.23.  Who knew that Neal Cotts would be having a better season than both of these two.

The only pitcher with over 10 innings pitched and an ERA under three is Aaron Heilman, who has a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings of work.  He also has as many wins as Zambrano, Rich Harden and Ted Lilly, and more wins than Ryan Dempster.

The Cubs need to finally get their stuff together, and they need to start playing up to their full potential.  The Cubs are a team that needs a lot of production out their power spots in the lineup, and they just haven’t gotten that this year.

Without the pitching to make up for it, the Cubs may be in line for a mediocre season without much winning.

Then again, there are 142 games left for the Cubs, and anything can happen.

-Joe Willett

Before I even begin with this article, I will state what should be obvious: The ongoing battle between Milton Bradley and the Chicago media has nothing to do with the Cubs’ four-game slide.

Sorry, Windy City press, but you play no role in determining what actually happens on the field.

And this larger, so-called “locker room split” is just the media’s way of stirring things up. Chemistry is something that’s developed throughout the season.

The Cubs have played a total of sixteen games; we won’t know what kind of chemistry this team has until June or July. It’s those long 10-12 day road trips that allow players to bond together. That’s when chemistry is developed.

Now, to the Cubs’ problems.

Walks, walks, walks.

The bullpen can’t find the strike zone, and this is a recipe for disaster. Gregg has walked five in nine innings, Cotts has walked five in four, and Patton has walked six in six.

As a whole, the ‘pen has walked 28 batters in 46 innings. Ironically, the only relief pitcher without a walk is Luis Vizcaino, who is no longer on the roster.

Offensively, the Cubs have been dreadful as of late, scoring four earned runs in the past 36 innings. It’s not as if they haven’t had chances; it’s just a matter of poor at bat after poor at bat with guys in scoring position.

It all starts with plate discipline. The Cubs have drawn a total of six walks in the past four games. That won’t get the job done. The offense has also abandoned the opposite field, becoming very pull-happy.

One of the most telling (and worst) at-bats came from Ryan Theriot last night. Down 3-2 with the bases loaded and nobody out, the typically very patient Theriot did not wait back on the Wainwright breaking ball and hit into the tailor-made 6-4-3 double play.

I don’t mean to pick on Theriot, who is off to a solid start, but he’s too smart to not understand the situation. Wainwright was trying to work the outer part of the plate and Theriot tried to pull the ball. I know it’s easier said than done to lay off, but it all starts with plate discipline.

And on to management. Lou Piniella has done a very poor job during the early going this season.

First, the Cubs decided not to disable Geovany Soto. Have they not noticed Soto isn’t healthy? We are in April, not October. It’s nonsensical to keep him active.

The case is the same for Bradley, who was injured two weeks ago; he’s started just one game since his injury. The 15-day DL made sense back when he got hurt, and it makes even more sense today. But by choosing not to disable Bradley, the Cubs have found themselves very short handed.

And besides that, the on-field decisions by Lou have really left me shaking my head.

Who is the closer?

Lou says Gregg, but he also goes to Marmol. Sounds like a “Bullpen by Committee.” Way to keep both guys guessing, Lou.

And along with his poor handling of the ‘pen, Piniella’s shuffling of the lineup is plain silly.  Soriano, who has thrived in the one-hole this year, now finds himself batting third. It’s way too early for a shakeup, especially when your top two spots in the order have been your strength.

I’ve always been one to compliment Lou for making solid decisions, but I will also call him out for making poor ones. During Saturday’s game, Piniella decided to pitch to Brian Barden with one out and first base open with the pitcher on-deck.

Lou must not have seen enough of Barden last week, when he went 5-for-9 with two homers against the Cubs. He proceeded to burn Chicago again with a two-run single on Saturday.

It’s early, and the Cubs will eventually take control of this division. But they must play better. They’ve struggled defensively, offensively, and their bullpen can’t find the plate.

Lou Piniella must do a better job. There’s a reason he is one of the highest-paid managers in the game, and he must get more out of his players. This type of baseball won’t be tolerated.

-Pat De Marco

Look, I know that every team has issues in their bullpen, so this isn’t an attempt to discuss the obvious.

But for a team that is supposedly the best team in the NL Central, Cubs GM Jim Hendry has built a club that is flawed in one very critical area, the pen.

Yes, the Cubs allowed Kerry Wood to leave because they figured Carlos Marmol was ready to assume the closer role, but just to make sure, Hendry acquired Kevin Gregg; who blew the most saves of anyone last year.

Gregg has not instilled much confidence thus far. Neither has many of his mates.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella has no confidence in left-hander Neal Cotts, or right-handers Luis Vizcaino or Angel Guzman.

David Patton, who pitched so well in the spring, has never pitched above Class A.

Several lefties were available this spring, rather cheaply in fact, yet Hendry did not even bat an eye.

It’s no coincidence that the teams who played for the National League pennant last October, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, had the top two bullpens in the league.

So, is there a secret to how a bullpen can get better?

”You just have to pitch better,” Aaron Heilman said. ”There’s no magic formula.”

There isn’t a whole lot missing on this team, to be honest. The lineup is solid, and the starting staff should be good enough to win the division, unless injuries come up and bite us.

The bench is good, with the always-ready Reed Johnson, versatile Aaron Miles and speedy Joey Gathright (though Gathright could have saved the dramatics and won the game himself on Saturday if he had a better AB).

Backup catcher Koyie Hill did a nice job while Geo Soto was nursing his sore shoulder.

Micah Hoffpauir hits the ball hard most of the time, and is a clear upgrade over what we had from the left side last season, save for Mike Fontenot, who is now starting.

So that leaves the bullpen as the remaining piece of the championship puzzle. Perhaps Hendry will be able to find some help around the trade deadline. In the meantime, two pitchers are throwing well at Iowa.

I almost hate to mention the name, but Chad Fox seems healthy, though for how long is anybody’s guess. And Jason Waddell is throwing the ball very well right now for Iowa.

By the way, though this isn’t a bullpen note, Jeff Samardzija had a solid start for Iowa on Saturday. He allowed two runs on only one hit over six innings, though the bullpen blew the game for Iowa.

Jeff Stevens, acquired in the Mark DeRosa salary dump, struck out three of the four batters he faced. If Stevens were left-handed, he’d be pitching in Wrigley right now.

One of the concerns I have is the use, or should I say over use of Carlos Marmol. He has appeared in seven of the Cubs first 11 games.

Kudos to Angel Guzman, who finally was useful for the Cubs on Saturday. We need more of that, come to think of it. Meanwhile, let’s savor two wins against a tough Cardinals ballclub.

-Bob Warja

It’s Easter, and the Cubs will be playing in about an hour in the rubber match against the Brew Crew.

Fresh off of a Blackhawks shutout over the Detroit Red Wings (I had to watch hockey today with my family) the Cubs will try to add another win for Chicago tonight.

I have been pretty dormant lately and I figured I could offer a few thoughts on the Cubs through the first five games of the season.

We are only 3-2 and the start has not been that impressive

Sure, we could easily be 4-1, but that will be talked about a little later. This Cubs team can look amazing (see the eight run first two innings against the Astros) but they haven’t been able to put together a full game yet.

I am a little scared that we haven’t been able to pull together a dominant performance even with the stout pitching and amazing hitting we have on paper.

Milton Bradley may only have one hit, but he has been impressive

If you look at Bradley’s raw hitting, it isn’t too impressive, but when you take into account each time he has walked to the plate, he still almost always finds a way to get get on base.

Despite being one for 16 at the plate, Bradley has an OBP of .318 thanks to five walks and a hit by pitch. He also has scored three runs thus far this season.

Oh, by the way, his one and only hit was a solo home run.

Besides Lilly, the starting pitching has been fantastic

Cubs starters continue to put up quality start after quality start thus far this season.

Carlos Zambrano has started two games this season, pitching 12 inning, allowing four runs, for a 3.00 ERA. Ryan Dempster’s last outing was strong, with six innings pitched and just two runs scored, he had a very successful showing in his season debut.

Rich Harden was lights out in his debut, allowing just one earned run on three hits in six innings.  Harden even struck out a ton, as usual, fanning 10 in an impressive start.

The only bad outing has been thrown by Ted Lilly, who was backed up by 11 Cubs runs, allowing him to avoid the L despite allowing five runs in five innings.

Kevin Gregg scares me as the closer

Listen, he had a great Spring Training, and I am trying to take nothing away from his ability, I just don’t trust him to hold down the fort in the ninth inning.

He has already blown one save this season as the Brewers were able to tear him apart in the ninth inning two nights ago, and the fact that he led the majors in blown saves last year is a big red flag.

I think that Sweet Lou should start throwing Carlos Marmol in the ninth and moving Gregg into the eight inning, everything would probably go a lot smoother and everybody would pitch better under those circumstances.

Kosuke Fukudome anybody?

The man was looked at as a possible major liability to this team, with a monster contract and seemingly not enough talent, the Asian Sensation was seemingly done in the MLB.

Then, something crazy happened, he had a great spring. Then, unlike Gregg above, he brought that momentum into the regular season.

Fukudome is batting over .400 with two home runs, three RBI’s, and one stolen base. More good news for Fukudome, Piniella just announced that he will no longer be lifting the surprise player for defensive purposes.

-Joe Willett

Cubs manager Lou Piniella has a simple strategy for his players: just win each series.

While that may be a bit optimistic, his team followed their leader’s instructions to the letter by defeating the Houston Astros 11-6 on Wednesday night in the rubber match of the series.

After splitting the initial two games, the Cubs bats got off to a blistering start against Astros starter Brian Moehler. They batted around in each of the first two innings and built an early 8-0 lead.

Even on a night when Cubs starter Ted Lilly didn’t have much going for him, the offense was enough to stave off the Houston bats. Despite four Houston homers, including consecutive shots in the third inning, Lilly was able to get through five innings to qualify for the win.

Koyie Hill started at catcher for the Cubs, in place of Geo Soto, who was nursing a sore shoulder. Otherwise, they had their normal lineup against right-handed pitching.

And that lineup includes Mike Fontenot, who continued his fast start to the new season with two hits including a home run, and Aramis Ramirez added four hiits of his own. Both drove in four runs on the night.

Even Kosuke Fukudome got into the act—he got his first hits of the young season by going 4-for-5, with a home run.

Milton Bradley still has no hits in a Cubs uniform, though he did get on base four times.

Derrek Lee continued to demonstrate why he shouldn’t be hitting in the third slot as he went 1-for-6, stranding five runners.

The Cubs chased Moehler with two outs in the second inning. They scored four runs in the first inning, despite leaving the bases loaded, and four more again in the second.

They added three more runs against fifth starter Russ Ortiz in his three innings of work, including Fontenot’s homer.

Rule V pickup David Patton’s major league career didn’t get off to a good start, at least initially. He gave up a homer to his first batter, Hunter Pence, in the sixth inning.

Patton showed poise, however, as he came back to get the next three hitters, and then he threw a scoreless seventh inning.

After Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless 8th, Angel Guzman got in his first action of the new season. He closed out the game with a scoreless ninth, as the Cubs beat Houston.

So they won their first season series. If they keep up this pace, winning every series, they will win at least 113 games, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto was the NL rooke of the year last season. But his value to the Cubs goes even beyond awards. He is a catcher, and that position is so critical to a team that any injury, even minor, takes on greater significance.

So when Soto removed himself from Tuesday’s night’s game against the Astros due to what has been termed as “shoulder soreness,” the red flags and alarms shot up like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

To recap, Soto felt discomfort in his right shoulder while attempting to throw out Astros second baseman Kaz Matsui, who was trying to steal second base. After that, Cubs backup catcher Koyie Hill came on to replace him, temporarily befuddling Cubs announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly.

For his part, Soto said all the right things, using nebulous terms like “fatigue” instead of saying that it felt like someone was carving their initials into his shoulder.

“I kind of over-exposed my shoulder a little bit,” Soto said. “There was a little discomfort in my shoulder. I felt some weakness in it, and I felt I didn’t have a shot if somebody else [tried to steal].”

Look, “over-exposed” and “weakness” sound like terms used when agents, GMs, and other people advise players on how not to create panic. It’s a lot like when pitchers say they have “tightness in their forearm,” which really means their elbow hurts like hell.

I’m not trying to be an alarmist, perhaps this isn’t such a big deal. But one thing that Soto mentioned made me give pause: he said he needs to keep up on his “exercises”.

“I just have to stay on top of my exercises, and I’ll be all right in a couple days. As long as I stay in good shape and do my exercises, it won’t happen again all year.”

Was he talking about normal exercises they teach catchers to do to prevent injury?

Or, was he given exercises as a result of some previous injury?

After all, Soto did say he experienced the same problem during spring training. A casualty of the WBC perhaps?

Koyie Hill did a nice job replacing Soto and will start tonight in Houston. But let’s face it, we need Geo if we’re going to win the division again this year. He’s a force offensively and behind the plate. He’s no Johnny Bench or Pudge, but pitchers like throwing to him and he blocks balls in the dirt well.

Well, one thing is for certain—we sure can’t afford to have anything happen to Hill tonight.

Consider this: When asked who the emergency third catcher is, Lou Piniella said: “Me.”

I don’t believe that the 65-year old manager would have a lot of mobility, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

I was asked to appear on a national overnight sports radio program last night, and was asked to dissect the NL Central division.

Of course, on paper, the Cubs are the obvious favorites. But we all know that titles aren’t won on paper. Yet if you look at what the other teams in the division have done this offseason, you certainly have to like the Cubbies chances to three-peat this year.

Now, I recently wrote an NL Central preview for this site, so I won’t go into detail. But in reviewing the challengers to the Cubs throne, two candidates emerge above the others.

And it may surprise you to learn that the Milwaukee Brewers are NOT one of them.

Oh sure, the Brewers have a talented lineup. Their offense is powerful and should be able to score runs in bunches.

And yes, I realize they won the wild card last season. But the subtraction of CC Sabathia is a huge loss for this team.

What he did in the later half of the season, and especially down the stretch is difficult to put into words. He was simply amazing, and they did not even try to replace him, though that would have been a difficult task.

The Brewers also lost Ben Sheets, and the end result is not enough starting pitching to seriously contend with the Cubs, assuming good health for the northsiders.

Meanwhile, starting pitching looks to be the key for two of the Cubs potential challengers in 2009. The St. Louis Cardinals are always tough—it’s a great rivalry as well as a very well coached team. Tony LaRussa and his pitching coach, Dave Duncan, do more with talent than almost anyone in the league.

Their key for this season has to be the re-emergance of former ace Chris Carpenter, who has looked terrific this spring.

If Carpenter is healthy and productive, and Motte can close effectively, LaRussa’s Cards could emerge as our main threat in the Central.

Likewise, there are a lot of “if’s” for the Cincinnati Reds. But if (there’s that word again) that rotation produces as well as it looks on paper, and their young players continue to develop, they could be a dark-horse sleeper in the division.

The Reds have talented youngsters like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce in their lineup. But it’s the starting staff that looks most impressive. With Micah Owings named as fifth starter today, the starting five of Austin Harang, Edinson Volquez, Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, and Owings has the potential to be very good.

Arroyo is battling carpal tunnel syndrome, but another youngster, Homer Bailey, who lost the battle to Owings, looked good in the spring and appears ready if Arroyo can’t go. Arroyo has never missed a start due to injury.

The Houston Astros could conceivably contend, but a lot would have to go right for them. The Pirates seem to be heading in the right direction, but .500 is still a more realistic goal for them in 2009.

Speaking of the health of Carpenter, health could be a huge factor for our Cubbies this season as well. We all know that Milton Bradley can hit when healthy, but that’s the problem. Keeping him on the field is a major question mark.

And Rich Harden needs constant monitoring as well. So, while the Cubs are the best team on paper, paper is fragile and can tear easily.

Let’s hope we’re made of construction paper this season, come to think of it, or the Cardinals and Reds may be knocking at the door.

-Bob Warja