Dear Derrek Lee,

Many times on this very site I have either called for you to be traded or have expressed frustration with both your inability to hit for power as well as your seemingly nonchalant attitude.

I have said that you were indifferent; that you were sleeping through at-bats that never even came close to the numbers you displayed in 2005, when you hit .335, with 46 homers and 107 RBI. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cubs were able to get out of their offensive woes against Seth McClung and the Brewers, as they took down the NL Central division leaders 9-5.

Derek Lee lead the Cubs with a career-high seven RBI’s on two home runs, going 2-4 on the day.

Ryan Dempster had a decent start, allowing just three earned runs in six and 2/3 innings, tying a season high with nine strikeouts. Read the rest of this entry »

Alfonso Soriano has been horrible as of late, bad enough for there to be rumblings of him being benched for a couple games.

His batting average over the past five games has been a measly .095, and he hasn’t gotten a hit in his last 15 at bats.

However, today, he went 2-5 with one gigantic RBI.

The Cubs started the day locked in an outstanding pitching duel between ace Carlos Zambrano going up against White Sox stud Gavin Floyd. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a big night for the Cubs’ Mike Fontenot, who was celebrating his 29th birthday in style.

Fontenot went 4-5 with two runs, one RBI and a home run.  Not a bad night for the birthday boy.

But Fontenot’s night was just a footnote on a night when the Cubs were finally able to break out of the funk that they have been in all season and pull out a 7-1 win over the down-trodden Astros.

The Cubs were finally able to capitalize on a strong pitching performance, giving Ted Lilly plenty of room to sit back and pitch without pressure, and he responded well to the run support.

Lilly allowed just three hits, two walks and no runs over six and 2/3 innings.  Lilly’s strong performance was yet another quality start for one of the most consistent pitchers in the Cubs starting lineup. Read the rest of this entry »

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

We Cubs fans often think of ourselves as the best baseball fans in the world, and with good reason.

We stay loyal to our team, despite going 100 years without obtaining the holy grail.

But in recent years, Cubs fans have become much more impatient. The tease of 2003, and the 97 victories last season, have left us salivating like Pavlov’s dog for more.

The fact that we’re 0 for our last nine in postseason play isn’t helping to calm our nerves one bit.

We’ve seen this impatience demonstrated in many different ways. Through talk radio, certainly, but more demonstratively at Wrigley Field, where we’ve booed the likes of Carlos Zambrano for his meltdowns and Derrek Lee for grounding all those double plays.

And it’s with this thought in mind that I ask you, the Cubs fans: Which player will be public enemy No. 1 in 2009?

My money is on Kosuke Fukudome.

We need to see an immediate and noticeable turnaround, or the masses will be vocal in clamoring for the hard working Reed Johnson in center field.

But a close second on the enemy list could be Lee. While still a good hitter for average, and a fine defensive first baseman, we’ve not seen evidence of the power that earned him his $13 million per year.

In 2005, Lee hit 46 home runs in 594 at-bats. Since then, he’s hit 50 homers in 1,365 at-bats.

And his frustrating inability to produce hits when they mean something is part of the problem.

I don’t know about you, but if I see one more double play from Lee in the first couple games of the season, I will scream.

And please don’t bore me with how well he hit in the playoffs. I know he hit three doubles and batted .545, but it was the quietest .545 I’ve ever seen.

He made no impact when it counted. Zero runs batted in.

But back to Fukudome for a minute.

After a hot start last year, which resulted in a starting spot in the All-Star game, to say he cooled off after that would be an understatement.

The pricey Japanese import hit only .217 following the break. And he looked foolish in doing so.

His swings made us cringe. He lunged at the outside fastball, which resulted in such an awkward and off-balanced follow-through, it became a joke.

But the joke is on general manager Jim Hendry. He still owes Kukudome $38 million over the next three years. That is why the Cubs are giving him a second chance to show that he is lineup-worthy, platooning him with Reed Johnson to start the season.

But since Fukudome bats left-handed, he will see the majority of the action while Johnson, a fan favorite and solid hitter, will be spending more time on the bench than a sitting judge.

And that won’t sit well with impatient Cubs fans.

Of course, another Cubs player with a target on his back could be Alfonso Soriano. Many fans would already rather see Ryan Theroit or Mike Fontenot bat leadoff, so there’s one strike against Soriano.

His silly little bunny hop is another strike, especially when he drops a fly ball.

The third strike is that, because of injuries and his lack of discipline at the plate, he just doesn’t produce like you expect from a guy making $18 million a year.

We all remember his pathetic performance against the Dodgers last October.

So, while we love our Cubbies—unlike the White Sox “faithful,” who only come out to the ballpark if their team is winning—our tolerance has been tested in recent years.

The confines of Wrigley Field may not be so friendly this year if we don’t get off to a hot start and certain guys don’t perform well.

Here’s hoping for the best for Fukudome and Lee. But if they falter again, hide the children.

They just shouldn’t hear that kind of language, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja