Cubs just don’t stack up

There was a lot of talk this weekend about how the Cubs “stack up” or “measure up” to teams like the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pretty much, they don’t. That was in evidence Sunday night in a 10-4 loss to the New York Yankees.

That didn’t stop 126,283 fans — most of them cheering for the Cubs but a lot of Yankees fans, too — from enjoying a great weekend at Wrigley Field and looking forward to three this week with the White Sox on the South Side.

The atmosphere at Wrigley Field was electric all weekend, and the games were fun to watch, even Saturday’s tooth-puller that lasted almost four hours.

The Cubs pretty much don’t stack up or measure up with the Brewers or the Cardinals or the Reds in their own division, and they’re a ways behind the Pirates as well.

But the Silver Lining Express rolled on Sunday.

“You might not go home and think about it, but inherently, you want to see how you stack up,” said Cubs manager Mike Quade. “Even in evaluating a club, ‘We stack up here. We don’t stack up there.’ You go back to, ‘How can we better attack this?’ When you’re measuring yourself against clubs that are the best, that’s the best time to take a look at where you’re at. It’s a good opportunity to do that.

“If you can’t come to the ballpark ready to play and have fun in these series, everybody’s got to get fired up here. Somebody asked me about the nature of the schedule, and it’s been tough. But to be able to come to the park and play these kinds of clubs every day, it’s great fun for me, and I know it’s good for the guys.”

The weekend ended with the Cubs losing two of three to the Yankees, giving them a record of 4-3 on the homestand after they took three of four from the Brewers last week.

Still, they fell back to 13 games under .500 at 29-42, and the holes in their game are glaring.

The Cubs gave the Yankees too many chances Sunday night after taking a 4-1 lead in the third inning, and the Bronx Bombers took advantage.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro showed he’s still very much the work in progress in the field, despite a nice homestand with the bat. In the fourth inning with one out and Alex Rodriguez on second, the Yankees’ Robinson Cano grounded the ball in front of home plate. Cubs catcher Geovany Soto fielded the ball and threw to second base in time to force Rodriguez.

But Castro took his foot off the bag before catching the ball, and all hands were safe. The Yankees picked up 2 runs that inning.

The Yankees tied the game in the sixth inning against Cubs starting pitcher Randy Wells. Quade turned to dependable lefty Sean Marshall, who worked a 1-2-3 seventh. However, Marshall gave up 2 quick hits in the eighth, and Quade turned to rookie reliever Chris Carpenter.

Nick Swisher crushed a 2-0 pitch from the inexperienced Carpenter into the right-field bleachers. The game was effectively over then. On to the Cell.

“To win any series and to do what we did against Milwaukee was fantastic,” Quade said. “To win a series against the Yankees would be another nice step going into the series on the South Side. You’re grinding through this thing. I think we’re playing a little bit better. The wins should follow, and you just keep working toward winning series. It’s funny. You get the (not having won) three-in-a-row thing, I’ll take two out of three the rest of the year and be really happy. You make a lot of money in this game doing that.”

In a lot of places other than the North Side of Chicago.