Are Cubs' tired bats finally awakening?
If Cubs starters Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden can have tired arms, is it possible for some of the hitters to have tired bats?
"I think so," catcher Geovany Soto said. "I think a hitter can get tired, but I really haven't seen it."
Maybe Soto isn't looking hard enough.
While the Cubs banged out 14 hits on Tuesday night, including 4 home runs and 3 doubles, they still failed in several critical offensive situations late in a 9-7 loss to the Houston Astros in 11 innings.
Derrek Lee had 2 singles, but twice he failed in the clutch. Lee grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning then struck out for the final out in the 10th with the winning run at second.
Alfonso Soriano led off the first inning with a home run but then went his next 5 at-bats without a hit.
More than anything, Soto thought the offensive drought that resulted in the three-game losing streak the Cubs took into Tuesday's game was more a result of facing the Astros' Roy Oswalt on Monday and Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer on Sunday.
"We've been getting tough (pitching) matchups. You need to give those guys credit, too," Soto said before the game. "They come in to play a tough team like us and they come in with their 'A' game. We're probably slumping a little bit, but I don't think there's anything to worry about. We'll turn it around."
Soriano's first inning homer homer was the Cubs' first extra-base hit since Friday - a span of 28 innings - when Soriano homered in the seventh inning against the Phillies.
The Cubs' 3 hits in the first inning was 1 fewer than they got all game against Oswalt.
"I don't know that anybody would have hit Roy yesterday," Ryan Theriot said.
"Sometimes you run into those stretches where you're not swinging the bats well and you're matched up against good pitching."
Soriano is now 5 his last 29. Jim Edmonds came in 1 for his last 12 and ended the first inning by grounding into a double play with the bases loaded.
But Edmonds atoned in the seventh with his 17th homer, bringing the Cubs all the way back from a 7-3 deficit to a 7-7 tie.
"He's been struggling a little bit," manager Lou Piniella said of Edmonds, who hit just .200 in August.
Kosuke Fukudome has been struggling so much at the plate that Piniella gave him Tuesday off as a starter. Piniella also plans to sit Fukudome again today against Astros lefty Randy Wolf.
Fukudome entered the game in the eighth inning and had a walk and a single, making him 4 for his last 21. He hit .193 in August.
Of all the Cubs, Fukudome's bat looks the most tired as he tries to grind his way through his first 162-game major league season.
Piniella grudgingly admitted that hitters can develop a tired bat.
"Yeah, it can happen, especially when it's your first year," Piniella said.
"It's a long season and you have to get used to it. The first year is the toughest, then it becomes a little easier. You've got to battle through it."