Breaking down the Cubs' post-season flop

Even before the Cubs clinched the National League Central, manager Lou Piniella seemed to be softening a blow in advance.

Piniella's comments about this year not being a disappointment if the Cubs didn't make the World Series didn't play well with a Cubs public that now will wait at least 101 years for a ring.

Left fielder Alfonso Soriano, a playoff flop two years in a row, urged "patience" Saturday in the wake of the Cubs' season-ending 3-1 loss to the Dodgers.

Those comments similarly will be teed up by a teed-off North Side fan base.

But Piniella seemed to know, or seemed to sense, that his team could be had in the playoffs. Asked after Saturday night's loss if he was shocked, he said no.

So how did a team go from scoring 855 runs in the regular season to scoring 6 in three playoff games for the second year in a row?

"Because you face better pitching," he said flatly. "And because you're probably scouted a lot more. I don't know. The two playoffs have been identical. You can't win with 12 runs in six games in spring training. You can't win during the season, and you're not going to win in postseason, either."

Here are some of the ways the Dodgers did in the Cubs:

The Soriano factor: The Cubs' miscast leadoff man went 2-for-14 last year against the Diamondbacks and 1-for-14 against the Dodgers.

Soriano may be able to carry a team for weeks at a time, especially against bad pitching, but he's among the easiest hitters against whom to game plan in a short series.

"We had the best team in the league, but we had trouble in the playoffs in a short series and didn't do anything to win," he said. "We didn't play good like a team, and I think that the reason we didn't win. It's very shocking because we expect to play better in the postseason because we have a better team than last year, but we didn't play good as a team, and that's why we lost."

It might be that general manager Jim Hendry looks for a bona fide leadoff man again this off-season as he did last winter and into spring in his pursuit of Baltimore's Brian Roberts.

Then, whether he likes it or not, Soriano can hit somewhere else in the order.

It's a little early; we just got eliminated," Hendry said. "I'm sure we'll try to tinker with it. We won 97 games with a lot of good players and we just happened to play poorly for three days, that's all. We'll keep trying until we get it done."

Ramirez, too: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez, labeled a "clutch" player during the regular season, was as absent as Soriano for the second straight year.

Ramirez went 0-for-12 last year in the division series and 2-for-11 this year.

Catcher Geovany Soto, who was playing with a left hand that was probably hurting worse than he or the Cubs would admit, went 2-for-11.

About the only guys who did hit were the much-maligned Derrek Lee (6-for-11, 3 doubles) and the ever-dependable Mark DeRosa, who went 4-for-12 with 2 doubles and the Cubs' only homer of the series.

However, Lee hit into an inning-ending double play in Game 1 and struck out with Soriano in scoring position in Game 2.

Weight of the wait: Neither Piniella nor Hendry put any stock into the notion that the Cubs are cursed (even if those above Hendry seemed to buy into it and came off looking silly).

Curses aside, talk of the 100-year drought began at the Cubs convention in January, prompting Piniella to address his team about it on the first day of spring training, and it continued until the bitter end.

"The guys in here... you'd be lying if (you said) you didn't read it every day," DeRosa said. "You'd be lying if you said you don't know it's there. It's there. It's not that we carry it on the field with us. We'd love to be able to bring a championship to Chicago. Guys in here want nothing more than that."

Maybe next year.

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