It's June and Cubs still haven't found their offense

PITTSBURGH - Just because the calendar is changing doesn't mean the Cubs are doing the same.

There is very little new to report about Monday's 2-1 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park: The Cubs were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and they stranded eight runners overall.

They got a run on an RBI groundout by Geovany Soto in the second and then shut down before the Pirates scored 1 in the sixth and 1 in the eighth.

The Cubs are 0-4 in Pittsburgh this year and 24-28 for the season.

More telling were the pregame and postgame comments by manager Lou Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry.

"What are you going to do?" Piniella said after the game. "I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know, I'm going to be honest with you."

Here's the deal: May has ended, and the Cubs are in a supposedly favorable part of the schedule. If they don't get going now, it may not happen in 2010.

"We need to," Piniella said. "It's June now. We've played 50 games already. We need to start winning with more consistency and get ourselves above the .500 mark and go from there.

"We've got to get better, I can tell you that.

Hendry, who put this club together, was more expansive about where the Cubs are at the traditional Memorial Day milepost.

"We've got a really important couple of weeks," Hendry said. "I'd like to see us be able to get back to .500 or above by the time we get home. It won't be easy. We're playing major-league teams that we haven't played that well against yet this year.

"It's still late May, early June coming, but we need to start putting a couple of weeks together that are pretty good.

"With that being said, you could look up at our two weeks and be 2 or 3 back maybe, or if we had a bad two weeks, then you'd have some concern. I have a sense that we can play better.

"Sooner or later, you've got to do it. I think we're good enough to be a contending club. I don't feel we should be under .500 at the end of May. But if we have a couple good weeks - we've done that before."

The Cubs managed just 4 hits against the Pirates, 3 against starter Ross Ohlendorf. Alfonso Soriano's triple that fell between the left and center fielders in the second turned into a run when Soto chopped one to third.

Cubs starting pitcher Randy Wells, working on two days' rest after Friday's bad outing against St. Louis, worked 5 innings on a hot, muggy day, giving up 3 hits and no runs. Reliever James Russell gave up a game-tying homer to Garrett Jones in the sixth. The Pirates got the winning run off Sean Marshall in the eighth.

The Cubs' Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, Derrek Lee (.233) and Aramis Ramirez (.162) were a combined 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts. Neither has gotten going this year, and Piniella may have to think about moving them down in the lineup. Already, he said he would give Lee Tuesday off.

"I think you always want to keep making it so tough," said Lee, taking the media to task. "We stay positive. You guys can write that it's tough and frustrating, but we're going to stay positive. We lost one game. We'll come back and win two and win the series."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p> <p class="News">Pirates 2, Cubs 1</p> <p class="News"><b>Better for Wells:</b> Starting pitcher Randy Wells did not record a quality start, but he worked 5 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, getting a no-decision. "I wasn't really sharp today, but I was able to battle through," he said.</p> <p class="News"><b>LOB-sters:</b> The Cubs left two runners on in the third, when Marlon Byrd, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez went down. In the fifth, Ramirez struck out with runners on first and second to end the inning. In the eighth Byrd led off with a walk and a stolen base, but Lee, Ramirez and Mike Fontenot couldn't get it done.</p> <p class="News"><b>Bullpen doings:</b> In a bullpen with little margin for error, James Russell suffered a blown save by giving up Garrett Jones' homer in the sixth. Sean Marshall (5-2) suffered the loss by giving up a run on 2 hits in the eighth. </p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=384801">Cashner latest change to Cubs' bullpen<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384798">Theriot could be out of lineup for a while<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384800">Cubs bullpen makeover<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>