Ill winds blowing for Cubs at Wrigley Field
The last time anybody checked, the wind was blowing out all day Sunday at Wrigley Field.
It was blowing out for both teams, the Cubs and the White Sox.
The visiting Sox were the only ones who took advantage, beating the Cubs 6-0 to sweep the three-game series and send the North Siders to their sixth straight loss and a record of 15-26.
The White Sox managed 3 home runs against Cubs starting pitcher Paul Maholm, while the Cubs were blanked by Jake Peavy.
Now, the winds of change might be blowing for the Cubs’ batting order.
“I’m thinking about it,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I might think about changing things at the top of the order, not that anybody’s doing anything wrong, just to change things. We aren’t producing any runs that way, so we might change things up there.”
One possibility is moving shortstop Starlin Castro out of the No. 3 hole and back into the leadoff spot, where he prospered last year.
Castro is doing OK batting third. He has a hitting line of .313/.324/.422. He has only 2 home runs, but he also has only 4 walks. Current leadoff man David DeJesus is at .276/.360/.393 with 16 walks.
“No, he hasn’t talked to me, but if he moves me in the lineup, it’s not my (decision),” Castro said. “I’m ready for whatever spot in the lineup. Wherever he wants to put me, I’ll try to do my job and help the team.”
The Cubs were mostly helpless all weekend against White Sox starting pitchers. They scored 2 runs in 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub> innings Friday against Philip Humber, no runs in 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub> innings Saturday against John Danks and nothing in 6<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub> innings against Peavy.
“You know Peavy’s going to be tough; he’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Sveum said. “But with that wind the way it was blowing, you thought we’d have some contact that we (could) get up in that kind of wind and at least (hit) a solo home run or something.
“We had our chances. We had a couple times the bases loaded and didn’t do too much. It’s tough to win when you’re only scoring in basically two innings in 27 innings.”
In their first 41 games, Cubs batters have hit just 29 homers. Those flags blowing out at least 12 mph might have been a little too inviting.
“It’s very frustrating,” left fielder Alfonso Soriano said. “We had the opportunity to score a lot of runs with the wind today. But sometimes we see the flags like that and we don’t concentrate and see the ball and hit it. We see the wind and forget that we have to hit the ball first.
“We are very disappointed because the way that we play against them is not acceptable.”
Those sentiments were echoed by first baseman Bryan LaHair, far and away the team leader with 10 home runs.
“Anytime you lose or get swept, it’s not a good feeling,” he said. “Whether it’s them or some other team, it’s no fun, and we don’t accept that.”
bmiles@dailyherald.com