Issues for Cubs to address if they plan to avoid a sweep

Thursday night had long since turned to Friday morning Chicago time when Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa was doing his best to cheer up everybody in sight, including reporters."You look so depressed," he said to one scribe."Nah," the writer told him. "It must be the fatigue."More like, it was the fatigue of watching the Cubs fall back into some of their bad old ways that characterized the bad old days of April and May.Still, DeRosa put on his bravest face with his team down 2-0 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the best-of-five National League division series."I guess you just have to tell yourself it is what it is," DeRosa said. "We've just got to go out and win one ballgame and take it one at a time. It sounds clich#233;, but we don't have another option."Put all our faith in Rich Hill, and hope he goes out and pitches us a good ballgame, and we're able to swing the bats and get us 1 win to get our confidence back."No, it's not over. It definitely isn't.It definitely will be over tonight in Game 3 if the Cubs don't straighten out of a few things. Such as:RISP-y business: Cubs hitters are 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They left nine runners on base in each game at Chase Field.Getting Aramis interested: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez was one of the Cubs' money players in September, just as he was in 2003, when he helped carry them to the NL Central title.In this series, he's 0-for-9 with 4 strikeouts. Ramirez has grounded into a double play and generally has looked lackadaisical.OBP matters: Give manager Lou Piniella credit for taking a three-year project and getting it into the playoffs in his first year.This organization has moved at a glacial pace at understanding the importance of patience at the plate, on-base percentage and drawing walks.Watch for Piniella to push general manager Jim Hendry to acquire a player or two this off-season who works counts and gets on base.The Cubs have an anemic .286 OBP over the first two games (their slugging percentage of .254 isn't so hot, either), compared with .343 for the D'backs. The Cubs have drawn 9 walks, 3 by the unexpected source of Jacque Jones, and have struck out 23 times."This is the type of team we've been all year," Piniella told reporters Friday at Wrigley Field. "You can't change in the postseason what you've done all year. You do the same thing. If it works, it works, and if it doesn't work, well, it doesn't work."We have guys that go up there and swing the bat, and they're aggressive. And like I say, when they're connecting, well, we put runs up on the board and we win with consistency. And when we don't, it's a struggle."Leadoff man Alfonso Soriano, a notoriously impatient hitter for that spot and historically a poor postseason hitter (better pitchers in the postseason likely exploit Soriano's impatience), is 2-for-10 with 4 strikeouts."It's probably trying to overdo, you know, trying to overdo, trying to do too much," Piniella said of his big hitters in general. "In postseason, you take what the opponent gives you. They don't give you pitches to swing out of the yard. Then you've got to go the other way, or you've got to go up the middle.Listening to the catcher: Pitcher Ted Lilly was mad at himself Thursday night for serving up a fastball homer to Chris Young. Maybe he should have gone along with catcher Geovany Soto, who wanted the curve.Even though Soto is 1-for-6 in the series, that hit was a 2-run homer that gave the Cubs a short-lived 2-0 lead before Lilly suffered the first of his two meltdowns.Soto looks solid behind the plate, which makes one wonder why the Cubs didn't have him up sooner than September to catch regularly. Piniella announced Friday that Jason Kendall likely will catch Hill today. We'll see if D'backs runners burn up the basepaths.Get it and throw it: The Cubs will depend on Hill, who just completed his first full season in the big leagues, to keep his team in the series.Hill has a tendency to beat himself up and overanalyze on the mound. He'd be wise to take a page out of Game 1 starter Carlos Zambrano's book. Unlike Lilly, who ran his pitch count to 58 after 2 innings Thursday, Zambrano was crisp and wound up with just 85 in 6 innings when Piniella pulled him, bringing on a blizzard of controversy.If Hill comes out aggressive with his fastball, the Cubs have a shot at getting to Zambrano and Game 4, for which Piniella is saving him.If not, Zambrano will be well rested for Opening Day 2008.bmiles@dailyherald.com